The Voice has come a long way since its debut a decade and a half ago. The NBC singing competition series turns 15 years old on April 26, and the show that hit TV then is not the same show we’re watching now. So now we’re looking back at The Voice’s evolution — and in particular, the format changes we’ve found most impactful.
Season 30 is coming up fast, but we’ll see if that milestone edition of the competition keeps a controversial change-up that viewers saw in the recently-aired 29th season, detailed below. Read about it all right here.
1. Knockout rounds have been a knockout addition
In Season 3, The Voice added knockout rounds, in which teammates go head-to-head for the chance to advance in the competition, performing songs they themselves selected.
And the knockouts were a game-changer, as then-coach Adam Levine told the press at the time. “What we’ve learned from working on the show is that we can’t do everything for these guys,” the Maroon 5 frontman said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “To be a performer is selecting the songs that best suit you — the songs that will get an audience going, get people’s attention, play to your strengths as a vocalist… It’s nice to have an isolated section of the show where they have to essentially rely on their own skills or their own intuition.”
2. Steals, blocks, and saves have amplified the drama
The Voice’s third season also introduced steals, meaning a coach could yoink a rival coach’s team member who suffered defeat in the battle rounds. And in Season 14 came two other new gameplay elements: blocks, in which coaches could block other coaches from scooping up talent in the Blind Auditions, and saves, in which coaches could recruit singers defeated in the knockout rounds. Small edits? Sure. Big results? Most definitely.
3. It’s been a game of musical chairs with all the talent shakeups
For The Voice’s first three seasons, the same four coaches sat in the rotating red chairs. But in Season 4, Shakira and Usher started subbing in for Christina Aguilera and CeeLo Green, and the coaching panel has been in flux ever since. Even Blake Shelton hung up his hat in 2023, after 23 straight seasons.
We also saw Alison Haislip and Christina Milian come and go as social media correspondents in early seasons of The Voice, and in Season 29, Druski joined the production as the show’s first-ever commentator.
4. The Voice has rocked the vote
Once upon a time, The Voice viewers could vote for their favorite competitors through text messages, toll-free calls, online apps, and even purchases on iTunes. (Remember that music store from days of yore?) More recently, NBC has had viewers vote only through The Voice’s website or app.
And then Season 29 rocked the voting system again. In that iteration, no episodes aired live, so only the in-studio audience — which, NBC claimed, was “filled with Voice super-fans and alumni of the show” — voted for the competitors.
“It is cool to kind of get the live feedback,” coach Kelly Clarkson told TV Insider and other outlets. “It’s different on TV than when you’re in the room, which I tell my mother every time because she doesn’t understand a lot of my decisions. I have to tell her the energy in the room is different. It sounds different. It’s a different thing when you watch someone live, and you’re listening to them on a record. So I’m excited about that, but I’m also nervous about that.”
5. Taped episodes have meant less “This is The Voice” and more “That was The Voice”
In its early seasons, The Voice would air three hours a week across two or three nights. But for part of Season 28 and all of Season 29, NBC cut the show’s schedule down to one show per week. And while past seasons at least had some live episodes, Season 29 was all prerecorded.
The Voice is not the only reality competition to shift away from live episodes — So You Think You Can Dance did the same — but the change has fans disappointed and even concerned.
“Watching The Voice finale for whatever reason and… it’s prerecorded?” @michaelcollado wrote on X on April 14. “So I Google, and turns out they didn’t do any live shows this season and no fan voting. What are we doing here?”
@notmyname02 wrote, “#TheVoice finale is not live. That’s a fail.”
And @mitches2000 said, “I have a feeling The Voice is gonna end on season 30. The budget keeps dropping, less live episodes, smaller teams, less coaches, less rounds. It feels like it’s bound to come.”
The Voice, Season 30, TBD, NBC & Peacock
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