The Voice stars Karise Eden and Alfie Arcuri turn into indie artists as new series faces TikTok rival
The Voice has not helped all of its winners. Some have struggled to find success. Now a few of them speak out as the show faces pressure to deliver a star.
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It may be shinier, shorter and feature a revamped coaching bench but some things remain the same for the rebooted The Voice as it kicks off its 10th season at its new home on Seven.
Almost a decade after Karise Eden won the inaugural television talent quest, another teenager with stars in their eyes opens the show singing her Blind Audition song, the James Brown classic It’s A Man’s World.
And that teenager Sofia Watt – along with all the other raw talents on the singing competition – will be hoping to be the one to break The Voice winner’s curse.
Unlike rival formats Australian Idol and The X Factor, The Voice has spectacularly failed to convert television ratings into an enduring presence on the pop charts for its winners.
It is believed only last year’s winner Chris Sebastian and his 2019 predecessor Diana Rouvas remain on the label they were signed to as part of the victor’s prize.
The winners from 2012 to 2018 – Eden, Harrison Craig, Anja Nissen, Ellie Drennan, Alfie Arcuri, Judah Kelly and Sam Perry – aren’t on Universal Music Australia’s roster on its website.
But most of them, like Eden who is recording a new EP for release in November, remain committed to a creative life in music as independent artists.
They’re now free to make the music they want for the tens of thousands of fans who discovered them on The Voice and stuck around to follow their careers via social media.
Eden admits she occasionally contemplates closing that chapter as she sits on the porch of her home in the bush outside of Brisbane with her seven-month-old daughter Hartley on her knee and her six-year-old son Blayden playing in the yard.
“There’s been highs and lows, and as the years go on, some days I think I could just stay out here in the bush, maybe I’m done,” she says.
“It’s been nearly 10 years and I’ve gone to LA, I’ve been to London and I bought a house and I would be happy to be a great mum now.
“But I’m grateful for the experience of The Voice and have nothing that stands out in the way of regrets. I’m grateful it was my becoming.”
Eden did set chart records during her Voice season in 2012 with the show releasing the performances on iTunes when downloads were the dominant format.
Her winner’s single, You Won’t Let Me, along with the performances of Stay With Me Baby, Hallelujah and her own composition I Was Your Girl, took up four positions of the ARIA top five singles in the week after her victory.
Eden has managed to remain relevant in the streaming era with more than 25,000 monthly listeners on Spotify alone, her artist playlist topped by her version of It’s A Man’s World with 1.5 million streams almost 10 years after it was initially released.
“I think about 70 per cent of The Voice fans have stuck with me and we’ve found from social media and the streaming services there are now a lot of fans from the US, South America and France,” she said.
“I haven’t even released an album in three years and there’s been all these millions of listens.”
Streaming emerging as the dominant format for music isn’t the only big change since the Voice launched in 2012.
The television talent quest has an unassailable rival for the attention of eagle-eyed music fans keen to discover and champion a new artist. And that’s TikTok, according to pop music commentator and radio host Nic Kelly.
The UK’s hit factory X Factor has sounded the death knell for the format with the announcement last week of its cancellation after 17 years. The talent pool where Simon Cowell fished for One Direction, Little Mix, Leona Lewis and James Arthur has dried up and so have the ratings.
And The Veronicas have launched a new talent search on TikTok called UNDSCVRD with Samsung backing the search for an original artist who will keep the masters of their winning song.
“I enjoy watching The Voice as a litmus test of who is going to reinvent themselves in five years time to become a superstar, the Vera Blue effect,” Kelly said.
“But people’s discovery of new music has changed and 75 per cent of people who use TikTok have discovered a new artist on there.
“It’s a new era of music content creators; these TikTok artists have a phone and can make great content with it that makes it feel like you as a fan just stumbled on something great.
“Unfortunately with the television shows, you’ve got the same producers working on multiple shows because that’s where the jobs are, so they go from one production to the next and you’re not going to get new ideas coming through.”
Kelly said another factor which would impact ratings for the 2021 reboot of The Voice is the audience’s finely honed “bullshit detector” for an over-egged backstory.
“They are just not sucked in by a backstory that has been promoted for weeks,” Kelly said.
“And just having a great voice isn’t enough because you see singers recontextualising covers online every day and what comes through is them being authentic and genuine.”
Authenticity is the music industry byword and any attempt to manufacture it by television productions or record labels results in fans crying foul on social media.
For 2016 winner Alfie Arcuri, writing and releasing his own music has proven there is life after The Voice, even if it’s a struggle as a self-funded independent artist.
He struck a resounding chord in 2017 with his song If You Only Knew, inspired by the heartbreak of a past relationship where his partner’s parents didn’t know he was gay.
With more than 2.5 million streams on Spotify, the song proved the artist’s gut instinct that being his authentic self in his music would connect with fans.
Arcuri is also not one to regret going on the show.
“I am a very stubborn Italian trying to defy the natural way for us winners to go but I would do it all over again,” he said.
“Coming off the show I had this winner’s song Cruel and it didn’t reflect me as a person; it was literally about a girl.
“Commercially it has been hard to get people to pay attention but I write my own songs and that’s probably the most important thing.”
Arcuri has become part of the wider Eurovision family since his performance at the inaugural Australia Decides competition in 2019 and has since acquired Italian management who have lined up opportunities for him to write for other aspiring singing contestants.
“Representing Australia at Eurovision is still one of the things I want to do,” he said.
Eden said she had an amicable parting of the ways with her post-Voice label Universal after three records.
“I’m stoked because I’ve been holding onto some songs close to my heart and finally I will get a chance to showcase them.”
The Voice Australia begins Sunday 7pm AEST on Seven.
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