The Voice Australia: Track which coach has the best record
It’s a singing competition that’s supposed to put the spotlight on undiscovered artists, yet The Voice has become as much about the coaches as the contenders.
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Everyone accepts The Voice is all about the coaches.
More screen time is devoted to the action from the red chairs than the stage – unless an artist shares an emotional backstory or drops a truth bomb when they get the cut.
As the 2020 series heads to the grand finale on Sunday, we judge the judges on their records.
BOY GEORGE
Winning: Has coached for four seasons and won The Voice Australia 2019 with Diana Rouvas.
You’re only as good as your last single: Boy George has been very busy during self-isolation in London. Already this year he released the single Clouds, then Isolation – presciently written before the pandemic hit – and then followed up with the Bowie-channelling glam punk song Frantic in late May.
The tracks are tasters from his forthcoming solo record Geminis Don’t Read The Manual but haven’t really been given a big promotional push outside of George’s own YouTube channel and fan websites.
Frantic is yet to figure in his most “popular” Spotify tracks, which is topped by The Crying Game with almost seven million streams.
Of course that’s not counting the gazillion Culture Club hits.
Final countdown: Grand finalist – Siala Robson. Team George slashed his final five to semi-final stars Masha Mnjoyan and Siala Robson earlier this week.
Siala was a no-brainer for the semis having shared 67,000 streams with Despina for Teenage Fantasy during the Battle rounds and finding a strong fan base during the series.
It was tough to split the rest on their stats but Masha smashed her performance of Chains out of the park and as a former winner of the contest in Armenia, is well versed on playing the TV talent quest game.
Dramarama: George’s biggest drama during the 2020 season was off set when he cut short his interview with 4BC radio host and Culture Club fanboy Neil Breen after an “insulting” introduction which focused on his early 1980s pop hits.
“Reintroduce them to someone who has been on national TV in Australia for the last four years? You don’t need to reintroduce me. I’m on TV. Everybody knows who I am,” he said before pressing his phone’s red button.
GUY SEBASTIAN
Winning: Has coached for two seasons on The Voice and five on X Factor Australia, winning the 2011 series with Reece Mastin and again the following year with Samantha Jade.
You’re only as good as your last single: Guy Sebastian released Standing With You on June 26 and has already clocked over one million Spotify streams.
Sebastian is striking chart gold with a run of emotionally-charged singles, with the uplifting Choir – dedicated to his late bandmate and friend Luke Liang – clocking more than 30 million streams.
His biggest hit thus far on streaming platforms has been Battle Scars, featuring Lupe Fiasco, with more than 217 million plays on Spotify.
The official video for Standing With You has half a million views in two weeks, an impressive stat for an Australian artist whose audience is primarily homegrown.
Final countdown: Grand finalist – Johnny Manuel. Sebastian put Timothy James Bowen and Johnny Manuel through to the semis. But if he had crunched the numbers before he made his decision, Matt Gresham was the best bet.
Not only did he have the highest Spotify streams for a Voice performance – more than 37,000 for the Miley Cyrus song Slide Away – but two of his previous singles – High Wire and Ghost – have cracked the million streams mark.
But success is always the best revenge and after being cut from the show on Sunday, his original song Who Am I Now reached No. 1 on the iTunes singles chart – with Sebastian’s Standing With You at No.3.
Dramarama: Sebastian has been the Count of Controversy in 2020.
Kelly Rowland labelled him a cheater after he broke the rules and turned his chair in the Blind Auditions even though he had a full team.
He copped it from all sides during the Battle Rounds when fan favourite Johnny Manuel was given the lead in the performance of Earth Song with Mongolian throat singer Bukhu cast in a lopsided supporting role.
DELTA GOODREM
Winning: Has coached for eight out of nine seasons for The Voice, winning in 2016 with Alfie Arcuri and in 2017 with Judah Kelly.
She won the only series of The Voice Kids in 2014 with Alexa Curtis.
You’re only as good as your last single: Keep Climbing was co-written with her partner Matthew Copley and released on May 14.
It has generated more than 400,000 Spotify streams, boosted after her performance on The Voice. The official lyrics video has more than 75,000 views.
The aspirational, stripped-backed piano ballad with added gospel choir was designed to showcase those powerful pipes.
It has some heavy lifting to do to match her most popular song on streaming services which is the 2015 double-platinum chart-topper Wings, with more than 10 million Spotify streams.
Final Countdown: Grand finalists: Stellar Perry. Stellar Perry and Jesse Teinaki made the semi-final cut for Team Delta.
The seasoned coach said she disconnected her heart from the decision to go with her head on the numbers game.
That proves to be a wise move when crunching the stats – Perry is her most streamed contestant, courtesy of that chemistry-fuelled rendition of Slide Away with Matt Gresham.
And while her remaining contestants’ most popular performances all hovered between the 13,000 and 15,000 streams, Teinaki is a frontrunner courtesy of the big following he attracted during last year’s contest.
Dramarama: The drama has been writ large all over Goodrem’s face in 2020.
If she ain’t happy, it’s all on the dial, culminating with Julie Bishop death stare channelling during Soma Sutton’s truth bomb/dummy spit after being cut.
Goodrem has also employed the walk-off during the ninth season.
She left her chair for the wings to inform producers she wanted to make Matt and Janie a duo when she couldn’t decide who to cut during Battles.
“Are there any rules on this show, ever?” Boy George joked.
KELLY ROWLAND
Winning: Rowland took out the title with the unique 2018 Voice winner Sam Perry.
You’re only as good as your last single: The R&B queen released the bouncy seduction single Coffee on April 17, the first taster from her fifth solo record.
The breezy track has more than five million Spotify streams, matched by another five million plus YouTube views of the Sports Illustrated-inspired swimsuit parade and rolling-in-sand official video.
Her biggest hit in the streaming era is the 2011 single Motivation.
Final Countdown: Grand finalist: Chris Sebastian. Kelly advanced Chris Sebastian and Mark Furze to the semis.
Sebastian has been a strong contender throughout the series as evidenced by the 30,000 plus streams for Titanium.
But the biggest fan support for her team members went to quirky teen singer Despina Savva with more than 67,000 streams for Teenage Fantasy and another 24,000 plus for Bette Davis Eyes.
Dramarama: Kelly had every right to be indignant about producers attempting to coerce her into putting the Wolf guy on her team when Guy broke the rules during the Blind Auditions. Seriously, why didn’t the producers short circuit his chair so it wouldn’t spin around?
But that walk-off in the middle of the spat about the mismatched Johnny v Bukhu battle had the whiff of manufactured drama.
Unless you’re swearing and sobbing in the wings, it’s a fake walk-off.
The Voice Grand Final, Sunday, 7pm, Channel 9
Originally published as The Voice Australia: Track which coach has the best record