Judge Guy Sebastian’s stunning admission about The Voice
Australian star Guy Sebastian has addressed the biggest criticism of The Voice, and offered advice that every contestant should heed.
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Guy Sebastian suggests critics of The Voice should give up their expectations the show will create pop’s Next Big Thing.
The T.R.U.T.H. chart-topper, who has enjoyed two decades of success since winning the inaugural Australia Idol in 2003, believes both the talent quest’s shorter season, compared to its predecessors, and the frustrations in matching the winner with a potential hit song are at the heart of its failure to fashion a pop star from its contestants.
“I think there’s no chance for anyone unless they are prepared to be thrown to the wolves, it’s a really challenging industry and it’s changed a lot in the last 20 years,” Sebastian says.
“It’s unrealistic to have this notion that we’re finding a superstar because we’re removing one of the most important equations out of that, which is time.
“The Voice is an amazing stepping stone the same way that Idol was but Idol (went for triple) the time, so getting Australia to really know the artist is the difficulty and they need to keep that exposure up, and that’s very difficult for them to do.”
The 11th season of the singing contest comes after the Seven Network picked up the show last year from Nine and relaunched it with the coaching panel of seasoned judges Sebastian and Keith Urban, and newcomers Rita Ora and Jessica Mauboy.
Seven’s 2021 reboot enjoyed a ratings boost compared with the final seasons on Nine which had seen viewers turn off in droves as the singing was eclipsed by the infighting and confected drama among its coaches.
Sebastian believes last year’s new-look The Voice struck a chord with locked-down fans, peaking at more than 1.4 million viewers.
“Obviously the timing of it was great, right after the Olympics and people were in lockdown and hungry for positive entertainment,” he says.
“So it was hugely successful and you could be a little bit nervous going back in, wondering if we are going to replicate that, but with one season under our belt as the four coaches, what we found is we just slotted straight back into it.
“I knew how much I could push Rita, she knew how much she could push me, I’m still singing Keith’s praises and then Jess, that was her first TV gig like that, she’s even more confident this year.”
The Australian version of The Voice franchise has long been a crash test dummy for tweaking the format.
For example, Sebastian says last year’s The Cut section was too brutal and it has been adjusted, and there is the addition of a “golden button” where standout singers can be advanced directly to the Battles round.
“There is a Cut round but it’s not as brutal as it was last year and there’s also an opportunity, a golden ticket, where you can choose one person from your team through to the Battles,” he explains.
“The only thing that I struggle with is you put someone through with that and there’s already limited amounts of time that they get to perform so you don’t get to hear them develop in the same way as other singers.”
As the Seven promos teasing the new season have shown, the 2022 singers are mostly amateurs, the kind of naturally gifted vocalists whose raw talent – combined with heartstring-yanking backstory – will prompt viewers to wonder why they hadn’t had a crack at following their artistic dreams before.
“People fire up about the backstories … but I think that’s what makes the show human,” he says.
“And we’re trying to move away from just professional singers that couldn’t make it for some reason; that was boring me a lot as a coach if I’m being honest. There’s a place for them, but now the weight is balanced by a lot of people that need mentoring, a lot of people who don’t know how good they are.”
Singers like last year’s winner Bella Taylor Smith, from Team Guy, who was the frontrunner for the winner’s $100,000 cheque and recording deal with EMI Music Australia throughout the short, sharp and fast six-week season.
Her post-win single Higher peaked at No. 31 on the ARIA charts and has generated 1.6 million streams on Spotify since its release in September.
She will release her new EP Look Me In The Eye on April 22 as she heads out with Sebastian as the opening act on his pandemic-rescheduled T.R.U.T.H. tour.
As far as Sebastian is concerned, Smith’s career starts now and she still has a lot of work to do.
“I wouldn’t just take a random from my team on the show on my tour as support; I genuinely think her voice is insane and to me, she’s one of the most special singers we’ve ever had,” he says.
“Taking her with me gives her a real insight into how touring in Australia works and I’m hoping she will pick my show apart to learn what works and what doesn’t work and that will then affect her songwriting.”
The Voice is on Seven, Sunday at 7pm and Monday and Tuesday at 7.30pm. For Guy Sebastian tour details and tickets guysebastian.com
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