Season 24 of The Voice has featured some incredibly talented performers, and as we get closer to the live shows, it’s still hard to tell who between John Legend, Reba McEntire, Gwen Stefani and Niall Horan has the winner on their team. It’s a good thing the singers have been so enjoyable, because I can’t help but think this season has been lacking a little without Blake Shelton. In fact, the more I think about the cowboy’s reasons for leaving The Voice after 23 seasons, the more frustrated I get with the current coaches’ feedback.
Spending more time with his family and being able to pursue other projects were among the reasons that made Blake Shelton decide 12 years on The Voice were enough. But another thing that he talked about in his final seasons was not having any new advice to give the contestants, and that bothers me, because I feel like the current coaches aren’t doing any better in that respect. They have been giving all of the artists the same one piece of feedback for the whole season so far: Connect emotionally to the song.
There are plenty of ways the musical mentors could help their team members, from technical aspects like how to hit a particular note or how to handle stage fright. Ariana Grande was big on how to maintain vocal health during her time as a coach on The Voice, and some coaches have helped with performance aspect. If those conversations are happening, we’re certainly not seeing much of them, because In Season 24, the hopefuls' success seems to live and die by how well the singers connect to the lyrics.
Count how many times the words “emotion,” “connect” or “storyteller” are used in an episode (but for the love of God, don’t make it into a drinking game). Reba McEntire got on her team members earlier in the season, telling one Battle duo that if they couldn’t portray emotion to the audience, it was just a song and not a performance. I loved the honest feedback from the new coach; I just wish that wasn't the only critique being given.
Gwen Stefani seemed to understand the fans’ — or at least my — disappointment in not having Blake Shelton around anymore. While she echoed her husband’s sentiments that “there's only so many times you can repeat yourself,” Stefani expressed frustration because he’s so entertaining to watch regardless.
Blake Shelton wanting to spend more time with his wife and as a stepdad to Gwen Stefani’s three sons is a perfectly valid reason for wanting to leave The Voice (or, at least it would be if she hadn’t returned just as Shelton was leaving). I also get his wanting to free up his work schedule. However, if the concern is over whether or not he was able to find new things to say to the contestants, we’re not getting that from the Season 24 coaches anyway, and I’d rather have the cowboy around than not.
New episodes of The Voice air on NBC at 8 p.m. ET Mondays and 9 p.m. ET Tuesdays, and are available to stream the next day with a Peacock subscription.
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