CAN NEW COACH OLLY FIND THE VOICE’S NEXT STAR?
Four red chairs, four large buttons, hundreds of hopeful singers – The Voice is back. GEORGIA HUMPHREYS discovers what’s in store for the reality show’s seventh series
EVERYONE’S favourite spinning chair talent show is under way – and as fans of The Voice will confirm, it was a storming first episode.
X Factor star Olly Murs joins returning coaches will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and Jennifer Hudson for a seventh series – the second since it moved to ITV.
Presented by Emma Willis, the search for a star kicks off with blind auditions.
“We only get one shot at it and there is no time to review it and think about it,” says 77-year-old Sir Tom. “You either do it (spin round) or they’ve gone.”
SPOTTING A STAR
ASKED if what he’s searching for in a star has changed over the years, Sir Tom says: “It’s hard to say until you hear it. I tend to go for solid singers, but sometimes I hear something in a sweet voice that doesn’t have to be big. “But it has to hit me, it has to come across as being real. The person has to get inside the song and live it.” The producer side of LA-born will.i.am, 42, comes out when the same question is put to him. “There’s a bunch of songs (on my hard drive) I have that I have written with John Legend, David Guetta etc just sitting there, and now I’m listening for people to kill those hits,” the founding member of hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas shares.
Meanwhile, new boy Olly, 33, adjusted quickly to his place on the panel.
“Jennifer and Tom love big soulful voices,” he says, “so I thought there was no point me trying to go down that lane and compete with them on that level.
“So I had to find my own vibe, and I have.”
NEW TEAM
IT’S clear everyone agrees Essex-born Olly – who was runner-up on The X Factor in 2009 – has settled in to the judging side of a talent show.
“How can you not fit in when you are someone like him?” exclaims 41-year-old Emma, who is also fronting Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5. “He is so easy and lovely.”
Olly admits he’s learning “all the time on the job”.
“The others have got more experience so I am listening to what they’re saying, but I’m also trying to be me and give them what I think,” he shares.
“I don’t want to copy what Jennifer’s saying. My only tactic is to turn first.”
Even with her time on the US version of The Voice, Chicago-born singer Jennifer still finds whittling down the hopefuls tough.
“When we don’t turn our chairs and we have to let people go – that’s a feeling that you can never get used to,” admits the 36-year-old, who came seventh on American Idol, and won an Oscar for her role in Dreamgirls.
ENTERTAINMENT FACTOR
IT’S not just the contestants who belt out songs – all four coaches performed a rendition of Nina Simone’s Feeling Good in the action-packed first episode. You can expect plenty more where that came from, too.
“Sometimes I start singing without even realising, at the drop of the hat, and then having Tom sitting next to me... you might catch a bit of singing between the two of us in our chairs,” teases Jennifer.
Welsh crooner Sir Tom says he now feels “more relaxed” on the show.
“The more you do it, the more you realise that you don’t have to try and be funny,” he adds.
“You should just be yourself and everybody benefits from it – the viewers and the singers especially – if you give your honest opinion of how you feel and tell the truth.”
The Voice continues on Saturday at 8pm on ITV. Episode one is available to watch now via the ITV Hub.