Clarkson sure to use voice freely on ‘ Voice’

LOS ANGELES — One of the big complaints about TV music-competition shows is that, more often than not, the winner — or even some of the top runners-up — won’t be heard from right away.

The top performers might eventually have a song do well on the charts, but the path to such success is frequently long.

But Kelly Clarkson — set to join Alicia Keys, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton as the commanders of the spinning chairs on “The Voice” — sees the primary purpose of the NBC competition as giving talented singers the chance to start building careers that will last more than a moment.

“I think you need to cultivate the record you want to be proud of,” she said after a news conference with TV critics to discuss her role as a judge on “The Voice.” The show’s 14th season will premiere tonight.

“It’s not necessarily about all the people who hit right after but about cultivating all these careers that might be blossoming right now and they have not reached their full potential.”

That’s where Clarkson comes in. She’ll work with young singers making their way through the show’s format, which features five stages of competition: blind auditions, battle rounds, knockouts, playoffs and live performance shows.

Clarkson will be a coach, but the role marks her return to the series. In previous seasons, she appeared as a key adviser to mentor the show’s aspiring artists.

Clarkson said she feels that she has come full circle in helping young artists.

“It’s definitely awesome to be able to fight the three,” she said of her co-judges. “The coaches on my season have all won a season. So it’s definitely cool to be able to tell them that I’ve navigated a competition, and I bring that kind of knowledge to the table.

“I still feel like the same kid who entered this industry. I still have the same sense of awe about it and the same excitement.”

Clarkson doesn’t like the