Wannabe stars can prepare for local take of ‘The Voice’
FANS of hit reality singing competition The Voice, could find themselves in the spotlight as M-Net brings The Voice South Africa to channel 101 next year.
Since its 2010 debut in the Netherlands as The Voice of Holland, the competition created by John de Mol, the television guru behind Big Brother and Fear Factor, has taken the world by storm. It has been a hit in the US, Australia and UK, where the likes of Adam Levine, Blake Sheldon, Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Pharrell Williams, Sir Tom Jones, Rita Ora, Kylie Minogue, Joel Madden and Ricky Martin have occupied the show’s red chairs to choose and then coach a variety of singers. Joining a long list of countries – from Afghanistan to Brazil, China Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam – South Africa is now the 60th country in the world that will add a local flavour to The Voice.
The Voice comprises three phases: once the best singers are identified at countrywide open auditions, they go through to a blind audition phase, where four coaches – all professional recording artists in their own right – listen to them sing without actually seeing them.
If a coach is interested in a singer, they push a button that swivels their chair around to face the contestant. If more than one coach turns their chair, the contestant has the opportunity to pick which coach they’d prefer to work with.
Once all of the coaches have a set amount of singers in their teams, the show moves onto battle rounds, where each coach pairs two of their contestants up to perform together, and then chooses only one to go through to the next round.
The last phase is the live shows, where the remaining contestants sing for the public’s votes, until one singer is officially named the winner of The Voice South Africa.
The names of the four South African coaches who will dedicate themselves to developing the singers in their team mentally, musically and technically will be announced later this year.
“The Voice South Africa will be looking for a class act singer with a unique sound – the kind that will make you stop to listen closely, or create awe-inspiring moments,” says Harrie Linders, MD of AMPN, the production company which will be creating the show for M-Net, in conjunction with international format right holders TALPA international.
“Instead of judging someone on his or her looks or personality, it’s all about the voice and it does not matter what your musical background is. The Voice encompasses a wide variety of music genres.”
Entries will be open to all South African citizens older than 18 years and there’s no upper age cut-off for entrants.
While there will be open auditions in the country’s biggest cities, singers who want to be part of the show will also be able to submit a song online for a possible fast track to the front of the audition queues.
Details about these submissions, the audition dates and venues, as well as the full prize package will be made available on the M-Net website from early September.
It’s all about the voice, and it does not matter what your musical background is