Clarkson to aid ‘Voice’ hopefuls
MUSIC
LOS ANGELES — One of the big complaints about television music competition programs is more often than not, the winner — or even some of the top runners-up — won’t be heard from right away. They may eventually have a song do well on the charts, but there is a long process to finding that success.
Kelly Clarkson, who joins Alicia Keys, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton as the commanders of the spinning chairs on “The Voice” for its 14th season (starting Monday at 8 p.m. on NBC), sees the primary purpose of the music competition series as giving talented singers the opportunities to start building a career that will last more than a moment.
“I think you need to cultivate the record you want to be proud of,” Clarkson said. “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 she comes in to the music mix. She works with young singers making their way through the show’s format, which features five stages of competition: the blind auditions, the battle rounds, knockouts, playoffs and the live performance shows. Clarkson joins the team as a coach, but it’s a return to the competition series for her. She appeared on “The Voice” as a key adviser in past seasons helping to mentor the show’s aspiring artists.
Clarkson feels she has come full circle in helping young artists start their careers. “I still feel like the same kid that entered this industry,’’ she said.