A hopeful contestant has just finished singing her heart out on The Voice. She stands alone on the stage, but all she sees are the backs of four red chairs and a sea of expectant audience members. The painful seconds tick by... and still no one turns. Gavin Rossdale, who sits in one of those red chairs alongside coaches will.i.am, Jennifer Hudson and Tom Jones, has revealed the hellish rule change that has come with The Voice's move from the BBC to ITV. "They’re left there with the 'stand of shame' when nobody turns around for them. "When they come out and sing they make them wait for the longest three minutes ever of their lives. And when they fail they’re left for what’s about a minute and a half and they’re just dying, dying. It really feels long." In the previous incarnation of The Voice on BBC1, the chairs would spin around at the end of blind auditions so coaches could give feedback and explain why they hadn't hit their buttons – and whether it had been a close call.
Now, the aspiring singers may never come face to face with the judges who reject them. While Rossdale is taken aback by the "stand of shame", one seasoned Voice judge claims it's an improvement. In the first episode of the series, Tom Jones tells newcomer Rossdale: “I think it’s better like this. If I was standing up there and the chairs didn’t turn, I’d want to get out." Rock star and former Bush frontman Rossdale is also concerned with how programme makers create anxiety and tension. Speaking ahead of the show launch, he said: "What they do is really milk the drama. When we’re sitting there and they say 'your next contestant is coming out', there’s a clock in front of us with a one minute thirty countdown for the blind [auditions]. "We’re just waiting for it start, but they’re standing on stage just waiting for the band to start, sweating and feeling terrible. They get the most out of all that drama." As they face out into the audience, the judges also have to face the wrath of the crowds.
"There were eight sessions of blind auditions, three and a half hours each – about 29 hours of listening to singers," Rossdale said. "Each session had about 2,000 people in the audience and they think you’re being really shitty and mean and deaf. "But firstly, they can see them. And they’re only seeing one session. We’ve got seven other sessions. If we’ve got 60 spots to fill then yeah, bring them all, bring us your aunty. But picking 10 people over 29 hours…" "It’s really difficult as people think you’re being unfair and really mean, when you’re trying to be really fair to somebody that comes out and gets it perfect." Welcome to the world of television, Gavin. The Voice will launch on Satuday 7th January at 8pm on ITVThe news that Christina Grimmie -- the 22-year-old singer who, as a New Jersey teen, made a name for herself on YouTube before broadening her fame in 2014 on Season 6 of “The Voice” – was shot and killed Friday while signing autographs for fans after a concert in Orlando, Fla., is tragic.
But for fans of “The Voice” who watched Grimmie show off, during her time on the show, not only her impressive vocal chops and stage presence, but also her musical creativity, willingness to experiment and upbeat resilience, the loss must be heartbreaking.Those who watched Grimmie turn four chairs during her blind audition and then stick around to finish third on the show, behind only sweet, shy, country-singing runner-up Jake Worthington (of Team Blake Shelton) and silky-soulful winner Josh Kaufman (of Team Usher), knew she was an unusual talent. Grimmie’s coach, Adam Levine, believed in her so fiercely that, at one point, he promised the audience she would end up winning the show. Then, when she didn’t, he announced that he planned to sign her to his own label. Levine took to Twitter to share that he and his wife, model Behati Prinsloo, were “absolutely devastated and heartbroken” by the news of Grimmie’s death. Shelton tweeted that he was “stunned and disgusted and heartbroken” at the loss of “that sweet little girl.”
“Voice” host Carson Daly said, via Twitter, that he was “so sad” and “still in shock” and noted that Grimmie was “special. As details about the circumstances of Grimmie’s death continue to emerge, it’s worth remembering some of the triumphs of the promising young singer’s all too short life. Here are six memorable moments of her time on “The Voice.” 1) Grimmie’s blind audition, when she seriously came in like a “Wrecking Ball” and showed off her powerful vocals and potent performance style on the Miley Cyrus hit, earning not only a four-chair turn, but standing ovations from both Usher, who dubbed her “phenomenal,” and Levine, who called her “engaging and passionate” and even more comfortable onstage than he. 2) Her intense Top 12-show take on Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse,” in which she brought new meaning to the lyrics “there’s no going back.” Usher called Grimmie a “baby Celine Dion.” Levine said she had “huge pop star” potential.
And Shelton was moved to remark that petite powerhouse Grimmie was “100% proof that dynamite comes in small packages.” 3) Her Top 10 performance of Drake’s “Hold On, We’re Going Home” on which she accompanied herself on the piano. Levine said he’d wanted her to do a song “that no one else would pick and do it in a way that no one else would do it,” adding that it was a “cool trailblazing thing to do on the show.” Guest mentor Graham Nash gushed that Grimmie’s vocal “range,” “control” and “depth,” at age 20, were “insane.” Shelton said it was the moment she went “from being a singer to being an artist.” 4) At the time, the decision to sing Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” with the help of a voice processor called a vocoder during the semifinals maybe didn’t seem like such a great idea. It put Grimmie in danger of being sent home. (Thankfully, she was saved.) Today, though, it seems like evidence of Grimmie’s creativity, as did her version of fun.’s “Some Nights” – with cool lighting effects and tons of balloons – on that same show.
5) The performance that prompted Levine to unapologetically promise viewers that Grimmie would win the show if they saved her, Timbaland’s “Apologize.” 6) Grimmie’s performance of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in the finals, which Levine said was fearless and Shakira called “flawless.” (Her finale duet with Adam Levine on Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" was also fab.)In fact, pretty much any time Grimmie got on the stage that season, she solidified the impression that she was destined to be a star. (There was the duet she did with Ed Sheeran during the Season 6 finale, which moved me to write that “their intertwined voices sounded like a caress,” and the time she returned the following season to sing her own song, “With Love,” and, and, and …) That she didn’t get a chance to live that destiny for long is just heartbreaking. Truly.Fans and peers remember slain 'Voice' contestant Christina GrimmieChristina Grimmie on video: A natural YouTube star offered a bounty of musical styles'Words cannot express': Christina Grimmie's brother thanks fans for GoFundMe donations