TV Review: The Voice

The Voice has landed here in the UK and is set to compete with Britian's Got Talent in a ratings war that has failed to interest me. I have neither the time nor the emotional capacity to follow both so have opted for The Voice because it is new and because the one time I watched BGT there was a singing dog on it and to be honest, it couldn't even sing very well.

So the show starts with the judges...sorry... mentors coming on stage and singing together, making it very clear that unlike some other singing competitions *cough...X Factor* the people judging/mentoring the singers can actually sing too *cough...Cheryl Cole*. The collaboration between Jessie J, Tom Jones, wil.i.am, and someone who I later found out was lead singer of The Script was odd but point well made so proverbial hats off to them. 

I have to admit though, I'm still not used to Tom Jones being so...silver. And not just silver but silver and orange. It's an alarming colour combo but I'm sure old women still throw their knickers at him in the street so I doubt he's bothered. Plus the USP of this show is that it's not about looks, which is handy, not just for Tom but many of the contestants too. The idea is that it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from or what you look like, the only thing that matters is the MUSIC. Pretty deep stuff. However I was promised no sob stories and here my friends is where I felt I was seriously let down by the show because not only was there was a woman who suffered from Alopecia, there was someone whose mum had recently passed away, a young girl who got bullied at school and had only raindrops for friends and, most tragic of all, there was Sean from 5ive. It's not that these people don't deserve a chance, of course they do. It's just that I don't want to have to hear their sad story or see their tears. MY LIFE IS HARD ENOUGH AS IT IS. And like I said, I was promised. 

But nevertheless it was a good show; all the contestants could sing, there weren't any Wagners or Jedwards thank God; the mentors represent different styles of music so there were a good variety of songs from the contestants; and there was a sense of genuine (healthy) rivalry between the mentors as they competed for certain contestants (as opposed to the fake smack-talking found in other talent shows *COUGH X FACTOR COUGHHHH*). Tom Jones' argument generally always boiled down to, "But I'm TOM JONES" (fair point), will.i.am used a lot of name dropping and Danny (from the Script, remember) basically just pleaded and begged which was funny because clearly the contestants didn't have a clue who the hell he was either. Although I had my reservations about Jessie J before the show (on account of her being really f*cking irritating), she was, at best, bearable to watch (although I cringed so hard at her 'ridonculoso' comment, I thought my face would implode). 

I defy you not to find this annoying

Overall my favourite performances were from Max Milner, who sang a mash-up of The Beatles' 'Come Together' and Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' and J Marie Cooper who sang Jessie J's 'Mamma Knows Best' (both clips below) but the highlight of the show, for all the wrong reasons, was when Sean from 5ive auditioned.

Watching the once fresh and baby-faced sean, now a balding, chubby Northerner (although I'm assuming he always was), sing 'Trouble' by Coldplay was almost more depressing than hearing that Danny from Hear Say had ended up working in Tesco. He played piano and sang his weary little heart out but it just wasn't enough to impress the judges...sorry...mentors. Maybe if J had come out in the middle and bust a rap things would have panned out differently? Oh well, I guess it might be time to start looking to see if Tesco have any vacancies...

Max Milner

J Marie Cooper

Anyway, even though there seem to be a lot of confusing knock-out rounds ahead (cue plenty of headache-inducing wailing and 'singing for survival'), I am already hooked and will definitely be tuning in next week. Beats an off-key singing dog any day.