Have you heard...

....The Voice? It's my new guilty pleasure. It wasn't at all what I was expecting and I highly recommend it! It's unique in the sense that there aren't any "bad" auditions to start off, which I found refreshing. It's very talent focused and doesn't waste time on those who aren't serious and just want their fifteen minutes.

The show jumps right in having already screened recorded auditions that were submitted pre-taping. The auditions we are seeing are those who have been called to audition Live for the coaches / judges and an audience (the audience has no sway or say in the selection though). The great thing is the contestants are judged solely on blind auditions. Not on appearance or sob stories etc. They don't even get to introduce themselves (besides to the TV viewers) until after they've auditioned. It's all based on their vocal talent alone. They take the stage with an audience that can see them and all four coaches are in swivel chairs with their backs turned. The singer does a two minute or so audition during which if the coaches like what they hear they can press their "I Want You" button and their chairs will turn around, revealing the singer to them. Each coach will be choosing eight voices and then coaching and helping them to progress into the next rounds (there are three rounds total). Ultimately one lucky person will win a recording contract and $100,000. The coaches are also competing with each other, trying to get one of their singers to be the winner which is a fun twist. If more than one coach turns their chair during the audition and wants the contestant on their team then the power shifts to the contestant who gets to choose who they want to be their coach. This is fun to watch because then you see these prominent and famous singer-coaches try to sell themselves to one of the "regular people". Someone they don't even know, but really want on their team because they believe in that person's talent / voice. That must feel very exciting and flattering to the person auditioning--a rare opportunity to have such powerful music moguls vying to work with you! A more detailed explanation of how the competition works can be found: here.

I'm hooked. I'm such a sucker for these talent shows making dreams come true. What reality show are you hooked on?

Anyways, if you don't have the time or interest in the show itself, here's a quick audition snippet worth hearing by one hot voice of a man, Javier Colon. (The full cover done by Quietdrive is one of my all time faves). Javier's got some other covers on YouTube that are pretty sweet too, in addition to his own written songs.