It always fascinates me to hear when the coaches of The Voice keep in touch with the artists post-show, whether it’s Blake Shelton booking team members at Ole Red, Michael Bublé helping his Season 26 winner produce his album or Kelsea Ballerini handing out her phone number to eliminated contestants. Considering how close they become, I’ve always wondered how much time the singers actually get to spend with Niall Horan, Snoop Dogg and the other mentors. Thanks to an EP, now I know.
The Voice Season 28 changed up the Battles rules, as the artists picked their own duet partner instead of the coaches making that choice. This created some amazing and unexpected duos but also an added challenge for Niall Horan (who declared the Battles his “least favorite” part of the show) and the rest. So how much time did they have to work out each arrangement? Executive producer Audrey Morrissey told SheKnows:
The coaching sessions take place over four days, and the actual battle performances take two days.
If the coaches are meeting with every member of their team over four days, that probably means they’re getting a good few hours of face-to-face time. Then the contestants apparently have access to their coaches’ phone numbers or email addresses for further direction. Morrissey continued:
Each coach has their own style — some are avid texters while others email. All off-camera interactions intensify as the artists move through the competition and the stakes get higher. The No. 1 communication is about song choice.
It sounds like the amount of communication that happens between the superstars and their proteges is dictated by the coach, but Ariana Grande — who admits she got too attached to her team — suggested in Season 21 that there may be a limit to such interaction. The Wicked star claimed she had “broken every rule in my contract” by talking to her artists “all the time” and was told (presumably by producers) that she wasn’t supposed to do that.
The EP didn’t mention any limit but did say the degree of coach involvement varied, with some loving to get involved with the whole production and others preferring to focus on the music.
But even those artists aren’t left high and dry. Snoop Dogg shouted out all of the people we don’t get to see helping the artists’ journeys, including hair and makeup, wardrobe, vocal coaches and, of course, the band. The “Gin and Juice” rapper told Access Hollywood last month (via E! News):
The behind-the-scenes people don’t get the credit that they deserve. It’s a lot of people, moving things, making it happen…All of these people back here that make our job easy, all we gotta do is walk onstage and do what we do.
After 28 seasons, it seems like The Voice is probably a well-oiled machine that does make the job of the coaches pretty easy, but it sounds like it takes a lot of people to make that happen. I’m just glad to hear the coaches are actually involved with their team members and not just popping in on performance day.
I love to see the relationships develop, and I can’t wait to see what twists and turns await the next round of competition. Tune in at 8 p.m. ET Monday, October 27, on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription, as the Battle round ends and the teams kick off Knockouts.