how original is The Voice?

it's a Saturday night and I am home infront of the telly.

it may be time to admit that my life has slowed to a worrying pace as i join my girlfriend, and probably the rest of the nation, watching BBC's The Voice. 

yes, dire times indeed, but at least it fuels my mind for blog fodder.

you'll be relieved to know that I haven't been tuning in every week, but there have been a number of weeks when I have caught the 'blind' auditions and found it to be an interesting alternative to the standard X-factor format (although I can hardly claim to be an expert on it), it wasn't quite reinventing the wheel but the real difference that stood it apart was the fact that some contestants were able to choose between mentors if chosen by more than one of the judges, and that these judges could only fill ten slots on their team, meaning will.i.am, Jessie J, Tom Jones and the other one from The Script were all playing their own games to out-psych their competition and also bide their time to pick a strong team.

the very concept of The Voice was the strength of an individual's voice, so presumably everyone was vetted and there is no need for 'novelty' acts to fill the airtime, and anything that places Cassius Henry back in the public eye is alright by me (hey, can we maybe get Aaron Soul making a comeback next year?)





the real challenge would be to see how the mentoring and the representing of theses teams played out and whether this show would continue to pique my interest.

singing against each other in a boxing ring didn't sound bad if only the show wasn't on so long for me to not even bother tuning in when I noticed a repeat on BBC3 that dragged on for an hour and a half. and so, the live shows.


oh, hang on, this seems familiar.

like I said, i'm no expert, but isn't this what happens on the X-factor?

oh, and the result show is tomorrow.

I must admit I care a lot less now.


celebrities mentoring contestants as we yet again search for another new reality tv star...

oh hang on, this really does seem familiar.

other than the new spin on the selection process, it appears that the BBC is pretty much pulling the same shtick that it did ten years ago with Fame Academy only this time we have will.i.am, Jessie J, Tom Jones and the one from The Script working full-time instead of Ronan Keating and Mariah Carey casually dropping by to offer advice

yeah, the beeb found something real special when they picked up The Voice

and maybe we'll have found someone really special by the time the show runs its course

although if the contestants were told that they have the chance of becoming the next Alex Parks, maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't have bothered

 

Ed Sheeran

seriously, who is Ed Sheeran?

the mainstream may recognise him as as the rusty haired troubadour that has made significant inroads with his radio friendly hits, catapulted into the spotlight with the gentle lulls of The A-Team (a surprisingly un-radio friendly song about prostitution, drug abuse and death, that hit big regardless) and is likely to be the only possible contender to be putting paid to an all out Adele whitewash at next weeks Brit Awards.

but the truth is, this is only just scratching the surface, as well as hanging around with the likes of Rizzle Kicks and reportedly writing for One Direction, Sheeran's street credentials are boosted somewhat when his no.5 collaborations project EP, released early last year, is taken into consideration, featuring a handful of grime artists and rappers including Devlin, Wiley, JME, Dot Rotten and Wretch 32.



Ed was rejoined by a handful of his collaboraters for a special live session for BBC 1xtra last December, and since then it seems that he is showing no signs of slowing down or allowing himself to be pigeonholed easily, as various sources throughout December and January confirmed that Ed Sheeran had been recording with American rapper Yellawolf, and has also recorded duets with both Example and Jessie J.

and this week saw Sheeran leak the aforementioned 4 track collaboration with Yellawolf, from the comfort of his twitter feed, racking up more than 100,000 downloads in under 24 hours and throwing another curveball to those that expect him to follow pop formulas since his debut album hit the UK top spot upon its release last September.



so while music snobbery may tell you to hate on those that become popular, Ed Sheeran still maintains his integrity and remains an anomaly.