“The Voice” USA is based on the original “The Voice of Holland” singing competition on TV. The concept of the series is to find a new singing talent, whether solo or duet, contested by aspiring singers, age 15 and up, and pick from public auditions.
The winner is normally determined by television viewers voting by telephone, Internet, SMS and iTunes Store purchases of the audio-recorded artists’ vocal performances.
Winners of the “The Voice” received $100,000 and a record deal with the Universal Music Group for winning the competition. As the show already has eight seasons, there have also been eight winners to date including Javier Colon, Jermaine Paul, Cassadee Pope, Danielle Bradberry, Tessanne Chine, Josh Kaufman, Craig Wayne Boyd, and Sawyer Fredericks.
The show employs a panel of four coaches who critique the artists’ performances. Each coach guides their teams of selected artists through the remainder of the season. They also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, thus making them the winning coach.
The original coaching panel consisted of Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, and CeeLo Green. Eventually, Shakira and Usher took the places of Aguilera and Green in seasons four and six. Similarly, Pharell Williams and Gwen Stefani replaced Shakira and Usher in season seven. Williams eventually became a regular of “The Voice” beginning with Season 8 by officially replacing Green.