An Australian man has exposed the sad truth about The Voice and hundreds of music fans agree with him.
The man, who has just 94 followers on TikTok, has racked up more than 3,400 likes and hundreds of comments on a simple video explaining his “hatred” for the singing reality show.
“I can’t describe how much I despise this show,” she captioned a short clip from The Voice Australia, which began airing its 12th season last fortnight and features Guy Sebastian, Adam Lambert, LeAnn Rimes and Kate Miller-Heidke as coaches.
‘It’s been 12 years and not a single artist of any kind has emerged,’ it read.
‘As an aspiring artist, how can you think that applying for this event is a good idea?’
The vast majority of the more than 200 Australians who commented on the TikTok video agreed with him.
“The judges are all failed artists,” one person wrote, to which the video’s creator responded: “The guy hasn’t been relevant on the charts for a long time but I admit his voice is pretty good.”
“Glorified karaoke,” said another.
An Australian man has revealed the sad truth about The Voice. Guy Sebastian is pictured with his fellow The Voice coaches Adam Lambert, LeAnn Rimes and Kate Miller-Heidke
“Where else would the local RSL choose an artist with free entry from 9pm to midnight?” added a third.
“Just looking out for Adam,” one person wrote.
“The Australian music industry doesn’t support local artists either! Neither does the radio! When was the last time you heard an Australian on the radio? This is nothing more than a glorified version of karaoke!” exclaimed another.
“The contestants should immediately be given a Logie for their portrayal of those pretending to know who LeAnn Rimes is,” joked one Australian.
LeAnn joined the TV singing competition this year after local singer Jessica Mauboy, Britain’s Rita Ora and American hitmaker Jason Derulo left their big red chairs.
The man, who has just 94 followers on TikTok, has racked up more than 3,400 likes and hundreds of comments on a simple video in which he explains that he hates competition because no one who comes out of it becomes a successful artist. Pictured: LeAnn Rimes
Australian Idol winner Guy, who started on The Voice in 2019, is the last remaining judge on the 2023 line-up.
Despite this season of The Voice Australia cementing itself as The Block’s prime-time ratings contender, industry insiders claim it may not be enough to persuade new coach LeAnn, who also appears on The Voice UK, to commit to regular appearances in Australia.
A source close to the television world claimed that some of the show’s younger contestants were initially “reluctant” to choose LeAnn as their new coach because they “didn’t know who she was.”
However, Adam “has proven to be popular,” the source told New Idea, because he is an example of how to make a career last after winning the competition.
“As an aspiring artist, every year I have to explain this logic to 100 friends, family, coworkers, etc. when they tell me I need to audition,” another irate viewer commented on TikTok.
“I totally agree that the judges set them up to say ‘oh you’re a star you’ll go far’ and you’ll never be seen or heard from again,” read another comment.
“They always do the ‘I’ll be your mentor forever’ thing and I bet as soon as the show ends you never hear from them again,” the TikToker responded.
One fan theorized that past winners, like Lachie Gill, probably don’t hear from their mentors after the show ends.
Melbourne singer-songwriter Lachie Gill, who won the 11th season of The Voice Australia in 2022, may have already proven this theory to be true.
The former schoolteacher, who was coached by British singer Rita and received $100,000 and a contract with record label Universal Music Australia, revealed in November that he had not heard from the pop star since.
“We received a few messages right after the show but I haven’t heard from Rita since,” Lachie told Sydney Confidential in November.
“I haven’t reached out to her either, so I don’t know if she’s responded. I’d like to hope she does, but I never wanted to jump on her bandwagon to do it.
He added that he would have liked to be trained by Guy because of their common points.
“He’s Australian and I knew I’d see him in the future, but Rita blocked him. I understand how busy her life would be. Sometimes I think it would be great to talk to her, but it doesn’t bother me too much.”
It seems Guy Sebastian may be tired of his role as a judge on The Voice, as claims emerge that the singer is a “total diva” on set.
Despite a high turnover of coaches (20 since the show’s debut in 2012), Guy’s tenure is second only to that of Delta Goodrem, who holds the record with eight seasons on Channel Nine.
Guy came in for some heavy criticism in the comments section, but not because of the allegations of “total diva” behaviour that Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed over the weekend.
“I stopped watching after Guy Sebastian’s brother won. Isn’t the point of the show to give people with no connections in the industry a chance to get a record deal?” commented another former fan.
Channel Nine has been accused of manipulating The Voice, using a loophole to get around its “no family” rule after Guy’s younger brother Chris eliminated the competition in 2020.
Chris Sebastian’s crowning moment was met with outrage and controversy as he emerged the winner over season favourites Siala Robson and Johnny Manuel.
According to the comments on this latest video, fans have neither forgiven nor forgotten. “Johnny had one of the best voices I’ve ever heard and yet Guy Sebastian’s brother won,” wrote another person.
Chris Sebastian, Guy’s younger brother and 2020 winner, previously admitted the show has a “track record” of producing singers “who regress into obscurity”.
“I’m currently on the show,” Yorke Heath wrote as the current contestant entered the brutal comments section.
The Adelaide singer defended his involvement in the series, saying the responsibility of becoming a star is “the job” of the artist, not the TV show.
“It’s given me some good exposure, beyond that, it’s my job to create a career! I don’t think you can expect me to do everything for you.”
However, this did little to change hearts or minds, with many viewers responding to Yorke’s comment with words like: “Sad.”
“They are DESPERATE to get contestants too,” another fan added, while someone else added that fans can tell producers have gone all out now that they are in competition with Seven’s revamped Australian Idol.
“It’s noticeable. This year’s contestants are very weak and are spinning around in their chairs,” read one response.
“Australian Idol was much better,” said another.
Many other comments lamented that the show was a vehicle to “promote” the judges’ new albums and the long-standing complaint that each contestant’s “sad and unnegotiable story” took up more time than the episode’s performances.
A small handful of The Voice fans defended the show, with the only positive comments mentioning Celia Pavey, aka Vera Blue, who came second on The Voice in 2013 but later became an ARIA Award-winning artist.
Previous winners of The Voice Australia are: Karise Eden (2012), Harrison Craig (2013), Anja Nissen (2014), Ellie Drennan (2015), Alfie Arcuri (2016), Judah Kelly (2017), Sam Perry (2018) , Diana Rouvas (2019), Chris Sebastian (2020), Bella Taylor Smith (2021), Lachie Gill (2022), Tarryn Stokes (2023).