If you weren’t able to catch last night’s The Voice coaches/Top 12 performance at House of Blues Sunset Strip, no worries – I have you covered. Here are photos of each of the Top 12 from House of Blues via the Big Red Chairs Facebook page. You can also see NBC’s photos of the coaches in my Examiner news blast. I have some photos of the coaches that I shot which I’ll be posting over the weekend. Enjoy!
Category Archives: Cee Lo Green
People’s Choice Award Initial Nominees Include Lots of ‘The Voice’
It’s time again to vote for the People’s Choice Awards, and The Voice is well-represented on the PCA’s first-wave ballot, which pools a field of 12 possibles before narrowing them down to the 5 nominees eligible to win the awards.
Not only is the show up for recognition itself as Favorite Competition TV Show, but all four coaches could be picked for the shortlist for the Favorite Celebrity Judge trophy, Adam Levine and Maroon 5 have possible nods for Favorite Band, Favorite Album (Overexposed) and Favorite Music Video (“Payphone”), Blake Shelton is up for consideration to be nominated for Favorite Country Artist, and host Carson Daly is a candidate for Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host.
Only the top 5 vote-getters in each category will become official nominees on the final ballot being revealed on November 15. You can vote now and vote often to make our Voice folks nominees for the People’s Choice Awards by visiting their online ballot.
Lots of Updates: Team Cee Lo’s Christmas Album, Lisa Scinta’s Kickstarter, Xenia’s New Single
Thursday is shaping up to be a big day for The Voice fans, as either new music or news about new music is emerging. Here’s what I know so far, and this post will be updated as more develops.
- Several members of Team Cee Lo, including Season 1′s Vicci Martinez and Season 2′s Jamar Rogers and James Massone, have been spotted in Las Vegas recently. Why? Because they’re appearing on coach Cee Lo Green‘s Christmas album, Cee Lo’s Magic Moment. Cee Lo’s extended an invitation to as many as 20 of his past and present team members to join him on the recording. It comes out at the end of this month; you can pre-order a copy via Amazon. (If you’re counting, that’s two coaches and one artist with a Christmas album this year…it’s a Voice Christmas!)
- It also came out in a recent Billboard interview that Cee Lo signed his Season 2 finalist Juliet Simms “to a management contract.” It’s not clear what specifically that means, but congrats Juliet!
- Speaking of coaches, you can also pre-order a deluxe version of Christina Aguilera’s Lotus, which is due out next month.
- For those of you upset by Tuesday’s editing down of the battle rounds, we’ve found Team Christina’s Lisa Scinta. She has a Kickstarter up to fund a new release effort. Click here to take a look – we can’t get her more airtime on TV, but we can help her get a record made.
- If you’re not near a WalMart, WalMart.com finally made available Chris Mann‘s Home for Christmas EP. Here’s the item page for you to order yours!
- Team Blake’s Xenia announced via Facebook that her new single would be available on iTunes today. You can download “Hiding Places” here. Interestingly, it’s copyrighted to Xenia rather than Universal Republic, which unfortunately looks like it confirms our speculation that UMG let her go.
And here’s a new cover video from Team Adam’s Karla Davis:
It’s Official: Christina and Cee Lo Out, Shakira and Usher In
The wild speculation is over just about as quickly as it began: as we all figured awhile ago, The Voice‘s original foursome will not all be back in Spring 2013 for Season 4.
Via press release from NBC, Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green “will take the cycle off to fulfill other commitments before returning next year.” Their replacements will be Shakira and Usher.
Adam Levine and Blake Shelton will keep their big red chairs for at least one more season.
It’s worth noting that both Christina and Cee Lo are quoted in the press release as saying they’ll be back, with Cee Lo point-blank saying “I will return for season five,” which would be in Fall 2013. I also like the below quote from Christina, because it says what many of us have brought up since the idea of a year-round show was pitched:
Since this year NBC and The Voice have decided to tape back-to-back seasons, requiring a full-year commitment, it is important for me to take season four off, allowing me to support my music that my fans have been waiting for.
Whether or not you’re a fan of Christina as a coach, I don’t think anyone can argue with her logic. Furthermore, I wouldn’t be surprised if you see Adam and/or Blake take Season 5 off, given that they’ve expressed the exact same desire. (I’m actually surprised that Adam is staying, given his tour commitments with Maroon 5.)
The important thing is that – although plans can certainly change – right now it looks like we’ll have the original fab four back in the fall of next year. That’s certainly something they didn’t have to do, and I think it speaks to their commitment to the show and to helping new talent.
How do you think a Christina-less, Cee Lo-less, Shakira-and-Usher-plus Voice will pan out?
Editorial: No, ‘The Voice’ Coaches Won’t Coach Forever (and Why That’s OK)
There’s been a lot of media noise about The Voice coaches recently. Yahoo! TV ran a story based off an Access Hollywood report, and the headline was Blake Shelton On His The Voice Future: I Don’t Know ‘How Much Longer’ I’ll Last. That wasn’t the first such article I’ve seen, and it grinds my gears a little bit. People seem to be trying to create some sort of drama or suspense around the fate of our Fabulous Foursome, and it just doesn’t make any sense to me, because this isn’t breaking news.
Let’s be clear: it’s when, not if, one or more of the coaches will leave The Voice.
The writing has been on the wall since May, when NBC concluded Season 2 and then announced Season 3 exactly a week later. It’s common sense that these four working artists cannot tape two seasons a year and have time to tour and be able to record new music and have any semblance of their own lives. There just aren’t enough days on the calendar. Something has to give, and as Adam, Blake, Cee Lo, and Christina are performers first and TV personalities second, it will be and should be The Voice.
Don’t get me wrong: I appreciate all four superstar coaches – but because I appreciate them, I want them to be able to pursue their careers, spend time with their loved ones, and do anything else they might want to do. We know that at least two of the four have had to push back other professional commitments in order to accomodate the filming of Season 3. Cee Lo announced he was delaying the start of his residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, and as a Maroon 5 fan, I was deeply disappointed to hear that although their new album Overexposed dropped in June, North America will probably have to wait until 2013 to see the band on tour. The success of the show shouldn’t come at the expense of fans of the music.
Blake, in particular, has made it very clear that it won’t, either. In said Access Hollywood interview, he’s quoted as saying that “As far as Christina and Adam and Cee Lo and I – if we want to tour, there’s not a chance of that doing back to back seasons. That’s not acceptable to me.” He’s absolutely right.
So we ought to stop acting like the idea that the coaches could leave is some sort of surprise; the only questions up in the air are who will be the one(s) to go and when they’ll make that decision. We could see one of them leave now and someone else leave later on; it could happen as early as Spring 2013, or perhaps they’ll be able to juggle things for at least another half-year. (If anyone can make a schedule work, it’s Voice uber-producer Mark Burnett, whose name is on more shows than would seem humanly possible, yet he does it.) They could even leave and come back again. Who knows? And until we do know, there’s no sense in getting all worked up about it. That’s much ado about nothing much.
The bottom line is this situation was created by the business of television. I have a hard time believing that whoever at NBC decided to run two cycles of The Voice a year didn’t realize the position it would put the coaches in – but they have a ratings winner on their hands, and with big ratings the network makes more money, which any business needs to do. I can only assume that the execs figured that the unique format of The Voice will keep it viable after the departure of any of its coaches, like how Law & Order survived numerous cast changes and stayed on the air for two decades. I’m not sure I agree with that logic, but I do understand it.
I also know there’s nothing I can do to change the prognosis. So instead of needlessly speculating, I’m going to enjoy Season 3 while it’s in front of me. I’m going to appreciate that we have Adam, Blake, Cee Lo and Christina for at least one more go-around. Now more than ever is the time to thank these four huge stars for the time, effort and heart they put into the show, and all the wonderful things that have come out of their participation, whether it’s introducing you to a new artist you now love, or fondly looking back on moments such as the premiere of “Moves Like Jagger” or the introduction of Purrfect the Cat. Those things wouldn’t exist if anyone else were sitting in those big red chairs.
Whatever happens and whenever it happens, Adam, Blake, Cee Lo and Christina have changed the face of music competition on television – and for that, and so much more, I can only offer them a heartfelt thank-you.
For more from Brittany Frederick on The Voice, visit Big Red Chairs and follow me on Twitter (@bigredchairs).
(c)2012 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Exclusive to Big Red Chairs. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.
Big Red Chairs: July 5, 2012 – Tony Vincent, Shields Brothers, Moses Stone, Angie Johnson, Season 3
CR: NBC
Welcome to Big Red Chairs, the blog for all of your The Voice needs…this week, a couple of big personalities put out new material, there’s one heck of a Voice party coming up at The Grove, and what are Adam and Cee Lo doing together? Without further ado…
New Music: Tony Vincent, Shields Brothers, Moses Stone
A big hand to Team Cee Lo’s Tony Vincent, who became the first season two Voice artist to launch a crowd-funding project (in his case, with PledgeMusic), fund it and put out the finished product. Tony’s new EP In My Head has been released to the people who pledged to his Kickstarter – and I’ve gotten an early listen to it!
The first track is one you should already know: “Starting Over,” which was released as a single earlier this year. There are three other new songs: the title track “In My Head,” as well as “Stronger Than Before” and “Where Did I Go Wrong.” Lyrically compelling, full of heart, each of them are catchy in their own way (I caught myself singing along with multiple tracks before I’d even finished my first listen of them!), and this definitely should hook some new fans as well as longtime ones. At least, it left me wanting a full album.
One of the things I love most about this EP is that Tony makes a very clear artistic statement with it. You can obviously hear his Britpop influences in each track, in addition to his ability to compose lyrics that are both articulate and with a real meaning. He’s so very different from 80% of what you hear in music right now, and he owns that. It’s the quality I admire most in Tony: he’s always been secure in and forthcoming about who he is both artistically and as an individual, and you can tell that this EP is true Tony Vincent.
The EP will be released to the general public on July 10, and I’ll post a link as soon as that happens. You definitely want to grab your copy as soon as possible!
In other news, Team Christina’s Moses Stone has released the trailer for his new documentary series, Dreams To Reality. You can watch that trailer here. Much like the Dia’s Next Stage videos from season one, Moses will be showing us where his life takes him next – and since he has a variety of ventures, this will no doubt be an interesting series to watch.
And to celebrate the 4th of July holiday, Team Cee Lo’s Shields Brothers brought us their cover of the Springsteen classic “Born In The USA,” as only they can ever do. Check that one out here.
Getting Music Made: Angie Johnson
Team Cee Lo’s Angie Johnson has now joined the ranks of Voice artists on Kickstarter. You can go here to help Angie make a new recording.
And here’s a heads-up: Lindsey Pavao is working on a Kickstarter as well! I’ll be sure to post a link as soon as that goes live. It seems that many of our Voice alumni have decided to skip “the machine” and go directly to their fans to make their new music…and so far, they’ve been pretty darn successful!
Tour Updates: Jamar Rogers, Tony Lucca, Chris Mann, Juliet Simms, Dia Frampton
Los Angeles fans are getting a lot of love from The Voice of recent. If you somehow missed Jamar Rogers on his recent tour with Vicci Martinez, he’ll be at the Hotel Cafe this Saturday, July 7. Speaking from experience, Hotel Cafe is an excellent venue, so if you are anywhere near the area, definitely do not miss him! More info here.
Something big is also coming the West Coast way: as part of The Grove Los Angeles’ Summer Concert Series, four alumni will be there on July 25: season one runner-up Dia Frampton, as well as season two finalists Tony Lucca, Chris Mann and Juliet Simms. The best part is this concert is free! It starts at 7:30. More information can be found at the venue website.
Coach News: Adam and Cee Lo Make A Movie
For somebody who’s never acted before, coach Adam Levine is getting a lot of acting work! He and fellow coach Cee Lo Green will both appear in the upcoming film Can A Song Save Your Life? opposite Keira Knightley and Hailee Steinfeld. Adam plays the boyfriend who dumps Knightley’s character, after which she eventually meets a group of eclectic musicians, including one played by Cee Lo. Adam has already tweeted pictures from the shooting of the flick in New York City. (Although it’s worth noting that Simple Plan already answered the title question.)
Season 3 News: Battle Round Dates Announced
Mark your calendars: 1iota is already taking ticket requests for Season 3 battle rounds, which will film next month. But there’s a (so far unexplained) twist! Battle rounds are listed by their website as taking place August 3-5, but there are two more days listed as “face offs,” August 10 and 11. What’s a “face off”? We have no idea.
What I do know, though, is that this partly conflicts with Season 4 auditions, which take place in Los Angeles on August 11 and 12. So if you’re planning to audition for Season 4, you might have to miss out on the opportunity to see a possibly new part of Season 3…which seems weird, but that’s how the cookie crumbles this time around.
If you’re counting, we’re only about two months away from the premiere of Season 3…are you ready?
Also, FYI, this blog will be taking a hiatus next week as I’m out of town covering San Diego Comic-Con International 2012. But I’ll keep tweeting the latest updates as work permits, so be sure you’re following on Twitter if you’re not already!
That’s all I’ve got for this week; as usual, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow me on Twitter at @bigredchairs.
Season 2 Rolling Stone Cover Story!
Our four coaches chatted with Rolling Stone for a feature about season two. There’s a lot of interesting stuff here, from commentary on whether or not Christina is a diva to how long Cee Lo thinks the show might last! You can read the first part of the story at Rolling Stone’s website and pick up the issue on newsstands now.
NBC.com also has a new web series following Team Blake finalist Dia Frampton post-show. You can check out the first video here. Congratulations, Dia!
Scoop From The “Voice” TCA Panel!
Remember when I said earlier that I was spending my weekend with The Voice? Well, now it’s time to tell. Visit Starpulse for my scoop from the Television Critics Association press tour, where coaches Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera fielded questions about season two, what happened after season one, and a few other subjects.
(Something that didn’t make it into the column: I ran into Blake Shelton in the hallway after the panel. The resulting conversation made my night. He’s just as funny as he is on television, if not moreso.)
Voice Weekend Update
I’ve been spending my weekend with the Voice coaches at the Television Critics Association press tour. Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera showed up in Pasadena Tuesday night to promote Season 2. I’ll have details of the panel in my Tuesday blog at Starpulse.
(However, I can say I got to spend some time catching up with Blake, which was predictably awesome and hilarious at the same time. Did I mention Blake Shelton is awesome recently?)
There’s also a programming alert: Cee Lo did an interview with Dateline NBC that will air this Sunday (tomorrow), February 8, at 7 PM ET/PT (before the premiere of NBC’s new drama The Firm). I’ll have more on that next week as well, but don’t miss it when it airs!
Brittany’s “The Voice” Blog: Reviewing New Music From Dia and Javier!
It’s been another busy week in The Voice universe! Over at Brittany’s The Voice Blog at Starpulse, I finally get the chance to review Dia Frampton‘s Red and take a listen to Javier Colon‘s new Christmas EP. Plus, I interview the man who’ll be producing Cee Lo Green‘s next solo effort. You can see that and some new video and photos from season two over here at the blog. Don’t forget that we’re one week away from the tapings for season two’s battle rounds! Are you as excited as I am?!
