JUST WHEN you thought television audiences could not bear yet another reality talent show, along comes RTÉ's latest blockbuster The Voice of Ireland.
The programme, based on a format developed by the creators of Big Brother, will be on Sunday nights for the next 17 weeks from tomorrow. It replaces the popular but unfashionable All-Ireland Talent Show. The contestants are chosen by the judges with their back to the singers so they can be judge on the voice alone.
Some 1,800 hopefuls applied and were winnowed down to some 120 and then 48 singers, 12 for each of the four coaches, Sharon Corr, Niall “Bressie” Breslin, Kian Egan and Brian Kennedy.
The judges will then select their own six for the live finals. The winner gets an album contract.
Producer Larry Bass described it as a "fresh twist" on the talent shows. He was at pains to point out that the series differs from the X Factorformat because the tone-deaf non-singers don't even make it through to the televised stages of this show. "This starts where others finish. It starts with talent. It is not a travelling circus or a freak show," he said.
Singer Brian Kennedy said he believed there was still a public appetite for such shows. “Every year people say ‘oh for God’s sake, not another one’ but cut to a few weeks later and they are talking about it again,” he said.
He stressed he has been looking for authenticity. "We were getting a lot of girls who clearly loved Beyonce, Rihanna and Adele, but I kept telling them that the sign above their head says The Voice of Ireland. Coming along here and pretending they're American will not cut it with me."
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