The Voice (U.S. season 6)

Coaches and hosts

The coaching panel once again saw a change as Adam Levine and Blake Shelton were rejoined by season four coaches Shakira and Usher. Christina Aguilera took another hiatus from the show and CeeLo Green departed at the end of season five. Carson Daly returned as host. It was reported that Christina Milian, who served as the social media correspondent in seasons two through four, was open to returning, but ultimately did not. Josh Kaufman was the first stolen contestant to win the show.

Artists serving as mentors for the first battle rounds included Miranda Lambert (who previously appeared in the second season in the series as an advisor) for Team Shakira, The Band Perry for Team Blake, Jill Scott for Team Usher, and Aloe Blacc for Team Adam.

With the replacement of the Knockout Round with the "Battles, Round 2", Coldplay frontman Chris Martin served as the sole advisor for all four teams.

Auditions

The open call auditions were held in the following locations:

Promotion

A special look at the season was premiered on February 19, 2014, featuring Christina Grimmie's full audition covering Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball". All four coaches turned for her, but her coach choice was not shown. A second special look at the season was premiered the following day, featuring Bria Kelly's full audition covering "Steamroller Blues". All four coaches also turned for her, but like Grimmie, her ultimate coach choice was not shown. A third preview featuring Clarissa Serna's cover of The Cranberries' song "Zombie" was released on February 28, 2014, to promote the second week of the Blind Auditions. Like Grimmie and Kelly, her choice was not shown.

Teams

Blind auditions

The Blind Auditions were taped between October 10 and 13, 2013, with Usher and Shakira returning. The first episode of the Blind auditions premiered on February 24, 2014.

Episode 1 (February 24)

The four coaches performed a medley of each other's songs, including "Whenever, Wherever", "Boys 'Round Here", "Love Somebody" and "Without You".

The two-hour season six premiere was viewed by 15.86 million people.

Episode 2 (February 25)

The second episode was aired for one hour and was viewed by 13.04 million people.

Episode 3 (March 3)

The third episode was aired for two hours and was viewed by 15.62 million people.

Episode 4 (March 4)

The fourth episode was aired for one hour and was viewed by 14.53 million people.

Episode 5 (March 10)

The fifth episode was aired two hours and was viewed by 13.79 million people.

Episode 6 (March 11)

The sixth episode was aired for one hour and was viewed by 13.51 million people.

Episode 7: The Best of the Blind Auditions (March 16)

The seventh episode was a special two-hour recap of the Blind Auditions.

Round 1

The Battles, Round 1 (episodes 8 to 13) consisted of two 2-hour episodes and two 1-hour episodes each on March 17, 18, 24 and 25, 2014. There were also two recap episodes that aired on March 23 and 30, 2014. Season six's advisors are Aloe Blacc for Team Adam, Miranda Lambert for Team Shakira, Jill Scott for Team Usher, and The Band Perry for Team Blake. Continuing with the format introduced in season three, the coaches can steal two losing artists from another coach. Contestants who win their battle or are stolen by another coach will advance to The Battles, Round 2, a new round replacing the Knockout round of previous seasons.

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Round 2

In season six, the Knockout Round was replaced by a second round of Battles, dubbed "The Battles, Round 2," which took place during episodes 14–16 on March 31, April 1, and April 7 respectively. Unlike the first round of The Battles, each team will share the same advisor, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. Coaches give each Battle pairing a list of songs and each pair must agree on which song to sing. Each coach is allowed one steal this round, like the Knockout round of previous seasons.

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The Playoffs

The new Playoffs began on April 8 and comprised episodes 17, 18, and 19. Distinct from seasons four and five, the season six Playoffs are pre-recorded, thus featuring no interactive viewer component, and therefore no subsequent results shows. The top twenty artists perform for the coaches, with each coach eliminating two artists from their teams. The remaining top twelve artists advance to the live shows.

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Live shows

The live shows is the final phase of the competition. It consists of five weekly shows and the season finale. For season six, the show expanded upon the "Instant Save" introduced in season five; once the three artists with the lowest vote totals are announced during the results show (except the Live Finale), each of those three artists sing an additional song before the Twitter voting window opens. Also, "Instant Save" vote totals are shown in a ticker bar onscreen during its five-minute voting window (including throughout the commercial break) to update viewers on each contestant's percentage of votes.

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Week 1 (April 21 & 22)

The Top 12 performed on Monday, April 21, 2014, with results following Tuesday, April 22, 2014.

Josh Kaufman received the first iTunes bonus multiplier of the season, with his studio recording of "Stay With Me" reaching the fifth position on the iTunes Top 200 Singles chart at the close of the voting window.

Week 2 (April 28 & 29)

The Top 10 will perform on Monday, April 28, 2014, with results following Tuesday, April 29, 2014. This week, Christina Grimmie received an iTunes bonus multiplier, with her studio recording of "Hold On, We're Going Home" occupying the fourth position on the iTunes Top 200 Singles chart at the close of the voting window. Note: Bria Kelly and Tess Boyer were put against each other in the battles, and the two were later eliminated together in the Top 10.

Quarterfinals: Week 3 (May 5 & 6)

The Top 8 performed on Monday, May 5, 2014, with results broadcast Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Upcoming coaches for season seven, Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams, performed "Hollaback Girl" and "Come Get It Bae" respectively. This week, three contestants were eliminated instead of two, thus there was a bottom four instead of a bottom three. Josh Kaufman and Christina Grimmie received the iTunes bonus multiplier, with their studio recordings of "I Can't Make You Love Me" and "How to Love" reaching the second and the fifth positions on the iTunes Top 200 Singles chart at the close of the voting window, respectively. For the first time since the inclusion of the Instant Save in season five, a contestant was saved two consecutive weeks. The elimination of Sisaundra Lewis, Audra McLaughlin and Delvin Choice was one of the most shocking eliminations in the history of the show, having three artists who had 4 chair turns, eliminated in the competition on the same week.

Semifinals: Week 4 (May 12 & 13)

The Top 5 performed on Monday, May 12, 2014, with results following Tuesday, May 13, 2014. This week, each contestant sang two songs; one chosen by their coach, and another selected in tribute to their supporters.

Jake Worthington, Josh Kaufman, and Kristen Merlin received the iTunes bonus multiplier with their studio recordings of "Heaven", "All of Me" and "Foolish Games" reaching the third, fourth, and sixth positions on the iTunes Top 200 singles chart at the close of the voting window, respectively.

The top three season five finalists, (Tessanne Chin, Jacquie Lee, and Will Champlin) will debut their newest singles during the results show.

With the elimination of Kristen Merlin, Shakira no longer has any contestants remaining on her team.

Finals: Week 5 (May 19 & 20)

The Top 3 performed on Monday, May 19, 2014, with the season finale on Tuesday, May 20, 2014. Performances in this round consist of a "fans choice" reprise performance of a song from earlier in the season, a duet with the respective coach, and a solo song. The final episode was preceded by a one-hour recap of the competitive performances, and included two hours of performances by this season's top 20 contestants, as well as guest performances from the likes of Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Tim McGraw, OneRepublic, and the announcement of the winner.

Because of a technical glitch in the iTunes system, all iTunes votes for the final episode were invalidated, with no net effect to the total outcome.

Overall

Team

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Appearances on earlier seasons or other talent shows

Ratings

The season six premiere was watched by 15.86 million viewers with a 4.7 rating in the 18–49 demographic. It was up from last season's premiere by .88 million viewers.