The Voice (U.S. season 8)

Coaches and hosts

Christina Aguilera returned from a two-season hiatus, rejoining Blake Shelton, Adam Levine and Pharrell Williams. The advisors for this season included Lionel Richie for Team Pharrell, Meghan Trainor for Team Blake, Nick Jonas for Team Christina, and Ellie Goulding for Team Adam. Nate Ruess served as an advisor for all teams during the knockouts.

Teams

Blind auditions

The first phase of the competition, the Blind Auditions, were taped October 26–29, 2014, began airing when the season premiered on February 23, 2015. Adam Levine auditioned as a joke in episode three with the song "Tiny Dancer," with all four chairs turning (Pharrell turned Adam's chair). He "chose" Christina.

Episode 1 (February 23)

The four coaches performed "Are You Gonna Go My Way".

Episode 5 (March 4)

The fifth episode, titled "Best of the Blinds," was a recap of all the Blind Auditions broadcast up to that point.

Episode 6 (March 9)

The sixth episode included the last of the Blind Auditions as well as the first Battles.

The Battles

The Battles (from the second half of episode 6 to episode 9) consisted of two 2-hour episodes, one 1-hour and one special episodes each on March 9, 10, 16 and 17, 2015. Season eight's advisors are Ellie Goulding for Team Adam, Lionel Richie for Team Pharrell, Nick Jonas for Team Christina and Meghan Trainor for Team Blake. Continuing with the format introduced in season three, the coaches can steal two losing artists from another coach. Contestants who won their battle or are stolen by another coach will advance to the Knockout rounds.

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The Knockouts

For the knockouts, Nate Ruess was assigned as a mentor for contestants in all four teams. After announcing Anthony Riley's withdrawal from the competition, Pharrell grouped three of his team members into one knockout, in which two contestants from the trio advanced, with the third eliminated. Just like season five onward, the coaches can steal one losing artist. The top 20 contestants will then move on to the "Live Shows." Anthony Riley was found dead on June 5, 2015, from a suspected suicide.

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Live shows

The live shows is the final phase of the competition. It consists of the playoffs, five weekly shows and the season finale.

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Week 1: Live playoffs (April 6, 7 and 8)

The Live Playoffs comprised episodes 14, 15, and 16 (the results show). The top twenty artists perform, with two artists from each team advancing based on the viewers' vote, and each coach completing their respective teams with their own choice.

Week 2: Top 12 (April 13 and 14)

The Top 12 performed on Monday, April 13, 2015, with the results following on Tuesday, April 14, 2015. The Instant Save returned once again this season, with the bottom three artists performing for a spot on the next round via the viewers' votes from Twitter. Oklahoma country music star Reba McEntire, last seen on the show's first season as an advisor for Team Blake, returned to serve as a mentor for the top 12 contestants. Sawyer Fredericks, Kimberly Nichole and Meghan Linsey received the first iTunes multiplier bonuses of the season, reaching second, third and fifth positions respectively on the iTunes Top 200 Singles chart at the close of the voting window.

Week 3: Top 10 (April 20 and 21)

The Top 10 performed on Monday, April 20, 2015, with the results following on Tuesday, April 21, 2015. Adam, Blake, Christina and Pharrell brought in Dave Stewart, Scott Hendricks, Mark Ronson and Ryan Tedder respectively to help in this week's coaching. Koryn Hawthorne and Sawyer Fredericks got the iTunes multiplier bonuses of the week, reaching the third and fourth positions respectively on the iTunes Top 200 Singles chart at the close of the voting window.

Week 4: Top 8 (April 27 and 28)

The Top 8 performed on Monday, April 27, 2015, with the results following on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. Most of the previous coaches from past seasons returned to advise the remaining artists: Usher was the Advisor for Team Adam, Gwen Stefani advised both Teams Pharrell and Christina, and Cee Lo Green advised Team Blake. Shakira was the only previous coach not to return, due to the recent birth of her second child, but she did record a video message that was aired during the live show. Sawyer Fredericks and Joshua Davis got the iTunes multiplier bonuses of the week, reaching second and fourth positions respectively on the iTunes Top 200 Singles chart at the close of the voting window. This week's Instant Save was the closest in the show's history, with India and Corey tied for most of the voting window. India was saved with a difference of only two votes.

Week 5: Top 6 (May 4 and 5)

The Top 6 performed on Monday, May 4, 2015, with the results following on Tuesday, May 5, 2015. In honor of Mother's Day, each artist performed one song on Monday in honor of "the mothers in their lives." On Tuesday, only two artists sang for survival, with one leaving the competition. iTunes multiplier bonuses were awarded to Sawyer Fredericks (positions #3 and #10)and Meghan Linsey (position #5) based on the week's iTunes Top 200 singles chart at the close of the voting window.

Week 6: Semifinals (May 11 and 12)

The Top 5 performed on Monday, May 11, 2015, with the results following on Tuesday, May 12, 2015. On Tuesday, once again only two artists sang for survival, with one leaving the competition. iTunes multiplier bonuses were awarded to Sawyer Fredericks (position #2 and #3) and Meghan Linsey (position #5) based on the week's iTunes Top 200 singles chart at the close of the voting window. With the elimination of India Carney, Christina Aguilera no longer had any remaining artists on her team. and 2 female and male finale. Special guests in the audience included Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Hailee Steinfeld from Pitch Perfect 2.

Week 7: Finals (May 18 and 19)

The Top 4 performed on Monday, May 18, 2015, with the final results following on Tuesday, May 19, 2015. This week, the four finalists performed an original song, a duet with the coach, and a solo song. As with previous seasons, there was no iTunes bonus multiplier applied to songs performed in the finale episodes; all iTunes votes received for the six weeks leading to the finale were cumulatively added to online, phone and app finale votes for each finalist.

Overall

Team

Artists' appearances in other media

Ratings

The season eight premiere was watched by 13.97 million viewers with a 4.1 rating in the 18–49 demographic. It was up from last season's premiere by 1.02 million viewers. The season eight premiere was up 21% from the previous season's finale. The second episode retained 95% of viewers in P18-49 from the premiere episode, compared to just 79%, from the previous season.