The Voice (U.S. season 7)

Coaches

There were two changes to the coaching panel from season six. Veteran coaches Adam Levine and Blake Shelton were joined by Pharrell Williams and Gwen Stefani, who replaced Shakira and Usher. The team advisors in this season include Stevie Nicks for Team Adam, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale for Team Gwen, Little Big Town for Team Blake and Alicia Keys for Team Pharrell, along with Taylor Swift serving as an advisor for all teams during the knockouts.

Teams

Blind auditions

The Blind Auditions were taped June 7–8, 2014. The first episode of the Blind Auditions premiered on September 22, 2014.

Episode 1 (September 22)

The four coaches performed "Hella Good" at the start of the show.

The Battles

The Battles (episodes 7 to 12) consisted of two 2-hour episodes and two 1-hour episodes each on October 13, 14, 20 and 21, 2014. Season seven's advisors are Stevie Nicks for Team Adam, Alicia Keys for Team Pharrell, Gavin Rossdale for Team Gwen and Little Big Town members Phillip Sweet, Kimberly Schlapman-Roads, Jimi Westbrook and Karen Fairchild 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 Knockout rounds.

Color key:

The Knockouts

The knockouts returned as a stage after being discontinued and replaced in the sixth season. For the knockouts, Taylor Swift was assigned as a mentor for contestants in all four teams for this round.

Color key:

Live shows

Color key:

Week 1: Live playoffs (November 10, 11, & 12)

The Live Playoffs comprised episodes 15, 16, and 17 (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. The iTunes bonus multiplier returns for the live rounds, restored to its original factor of 10, though with the continuing iTunes voting limitations established in season six. Night one covers the ten artists from veteran coaches Adam and Blake, while night two covers the artists from newcomers Gwen and Pharell.

Week 2: Top 12 (November 17 & 18)

The Top 12 performed on Monday, November 17, 2014, with the results following on Tuesday, November 18, 2014. The Instant Save returned once again this season, with the bottom three artists performing for a spot in the next round via the viewers' votes from Twitter. In a new twist, a Wild Card finalist round was announced during the results show: "eliminated" contestants from the season's top twelve will return in a last-shot sing-off for a fourth spot in the finals.

Matt McAndrew received the first iTunes bonus multiplier of the season, with his studio recording of "Take Me to Church" reaching the fifth position on the iTunes Top 200 Singles chart at the close of the voting window.

Week 3: Top 10 (November 24 & 25)

The Top 10 performed on Monday, November 24, 2014, with the results following on Tuesday, November 25, 2014. This time, the coaches will choose the song for their artist.

Craig Wayne Boyd received the second iTunes Multiplier of this season, with his studio recording of "I Walk The Line" reaching the sixth position on the iTunes Top 200.

Week 4: Quarterfinals (December 1 & 2)

The Top 8 performed on Monday, December 1, 2014, with the results following on Tuesday, December 2, 2014. Also, three will be eliminated, which means there will be a bottom half instead of a bottom three this week. This week, the last Instant Save of the season is held.

Matt McAndrew, Taylor John Williams, and Damien received the iTunes bonus multiplier with their studio recordings of "The Blowers Daughter", "Royals" and "Someone Like You" reaching the second, sixth, and seventh positions on the iTunes Top 200 singles chart at the close of the voting window, respectively.

With the eliminations of Luke Wade and DaNica Shirey, Pharrell Williams no longer has any contestants remaining on his team.

In addition, with Shirey's elimination, there are no female contestants remaining, thus leaving an all-male top 5 for the first time in the show's history.

Week 5: Semifinals & Wildcard Round (December 8 & 9)

The Top 5 performed on Monday, December 8, 2014, with the results following on Tuesday, December 9, 2014. This week, each artist will sing two songs; one chosen by their coach, and another selected in tribute to their supporters. The Wildcard Round was held on Tuesday, and nine previously eliminated singers from the season's top 12 were given the opportunity to perform once again, with one contestant awarded a fourth spot in the finale. With the special Tuesday round, the voting window for all methods was shortened to six hours to accommodate announcement of the result during the December 10 Today show; additionally, as with the finale, iTunes bonus multipliers do not apply to the Wildcard voting.

Craig Wayne Boyd, Matt McAndrew, and Chris Jamison received the iTunes bonus multiplier with their studio recordings of "The Old Rugged Cross", "Make It Rain", "When I Was Your Man" and "Sugar" reaching the second, fifth, sixth and tenth positions on the iTunes Top 200 singles chart at the close of the voting window, respectively.

With the elimination of Taylor John Williams, Gwen Stefani no longer has any remaining artists on her team. Along with Damien's return via the Wildcard, this is the first season with an all-male finale, and the first time a single coach has advanced three performers to the final stage of the competition.

Craig Wayne Boyd, Matt McAndrew, and Chris Jamison also recorded songs in the event that they were eliminated that night. Craig Wayne Boyd would have sung Anymore, Matt McAndrew would have sung Imagine, and Chris Jamison would have sung I'll Be.

Week 6: Finals (December 15 & 16)

The Top 4 will perform on Monday, December 15, 2014, with the final results following on Tuesday, December 16, 2014. This week, the four male 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 five weeks leading to the finale will be cumulatively added to online, phone and app finale votes for each finalist.

Overall

Team

Ratings

The season seven premiere was watched by 12.95 million viewers with a 3.9 rating in the 18–49 demographic. It was down from last season's premiere by 2.91 million viewers.

Controversy and criticism

The show faced controversy when Rebekah Samarin, a contestant on Team Adam, was the first contestant in the history of the show to make it to the third round of the competition and have all of her performances, including her Blind Audition, Battle, and Knockout round, montaged (not shown in full). Samarin took to Twitter to comment about this, saying "While I am appreciative of the experience, I am baffled by The Voice's blatant disregard and disrespect of my time and efforts."

Appearances on earlier seasons or other talent shows