The Voice of the Philippines

Overview

The series is part of The Voice franchise and is based on a similar competition format in the Netherlands entitled The Voice of Holland.

Format

The Voice is a reality television series that started from a format originating from the Netherlands named "The Voice of Holland". The whole format features four coaches or judges searching for a batch of talented new artists, who could become the Philippines' new singing superstar. The show's concept is indicated by its title: The four coaches will only judge a singer hopeful termed by the show as "Artist" with only his or her vocal talent without prejudice to his/her physical bearing.

It is this concept that makes The Voice franchise rise above other known reality talent searches which airs in any known media platform such as The X Factor franchise, the Got Talent franchise or even the Idol franchise. The artists who have advanced from the audition round would be split into four teams, whom are coached/mentored by the 4 well-known personalities in terms of singing which in the show, termed "Coaches" who in turn would collaborate with them and choose songs for their artists to perform. Only 16 years old and above can participate.

There are four known different stages: Producers' auditions, Blind auditions, the Battles, and the Live shows.

On-ground and the producers' auditions

As for any "The Voice" franchise, the first stage is the producers' auditions, which are not shown on television. In the Voice of the Philippines, ABS-CBN headed by their regional partners nationwide and abroad are tasked to conduct the "Unseen Auditions." At this stage, there will be different judges that will use the power of media to conduct three types of screening; radio auditions, online auditions and on-ground auditions where the team will travel in and out of the country to find the best of the best to participate in the next set of auditions, "The Blind Auditions."

Blind auditions

The first televised stage is the blind auditions, where artists will be given a minimum of 90 seconds to sing their audition piece. The official coaches of the show will be sitting on a chair facing away from the stage and artist. The coaches will only judge by the power, clarity, type and uniqueness of the artists singing capability. If they like what they hear and want to mentor the artist for the next stage, they will push a button on their chair that would turn the chair around to face the artists for the first time. This concept was created to avoid any due prejudice of their physical bearing and life-story. If a coach turns for an artist, that artist will be included in his/her team. If more than one coach turns around, the choice to pick a who will he/she be mentored goes to the artist. If no coach turns his/her chair the auditioning artist's journey ends. At the end, each of the coaches will have a certain number of artists in his or her team (thirteen artists in the first season; fourteen in the second season) who will be advancing to the next round.

The Battles

The next stage called "The Battles," is where a coach will build from his team pairs of 2 (in the first season, one pair of three artists were included). A pair will be given a single song to sing together. They are mentored and developed by their respective coach in the process. A vocal showdown will commence in the Battle stage where only the artist whom the coach deemed sung the song assigned better will advance to the next round.

The power to steal a losing artist from the other teams was implemented in the second season. In this new twist, a coach can steal two artists during the entire the Battles.

The Knockouts

Along with the 'steals' in the Battles, the Knockouts was a new addition to the format of the show starting from the second season. Each artist had to sing in order to convince their respective coach to pick them for the Live shows. Each artist will decide on what song they will sing. At the end of this round, six artists per team will moved to the Live shows.

Live shows

The next round known as the "Live shows" is where the remaining artists per team perform in front the coaches, audience and Live Broadcast. An artist will be given a song to sing for a chance to advance to the finals. During the first two Live shows, each coach will pit three of his/her artists in a head-to-head battle to win the public's vote. The voting results are announced on the same night as the live shows. The coaches have the power to save one artist that had not received the public's vote that week. The artist not chosen by their coach will be eliminated from the competition. At the end of the first two Live shows, only four artists per team will proceed. From the third and fourth live shows, the public and the coaches will have equal share of power on which artist would advance to the final four, with each team being represented by one remaining artist. During the finals, the winner will only be decided upon by the public through different platforms. The most voted artist of the competition will be crowned as The Voice of the Philippines.

Voting system

The voting system for the Live shows is based on the decision of the public through different platforms (text messaging, using of vote cards, and downloading of studio versions of the songs performed by the artists), and from the scores received by the artists from their respective coaches. During the first season, the voting lines were immediately open after all artists have performed and viewers were given 10 minutes during commercial break to vote. Once the show resumed, the results were announced on the same night as the live results. From the third live show, the iTunes bonuses and the coaches' scores came into effect.

From the third Live shows week of the second season, the voting format used in the first two Live shows of the first season was used. Each night will be a performance and results night. Two teams will perform per night. After each performance per team, the voting lines will be immediately opened; it will be closed after the commercial break. Before the night ends, an artist will be eliminated per team.

Development

As for the Philippine version of the show, ABS-CBN acquired the rights of the franchise back in 2011 after the success of its US counterpart. The Philippines was then listed as one of the countries who bought the rights for the franchise as posted in the website of Talpa. The show was later confirmed by Laurenti Dyogi, a Filipino director who had a notable success with reality shows like Pinoy Big Brother, Pinoy Dream Academy, and Junior MasterChef Pinoy Edition.

A teaser was shown during the commercial break of Sarah G. Live and Gandang Gabi Vice last December 30, 2012. A teaser, showing the recorded snippets of the blind auditions, was aired on May 15, 2013. Another trailer was posted in the show's official Facebook fan page on May 24, 2013, showing the coaches' bantering, rapport, and eagerness to fight over an auditionee.

A teaser, which revealed the premier date of the show, was aired during the final performance night of the fourth season of Pilipinas Got Talent. A primer, dubbed as Mic Test: The Voice of the Philippines Primer, was also announced in the same night. It aired on June 9, 2013. The primer had a special participation of Danny O'Donoghue, The Script's frontman, who at that time sits as a coach in The Voice UK.

On September 5, 2013, Lauren Dyogi announced that the show will have a second season and audition schedules will soon be announced. The tweet of Lauren Dyogi was later confirmed in the finale of the first season that the franchise will have a second season and auditions will commence soon.

Auditions

Auditions for the first season started in September 2012. Open call auditions were held on September 15, 2012 at Island Pacific Supermarket in Panorama City, Los Angeles, California and on September 16, 2012 at California's Great America Parkway in Santa Clara, California. The said auditions were only open to people with Filipino ancestry in Southern California. Radio screenings were also held from January 7 to 11, 2013 at various ABS-CBN radio stations in key cities such as Metro Manila, Naga, Legazpi City, Baguio, Tacloban, Cebu City, Davao City, General Santos City, Zamboanga City, Cagayan de Oro City, Bacolod, Iloilo City, and Dagupan. Radio screenings were called The Voice ng Radyo (English: The Voice of Radio), wherein daily and weekly winners have the chance to directly go to the Blind auditions. Auditions in key cities throughout the Philippines were announced on the last episode of Sarah G. Live, Sarah Geronimo's night variety show, on February 10, 2013. On the same night, the online auditions were also introduced which ran from February 9 to 19, 2013.

Open call auditions for the second season will start in 2014. Auditions for Visayas (in Dumaguete and in Roxas City) will held on January 12, for Mindanao (in Cagayan de Oro and in General Santos) on January 19, for Metro Manila (in Pasay and in Manila) on January 26, and in Luzon on February 2.

Filming and set locations

After the initial Producer's auditions, the 121 aspiring artists were then invited for the Blind auditions. The Blind auditions were filmed at Studio 2 of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center in Quezon City from April 15, 2013 until April 18, 2013. While the Battles were filmed at Studio 10 of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center. The said second stage of the competition were filmed on July 8 and 9, 2013. The Newport Performing Arts Theater of Resorts World Manila in Newport City, Pasay City served as the official venue of the show for the Live shows and the finale.

In an article Lea Salonga wrote in Philippine Daily Inquirer and was published on January 16, 2014, she said the blind auditions for the second seasons will be filmed by June, but were moved to September 7 to 10 of the same year. The Blind auditions were filmed at Studio 10 of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center.

Prizes

The winner of The Voice of the Philippines is set to win an entertainment package from Sony Bravia, an Asian tour for two, a brand new car from Ford Philippines, a tax-free cash prize of 2 million pesos, and a four-year recording contract from MCA Universal.

Coaches

Initially rumors were circulating all over the web that Zsa Zsa Padilla was said to seat as one of the four coaches. However, Laurenti Dyogi, the initial director of the show, denied the rumors. Ely Buendia, the former frontman of Eraserheads, was also reported to become one of the coaches but he personally denied the reports. Martin Nievera, and Gary Valenciano, two of the mentor-judges of The X Factor Philippines, were also rumored to become part of the show as two of the four coaches. However, Gonzaga denied the reports, "I know kuya Gary and Martin did The X Factor so they will definitely not be part of the choices 'cause they already did the X-factor. The Voice is definitely going to be very different in approach [from The X Factor].”

After Toni Gonzaga was announced as the host of the show, Gonzaga announced that the coaches' line up will be broken down to a series of official announcements and was termed by Gonzaga as "the best of the best". The coaches were formally introduced in a press conference held in ABS-CBN on April 12, 2013 after all were introduced in television promotions, and through official press statements given by the network.

The line up of the coaches has received some positive views coming mostly from the members of the Philippine press. One writer from Malaya Business Insight commented that the show has an interesting set of mentors. Joseph R. Atilano of the Philippine Daily Inquirer was even amazed and was surreal for the line-up of the coaches. For the four's caliber in their respective genre, he described that the show will surely be a different one.

In an interview by Pam Pastor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, all the coaches expressed that they all wanted to come back for the second season. In an article published by Sun Star Manila on March 20, 2014, all coaches will return in the second season.

Sarah Geronimo

On February 6, 2013, singer and actress Sarah Geronimo was announced as the first coach on The Voice of the Philippines. At the same time, the network announced that her weekly show Sarah G. Live, was due to air its final episode on Sunday, February 10. ABS-CBN Corporate Communications head Bong R. Osorio said, "Sarah Geronimo moves on to fulfill other commitments." He added that "Sarah is also busy filming her upcoming Star Cinema movie with John Lloyd Cruz, and is set to go on a Sarah G concert worldwide".

Geronimo admitted in an interview that she felt intimidated with the three other coaches due much possibly to their caliber in each of their genres. Geronimo further stated that she will just focus on why she became part of the show. " It's a chance to be part of someone's journey towards pursuing his or her dream," the young singer-actress said. She furthered added that, with her also a product of a singing search, she believes that she can help the artists who will become part of her team. She also said that she will be open to the views and the preferences of her team.

In an interview made by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Geronimo was asked why she accepted her stint as coach in the show. "At first I was hesitant. I've never mentored anyone. For me, the likes of Ms Lea Salonga, Sir Gary Valenciano, Sir Martin Nievera, those are the real mentors. But they convinced me that it was really their choice that I'll become part of the show. They believe that I can deliver. It's a singing talent search so it's close to my heart and it will also improve my personality. It's also part of my growth as an artist and as a person. So I said, go," she replied. On what the thing she loved the most in the show, she said, "Working with these great young talents. I know there are still many unknown people that are really good singers. I'm glad that there will be a Season 2, and I hope that there will be a Season 3 and 4. I've learned a lot from them. Every chance that hear them sing, it's an amazing moment, an amazing experience. Today's music is really different. It's not what most people grew up that you need to sing the highest notes. It's all about good music, how you give your own interpretation and it's the uniqueness actually." When asked about her coaching style, she said, "Anything that I see that is lacking or wrong, I always say it straightforward. That the trouble me sometimes. I also said that I really don't know how to speak well so that is why I'm straightforward. "If you have no emotions while singing," it's very plain. Sometimes other people say that, 'Sarah always repeatedly speak what she always say.' When I critique a performance, I always say that 'You lack sincerity or emotion in singing,' because I'm like that. Your ability in singing is nothing when I don't believe in you."

Geronimo was confirmed to return for the second season.

Bamboo Mañalac

On February 10, 2013, during an appearance on the last episode of Sarah G. Live, Bamboo Mañalac hinted that he would be working with the talk show host after they both finished performing a production number together. On February 14, 2013, ABS-CBN aired a promotional plug during the airtime of the pre-primetime television drama Kahit Konting Pagtingin, confirming Bamboo Mañalac's stint in the show as coach and judge. Mañalac was the former frontman of Rivermaya from 1994 until 1998, and later with Bamboo from 2002 until it got disband in 2011.

In an interview made by ABS-CBN News, Mañalac provided a statement regarding his stint on the show, "I'm ready to be a coach. There's a time for everything and this is it." When asked on what kind of artist will he would like to coach, he said, "I’ve been listening to rock for a long time but I also listen to other genres from rock to pop to folk to everything. I want someone who is open to all kinds of music; someone who is willing to listen and willing to learn.”

In an interview made by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the reason why he accepted his stint as coach in the show is that, "I’ve been a fan of the show. I watched the US edition and I liked the idea of not being a judge but a coach, a mentor. And the US show attracted singers and artists from different genres and that was dependent on who was sitting on that chair, so I thought, why not put my 10 cents in the pot? And it’s lived up to that. It’s been quite an experience. I have learned a lot from the artists and even a little bit about myself these past couple of months. I keep telling myself, don't play the game, change the game and just be real." On asked what is the thing he loved most in the show, he answered: "I love the banter, the back and forth with the other coaches. With the right chemistry it’s 100-percent fun. And finally folks are using iTunes... that’s great." "The blind auditions, because you don’t really know what to expect when that chair turns. I thought that was a really smart thing to do. It’s what makes this show different from the rest. Hats off to the creators of the show. And I loved battling for a good singer. But the live performances, I just love the pace, the energy, the performances, the crowd... simply awesome," he further added. Mañalac also gave a statement why The Voice is a different format and he said, "We're giving viewers and listeners a different sensibility... that music is a lot more colorful than what's being heard and put out there, that it's not all about who can sing the highest note or who has the most power vocally."