The Voice of the Philippines (season 1)

Development

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 Talpa's website. The show was later confirmed by Laurenti Dyogi, a Filipino director who had 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 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.

Coaches and hosts

Rumors had been circulating that Toni Gonzaga and Robi Domingo, and even Lea Salonga were said to host the show. Also, Zsa Zsa Padilla was rumored as one of the coaches. However, all of these rumors were debunked as the production team stated that there were still no confirmed hosts or coaches for the reality show.

After months of speculations, Toni Gonzaga was confirmed to host the franchise. It was announced on Gonzaga's talk show, The Buzz. Gonzaga later confirmed that she will be joined by Robi Domingo as the show's media correspondent. Incidentally, this marks Gonzaga and Domingo's third time to work together after Pinoy Big Brother: Unlimited and Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition 4 which were also under the unit of Director Lauren Dyogi.

On February 6, 2013, it was announced that Sarah Geronimo will be one of the four coaches. During the last episode of Sarah G. Live on February 10, 2013, Bamboo Mañalac revealed that he was proud that he will be collaborating with Geronimo on a new big project, which will be The Voice of the Philippines. On February 14, 2013, ABS-CBN aired a promotional plug during the airtime of Kahit Konting Pagtingin, a pre-primetime television drama, confirming Bamboo Mañalac's stint in the show as coach and judge. On the night of February 19, 2013, Lea Salonga confirmed her stint as an official coach in the show via her official Twitter account. In the same night, ABS-CBN later confirmed Salonga's role on the show. It was announced in early March 2013 that apl.de.ap of The Black Eyed Peas was being negotiated to join the said reality show. On March 7, 2013, it was announced through ABS-CBN's entertainment website, Push, that apl.de.ap will sit as the fourth coach. On an article posted in the network's official website dated March 20, 2013, apl.de.ap was slated to do the initial promotional plug with TFC London and was scheduled to arrive in Manila by April to meet and work with the three other coaches and the rest of the show's team.

On April 16, 2013, Alex Gonzaga, the younger sister of Toni Gonzaga, was revealed to join the show, teaming up with Robi Domingo as V-Reporters or as the show's social media correspondents.

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.

Auditions

Auditions 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 auditions were only open to people with Filipino ancestry in Southern California.

Radio screenings were also held on January 7 – 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, Bacolod, Iloilo City, and Dagupan. Radio screenings were called The Voice ng Radyo (The Voice of Radio), where daily and weekly winners will have the chance to participate in the Blind auditions.

Auditions in key cities throughout the Philippines were announced in the finale 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.

Teams

Blind auditions

The Blind auditions, which was the main highlight of the show, were filmed last April 2013. Geronimo, on an interview made by The Buzz last April 14, 2013, elaborated that the first day of taping for the blind auditions started on April 15, 2013 and ended on April 18, 2013 in Studio 2 – ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center, Quezon City, Metro Manila. In an article published by Philippine Daily Inquirer and written by Lea Salonga, she wrote that a total of one hundred twenty one artists performed during the Blind auditions.

During the guest appearance of the four coaches on July 11, 2013 in ABS-CBN's noontime variety show, It's Showtime, Salonga teased for a 'big twist' that will affect the mechanics of forming their final teams who will be going into the Battles. Initially, it was reported that, from one hundred twenty one artists, only forty eight artists will advance to the Battles. However, in the said twist revealed last July 21, 2013, an additional artist was added per team. Thus increasing the total number of artists advancing to the Battles to fifty two.

The Blind auditions, composed of thirteen episodes, were aired from June 15, 2013 until July 27, 2013.

Episode 1 (June 15)

The first episode was graced by an opening performance of the coaches and sang their own rendition of "Hall of Fame" by The Script.

Episode 3 (June 22)

Episode 6 (June 30)

The Battles

The Battles were filmed on July 8 and 9, 2013 at the Studio 10 of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center in Quezon City. From the one hundred twenty one invited artists during the Blind auditions, only fifty two artists will proceed to the Battles. Each coach will pick two to three artists and pit them together into a battle of vocals. The winner of the battle will only be determined by his or her coach. The other coaches can only provide their comments to the performances of the artists. The winner will earn a spot in the six artist-slots per team and will advance to the next round, the Live shows.

Prior to the battle of vocals, each team will be guided and trained by their respective coaches with the aid of some "guest advisers." Arnel Pineda, the frontman of Journey, aided apl.de.ap's team; while Gerard Salonga, an orchestrator and musical director, accompanied his sister Lea Salonga. On the other hand, Gary Valenciano helped Sarah Geronimo; while Joey Ayala, a contemporary pop music artist, joined Bamboo Mañalac.

The first episode aired on July 28, 2013. The Battles aired until August 17, 2013.

In some episodes guests were invited to perform for the show, while the coaches and their guest advisers performed in the remaining episodes of the Battles. During the first episode, Yeng Constantino, KZ Tandingan, and Charice performed "Locked out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars. On the second episode aired last August 3, 2013, coach Sarah Geronimo and her guest adviser, Gary Valenciano, performed "Clarity" by Zedd; while Bamboo Mañalac and Joey Ayala performed Mañalac's "Ikot ng Mundo" on the third episode aired last August 4, 2013. In the fourth episode aired on August 10, 2013, it was Lea Salonga along with her brother, Gerard Salonga, performed in the Battle stage. Lea sang "Grenade" by Bruno Mars while Gerard was at the piano playing the song. On August 11, 2013, apl.de.ap, together with A.K.A Jam member Jhelsea Flores, performed a medley of his songs and his group, The Black Eyed Peas. In the middle of the episode aired on August 17, 2013, the Gonzaga sisters made a special number were they performed "Heart Attack" by Demi Lovato.

Results summary

Live show details

The Live Shows first aired on August 25, 2013 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, a theater with a 1,500 audience capacity, at Resorts World Manila in Newport City, Pasay City, Metro Manila. It aired every Sundays and was the only part of the show which was broadcast live. A total of twenty-four artists, or six artists per team, made it to the last stage of the competition. For each live show, all four coaches pitted half of his/her team whom all performed a solo number on stage for the public's votes. Differentiating from its foreign counterparts, the performances and the results were aired on the same night. The voting lines were immediately opened after all the performances per team are finished. Viewers were then given approximately 10 minutes during commercial break to vote for which artist from each team should advance. During Saturday episodes, the show highlighted the life stories of the artists, and coaching and mentoring sessions called The Life Shows. The show served as a companion episode to the Live show to be aired the following day. Prior to the Live shows, a special episode was aired on August 18, 2013 which highlighted the coaches and their respective artists' bonding and coaching moments, and their preparation for the Live shows.

The voting system for the Live shows was based on the public's decision through different platforms (text messaging, using vote cards, and iTunes downloads of the studio versions of the artists' performances), and by the coaches. Each week during the first two Live shows, the accumulated votes from the public chose the first artist to advance from each team. Their respective coaches chose the second. From the third Live shows, the iTunes bonus took effect and the artists' was decided by an equal say from both the public's vote and their respective coach's scores. In the Finals, each team was represented by one artist and the winner of the competition was only decided by the public's vote.

On September 17, 2013, the setup for the fifth Live show was changed wherein it is composed of two episodes, one of which had replaced The Life Shows episode. The voting mechanics was also changed. Voting lines were still opened during the 10-minute commercial gap wherein the accumulated votes for the Saturday and Sunday episodes were summed up. The fifth Live show also featured an à la Battle performance wherein the final two artists per team performed one song, deviating from the usual solo performances of the artists from the four other Live shows.

Week 1 (August 25)

Apl and Bamboo together with their respective artists made an opening number and sang The Black Eyed Peas' "The Apl Song," while Lea and Sarah together with their respective artists sang AfterImage's "Tag-Ulan." In the middle of the episode, the non-competing artists of Team's Apl and Lea performed Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love." Bamboo's and Sarah's non-competing artists also performed and sang Jennifer Lopez's "Live It Up."

Week 2 (September 1)

After the end of all the team performances, Coach Sarah and the artists who were safe during the first Live shows sang Katy Perry's song entitled "Roar."

Week 3 (September 8)

The eight performing artists opened the show with their performance of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." After the performances of all the artists, Lea Salonga sang "If I Believe" by Patti Austin and was accompanied by the eight non-performing artists. Patti Austin was later introduced by Salonga and together they sang Austin's "In my Life."

Week 4 (September 15)

After the performances of the eight performing artists, Bamboo Mañalac together with Thor, Morissette Amon, Mitoy Yonting, and Paolo Onesa sang Oasis' "Wonderwall."

Week 5: Semifinals (September 21 & 22)

The fifth Live show was aired as a two-part episode. The September 21 episode also served as special charity event in benefit of the Payatas Kids Choir.

On September 21, 2013, the Top 8 artists opened the show with their rendition of Yeng Constantino's "Hawak Kamay." Also at end of all their à la Battle performances, the Top 8 artists together with the Payatas Kids Choir sang Smokey Mountain's "Paraiso."

On September 22, 2013, coach Apl and the Top 8 artists opened the show by performing apl.de.ap's newest single called "Balikbayan" with special participation of Miss Universe 2010 fourth runner-up Venus Raj.

Week 6: Finals (September 28 & 29)

Just like the previous Live show, the finale was also aired as a two-part episode. It also had a different set of voting mechanics. Eligibility to download songs from iTunes and through mobile truetone downloads were opened immediately after the end of the fifth Live show wherein each song downloaded was equal to 5 votes per artist. Voting lines were opened at the start of the first episode of the finale and was temporarily paused after. The votes accumulated on Saturday were then summed up with the votes accumulated from the downloads. The results of the votes were then revealed on the second episode of the finals, where the final two artists had to perform in a final showdown. After the two top artists were revealed, the scores were reset to zero. The voting lines were then opened for the final two, wherein the artist who garnered the highest votes was declared the winner of the competition. The finals was held in Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila, Pasay City.

On September 28, 2013, the final four artists opened the show with their own performance of Fun's "Some Nights" and "We Are Young." After all the final four artists performed their own original songs, a special number was performed by the Resort World's Special Acts. Also a tribute number to the Zamboanga City crisis was performed by the final four artists together with their coaches. They performed Michael Jackson's "Will You Be There."

On September 29, 2013, the second episode of the finale, the show was opened by the Top 24 artists together with Arnel Pineda and Jed Madela wherein they performed "We Will Rock You" and "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." After the duet/trio performances, the final four artists performed short solo performances. Klarisse de Guzman performed Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman," Myk Perez performed Michael Bublé's "Everything," Janice Javier performed Rihanna's "We Found Love," and Mitoy Yonting performed John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane." Shane Filan, a former member of the Irish boyband Westlife, also performed in the show. He sang Westlife's "Fool Again" and "Uptown Girl" together with the final four artists. Right before the announcement of who will be the final two, the coaches performed Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror."

First round

Second round

Artists who appeared on other talent shows

Singles

Every week since the third Live show, the songs performed by the artists were digitally available on iTunes for download. The versions released on the online platform were studio versions of the songs they have performed.

Albums

Two albums were released in September 2013 with the Top 16 artists' studio version of the songs they performed on the Third and Fourth Live shows, and the Top 8 artists' original songs all produced and distributed by MCA Universal.

Critical reception

During the pilot episode, the show received fairly negative reviews from the viewers emphasizing the design of the infamous red chairs, and set. The show was also observed having longer commercial loads ending up to a huge gaps per show. The coaches' opening performance was also deemed unrehearsed. Pooled reviews from novices of the franchise stated that the coaches were found to be a bit exaggerated on television. Avid fanatics of the franchise however explained that certain aspects of the said coaches can also be seen across franchises. Ms. Lea Salonga together with her fellow coaches were even bashed on Twitter. On an article written by Joey Aquino of The People's Journal on June 21, 2013, Aquino commented that Salonga has already gave much prestige to the country and with the bashing that had happened on Twitter, Salonga deserves much respect that she is entitled.

Aside from the pilot week reviews and criticisms, the show was also been criticized for Bamboo Mañalac's controversial decisions. Mañalac received lots of negative comments after the season one's first episode of the Battles aired last July 28, 2013 after he made a controversial choice on picking Lee Grane Maranan over Dan Billano. The two performed the ballad song "One" by U2, wherein Maranan was vocally outperformed by Billano. Billano was even praised by Joey Ayala, Mañalac's guest adviser during the Battles, and that according to him Billano was the clear winner of that Team Bamboo's first vocal battle. Billano was also praised by apl.de.ap; while Maranan was praised by Lea Salonga for her emotional delivery of the song. Mañalac's choice of letting Maranan win over Billano was based on the former's soulfulness and emotions rather than basing the result on the two's vocal performances, which caused rave of negative comments from the netizens. It is noted that Maranan was a crowd favorite during her Blind auditions. Maranan undeniably admitted her loss over Billano but he thanked her coach for picking her and later added a promise that she will do better in the next round of the competition.

Television ratings

Television ratings for the first season of The Voice of the Philippines on ABS-CBN were gathered from two major sources, namely from AGB Nielsen and Kantar Media. AGB Nielsen's survey ratings were gathered from Mega Manila households, while Kantar Media's survey ratings were gathered from urban and rural households all over the Philippines.