Past ‘Voice’ Winners ‘Are Not Being Handled Well,’ Blake Shelton Says In 2016 Interview
on May 24, 2016 • Updated Oct 11, 2019
As each season of The Voice prepares to wrap up, viewers find themselves anxious to see who will be crowned the champion. But, if history repeats itself, future winners will not have an easy road to future success.
Despite its popularity, The Voice hasn’t been able to produce a major superstar. Some winners, such as Cassadee Pope, have experienced moderate chart success. In fact, Pope was nominated for a Grammy for “Think of You,” her duet with Chris Young that topped the country charts.
Season 9’s winner, Jordan Smith, seemed to be the first to break the Voice curse with the release of his debut album, Something Beautiful, in March 2016. The album soared to the second spot on the charts, and was also the top-selling album on iTunes for a time.
However, not all Voice winners have been as lucky as Pope and Smith. Many have struggled to make their voices heard, including Season 7 winner Craig Wayne Boyd.
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The former Team Blake member has always been vocal about his dislike of his Voice record label.
In one interview, Boyd said when he showed up at the label after winning the show, they had absolutely no idea who he was or why he was there. He officially broke from the label in 2015.
When Season 10 came to a close, coach Blake Shelton was worried the next champion (Alisan Porter) would face a tough fight to keep her dream alive.
During an interview with The Tennessean, Shelton revealed the reason why Voice winners haven’t had it easy in the past.
“[The winners] are not being handled well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out,” Shelton said, referring to the record label that works with the winners. “The best you can hope for is exposure and money and having your team intact going into [the rest of your career].“
Shelton isn’t the only Voice coach to speak out about how the winners are handled after the show. During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Adam Levine expressed his frustration over what happens to the winners, saying, “When the baton is passed post-‘Voice,’ there’s some problems…There’s some real issues there.”
Hopefully, whoever is crowned the winner of future seasons of The Voice will be able to break the spell and experience great success.
