As hard as it is to believe, The Voice Season 23 — and Blake Shelton’s final run on the show — is quickly wrapping up. We’re only three weeks away from a winner being crowned, which seems impossible, as 20 artists remained when the Playoffs kicked off on May 1. This is typically the round of the singing competition where voting starts, allowing America to weigh in on who moves forward. However, The Voice made a big change this season, doing away with the live aspect of the Playoffs and having the coaches eliminate more than half of their team members. Fans were dismayed, to say the least, and they didn’t hold back with their complaints.
OG coach Blake Shelton and rookie Chance the Rapper were the first two to put their artists on the chopping block, with Kelly Clarkson and Niall Horan's teams performing next week. Both coaches' five remaining members took the stage on Monday night to perform, before Shelton and Chance each chose two players to move on to the Semifinals, sending three home apiece. With no Saves or Steals in this round, it was brutal, with only four of the 10 artists surviving the two-hour affair. One fan tweeted (all tweets edited for capitalization and punctuation):
They are eliminating way too many people for the [playoffs], should’ve maybe eliminated two from each team so that we have 12 in the live voting.
This is the first time since Season 13 that the Playoffs haven’t been live. In past seasons, all five members of a team performed back-to-back while America voted. The top two vote-getters advanced, and their coach got to choose a third to save. So not only did The Voice take voting out of the viewers’ hands in Blake Shelton’s final season, they eliminated one more artist from each team than usual. Some fans like this one questioned if the show was even worth watching with this format:
WTH is going on with The Voice? We don't get to vote in the live playoffs and it's going to 8 contestants, skipping the top 13 and 10. This will be my last season as well...what's the point anymore?
Some also questioned the introduction of the Playoff Pass to Season 23. In the Battle round, The Voice coaches were allowed to use one Playoff Pass to send an artist straight through to the Playoffs, bypassing the Knockout round. While it did allow those four singers to get further into the competition, it robbed them of an opportunity to perform another song in front of America — and that screentime is a big deal for these musicians trying to break into the industry. One Twitter user commented:
Feeling a little ripped off... And I especially don’t like that 4 singers got the pass. I feel like they got cheated. …. And we got cheated by not being able to vote someone into the semi finals. 😥
Last night’s Playoff Pass recipients — Chance the Rapper’s Manasseh Samone and Blake Shelton’s Mary Kate Connor — definitely seemed to get cheated, because after not getting to perform in the previous round, they were both eliminated Monday night. (As expected, frontrunner Grace West of Team Blake was safe.) As this fan said:
The new format is a disservice to the artists and the audience.
No reason was given for why the Playoffs were pre-recorded this season and spread over two episodes, but it does feel like we’re being robbed of something with only two weeks of live performances. Following the second round of Playoffs, the Top 8 will compete in the Live Semifinals, when America will (presumably) get to weigh in on the finale contestants. Some fans said if they’re waiting that long to start the voting, why even open it up to America at all?
With this format the judges might as well pick the winner.
We’ll have to see whether or not they stay with this format if and when The Voice returns without Blake Shelton, but we know we’ve got at least another week of it, with Kelly Clarkson and Niall Horan’s teams taking the stage at 8 p.m. ET Monday, May 8, on NBC. Be sure to check out our 2023 TV schedule to see what premieres are coming soon.
