The Voice Australia - Blind Auditions - Episode 4 - Thoughts on contestants

Now call me crazy but when I watch a reality television show, which isn't very often, I do expect the rules to be adhered to.

For example, if there was a cooking show I would expect the contestants on the show to cook their dishes (I don't watch cooking shows FYI) and if it was a home renovation show I would expect the contestants to renovate their homes not hire a master builder (again, i don't watch these either). On MAFS I would expect couples to legally get married (which they don't do but I'm not focusing on that show either as I don't watch it).

I do however watch The Voice. It's the one reality show that I can't help but not tune into. I watch it for entertainment and I watch it because I'm a huge fan of Delta Goodrem. She's my favourite Australian singer and basically my generation's Kylie Minogue (who by the way is featured on the cover of the May edition of Vogue Australia to celebrate turning 50 and the release of her new album, Golden). I also watch it because as a singer myself I like to see how other singers perform and I like to watch the judges to see what experience they can teach the contestants, and let's be honest, Joe Jonas is also hot, and Boy George has a quirky personality. Kelly isn't my favourite but she has her place.

Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent. The basic premise of The Voice is that singers go onto the show and sing acapella. In some cases, they'll sing with a backing track or they'll bring their guitar.

Well, that completely changed with tonight's episode of The Voice. There was a contestant called Sam Perry who bought DJ equipment and did what's known as vocal looping or beat boxing. The judges loved it, with all four turning around and he ended up choosing to go on Kelly's team.

So should the guy have been allowed on The Voice Australia's seventh season? Some would say yes, and that the show's rigged anyway so who cares?! I disagree and would say that no he shouldn't have been allowed on the show.

There was nothing wrong with what he did, in fact he is talented, but as a DJ, not as a singer, and his performance had absolutely no place on The Voice. The show is supposed to focus on singing, not how well someone can mix a track. That's not what the competition is about. Again, just to reiterate, there was nothing wrong with what Sam Perry did. He is a talented DJ and definitely has skill but he should have entered a contest like Australia's Got Talent, or even X Factor Australia, rather than The Voice.

We'll see whether or not he has the talent to go far in the competition but he may struggle with the live battles. He may however surprise, but when he's up against contestants that have been singing for several years and performed live, it's unlikely that he'll make it beyond the top 10. If he's lucky though he'll make it to the top 5 but he won't win the competition.

Obviously Channel 9 were pulling a ratings stunt and that's why he was allowed through into the competition. Had it not been for the articles about his upcoming performance I would not have tuned in. I didn't watch the last season and I got bored and stopped watching midway through Season 5 as well. I did however watch Season 4 all the way through.

Of course, we all know that reality television shows are rigged but allowing a beatboxer/DJ into the competition doesn't seem right.

It also seems wrong that a 15 year old should be allowed in the competition as well. The minimum age should be 16. I can only guess that 15 year olds are now allowed to enter because The Voice Kids was axed, and so there has to be an outlet for them. There are questions about how they will cope with the pressure though. Even the adults who make it far in the competition struggle with the pressure and it must be even worse for the kids because they simply don't have the experience to understand that it's just a competition and that it won't actually lead to a lasting career. Some contestants overseas have been the exception to this rule though with Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood from American Idol making it far in the entertainment industry. Locally Stan Walker and Guy Sebastian also have, but they're the exceptions to the rules. Out of the six previous The Voice seasons, not one winner has gone on to have a lasting career. They have all faded into oblivion.

Well, we'll see what happens with Sam Perry this season but given he isn't even a singer it's unlikely he will be able to compete with other singers in the contest. That said, it sounded like auto tune was being used for all performances in tonight's show which is different to previous years. So that raises another question, just how talented are the singers in the show? I will say this as my closing comment though, the talent this year seems so much better than previous years and the judges also seem to have a really good rapport going and care more about the art.

This may just be the best, even if controversial season yet.