NBC’s, ‘The Voice’ (and America) have a race problem
A pattern of white finalists beating out finalists of color has emerged in recent years
December 16, 2020
“The Voice” crowned its 19th winner last night — 15-year-old Carter Rubin of Team Gwen. While the night was historic because Rubin became the youngest male to ever win the show, it was also predictable. Of the 19 “Voice” champions, Rubin is one of 15 white champions.
This would make sense if there were no finalists of color in the running. However, there were two finalists of color — Desz from Team Kelly and John Holiday from Team Legend. These two singers came in fourth and fifth respectively.
One could try to justify this by saying that Rubin was just more talented. I would accept that argument if it wasn’t the case that in Season 18, both the runner-up, third and fourth place Black finalists lost to a white singer. I would call both of these instances a fluke if not for the fact that in Season 17, the fourth place finalist was Black and in Season 15, both the third and fourth finalists were Black.
A person of color has not won “The Voice” since Chris Blue in Season 12. And Blue was the first person of color to win since Season 5 which aired in 2013.
What is going on?
First, it’s important to note who chooses the finalists. While leading up to the finale, the coaches on the show have a chance to save singers and decide who advances to the finale, ultimately, the viewers vote for the winner of “The Voice.” The viewers are able to cast votes on “The Voice” app and on the website. So while coaches are regularly picking singers of color to advance to the finale, time and time again, the voters are not sending them to victory.
One possible reason could be that on “The Voice,” there has been very rarely more than one coach of color at a time. For example, in Season 19 that just wrapped up, John Legend was the only coach of color. The other three were white. This was the same in all of the seasons except for about five seasons when combinations of Shakira, Jennifer Hudson, Usher and Pharell Williams lined up.
The lack of consistent coaches of color may have deterred some people of color from tuning into the show and voting for more diverse winners.
Another possibility is simply the loyalty of the country music viewers on the show. Blake Shelton, a country singer, is the only coach to be on the show for all 19 seasons, and he has won seven times — more than any other coach.
The show’s focus on country music, a genre which has ties to the antebellum south, may also deter Black viewers who yearn to listen to music that is a better representation of them.
Either way, I am deeply disappointed by this pattern of Americans electing white people as the winner of “The Voice.” The fact that only one woman of color has won “The Voice” in 19 seasons is very sad and scary. The fact that this happened in 2013 is even scarier. The last seven winners of the show have been white. This is just unreasonable given the number of people of color that made the finale.
Last night, I cast my vote for Holiday, the fifth place winner. Holiday is a professionally trained opera singer and voice teacher at a university, but he is not a textbook singer and doesn’t just stick to opera. He sang a breathtaking version of Beyoncé’s “Halo” for the finale show that should have motivated America to vote for him.
On top of Holiday being a Black man on the one Black coaches’ team, he is openly gay. Did that play a role in why he came in fifth — last of the finalists? I do not know. What I do know is that the American people that shy away from female presidents and have only elected one Black president despite our population being nearly 50% people of color are the same American people electing “The Voice” champion.
What is my recommendation? Since NBC can’t singlehandedly cure racism, if “The Voice” wants to diversify viewership and the winners, it needs to bring on a more diverse coaching staff. I love Shelton, but he’s been there forever. Let’s bring in Jimmie Allen, a young Black country singer who is breaking barriers in the genre. How about Lizzo? Megan Thee Stallion? There are a multitude of brilliant artists of color to choose from.
I am writing this article not because I have all the answers or because I think Rubin doesn’t have a great voice. He does.
I am writing this article because deep down I feel that the reason singers like Holiday lost has something more to do with their skin color than their singing voices. And that’s just not OK.
Thank you for writing this article. I completely agree. I love the show and love the coaches but at the end of every season I feel this pit in my stomach about how racist America is…it’s blatant as the people of color that have made it to the finales are unbelievably talented stars. I believe that the coaches, Kelly, Gwen, John and Blake are all good humans but I think it’s time for them to step up and fight for the format to change. They have to see what’s happening season after season and they should no longer be implicit in reinforcing white-centrism. America shouldn’t get to vote to determine the winner. It’s that simple. And Desz and John, if you end up reading this, you two were an amazing gift to watch on the show this season. Your talent blew me away.
I was also disappointed by the season results. I really don’t think the child – Carter Rubin was even close to being the most talented person on the stage. I also think that the whole voting thing might be rigged. In the last episodes of the show, Carson Daly continued to say Gwen could win it with the youngest contestant almost as if he knew something in advance. And Gwen Stefani is NOT the most talented coach on the panel. Far from it with her monotone songs. She doesn’t even try to show her range making me think she is incapable. I think she is on the show because of her boyfriend Blake Shelton and because she is nice eye candy for the old men that watch the show. I will be boycotting the show until they make some changes.
I appreciate this post because it reflected my thoughts when watching the finale. I couldn’t believe John Holiday came in last. I would like to add a few thoughts:
The show’s problem seems first and foremost to be a ‘black’ problem. So many of the final contestants as you note have been black. There is a long history of African-American genres performed by black artists on this show, with these contestants having minimal success.
I don’t agree with your generalizing about ‘country’ music. I wouldn’t connect country music with the “Antebellum South.” Much of country music developed from Appalachian folk, which is a far cry from the uppity Antebellum culture of the plantation south. While the genre has become a way of connecting white people across the “New South” to a concept of southern heritage, I wouldn’t generalize and say the genre itself turns black people away from the show. Black people can enjoy whatever genre they want to, and many do enjoy country music. Many black artists have contributed to country music.
By the same token, these days plenty of white people listen to black music from diverse genres. The worry is that in addition to supporting country music above all else, these white viewers just do not want to vote for a black artist. I think it would take a black country artist to figure that out for sure though.
It is demoralizing to see black artists time and time again lose on this show. At least we know winning ‘The Voice’ isn’t the end-all be-all representation of someone’s artistry and merit. It seems like the show has accrued a certain demographic of viewer and I wouldn’t count on it getting better any time soon. Maybe hiring more black judges as you say would be a good step. If the show were to resist this because it doesn’t want to jeopardize losing the white demographic who views the show, that would be incredibly unfortunate. After all though, it is a business like any other mass television program.
Thank you.
Thank you.,
I agree the voice is supposed to be about selecting the most talented singer. In my opinion the two most talented finalists were John Holliday and Dez. Rubin Carter in my opinion should not have even been a finalist as his talent level was average. Other more talented singers were eliminated. In addition his ability as a performer was not that impressive either. It irritated me to see him as a finalist. But Kelley Clarkson not advancing Heather Greene last year was more of the same. I would like to see Alicia Keyes instead of Gwen Stefano.
I thought Desz was a lock to win. I was flabbergasted when she finished fourth! Not that Ian, Carter and Jim Ranger don’t have great voices but I anticipated a show named “The Voice” to have an audience who judged talent on singing ability alone. This clearly was not the case!
In whole-hearted agreement!
I’d like to add to what was said. The judges aren’t always keen on picking black artist that sing amazing. They are fully aware of the biases. They would much prefer picking an artist that is country over a black artist who can sing. I saw it play out this year there was a female artists who was black and could sing and she wasn’t picked by any of the judges (I think John legend was the only judge who still had a spot left on his team). I can’t remember her name but she was phenomenal. Shortly after that he chose a country singer who in my opinion was mediocre. The reality is these judges are getting paid millions for being on the show. The show is making millions from advertisement. I’m sure the judges get a bonus if they win. The ratings are good so why would they make any changes. The judges are widely popular. The only way things will change is if their are more black judges and artist, less country artist or if enough people voice their opinion about voting biases. I don’t know why they just don’t change the show to Voice Country And have another Voice competition where the judges are the face of RB and it’s racially mixed. As long as Americans remains divided and racists, great black artist don’t have a chance of winning. I think I’ll skip The Voice next year
GCuring racism isn’t fixed by expecting special treatment. In my option as a black male this is the type of attitude that keeps racism alive. I know its shocking but maybe the white winners are genuinely just better singers!
It’s really incredibly sad the kind of bias against black singers on this show. Nbc needs to do better. Black singers start off very well, most are even four chair turns and when they get to finale, they stumble, not because they are not good enough but because America feels for some reason they don’t deserve their vote. It’s sad and no longer funny, you can’t tell me the network doesn’t notice or isn’t aware of this bias. Imagine John Holiday coming in 5th place, that’s almost laughable. Season 18 was worse when neither Toneisha Harris or Thunderstorm Artis, two of the most talented singers lost to pastor Todd. C’mon America, you can do better if you really want to!