“The Voice” season 16 premiere is February 25 on NBC. This two-hour long episode starts at 8:00 pm ET/PT and 7:00 pm CT and is the first of six devoted to the blind audition stage of the singing competition. There will be an hour-long episode of “The Voice” on Feb. 26 with that same schedule for the two weeks following. Joining the panel for the first time is EGOT champ John Legend. He will sit alongside returning coaches Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. Take a look at the four of them in action in the teaser clip above.
Clarkson is coming off back-to-back wins in her first two seasons as a coach. She knows first-hand the pressures of appearing on a reality-competition series having won the first season of “American Idol” back in 2002. Levine and Shelton have been with the show from the start. Shelton has coached six of the 15 winners of “The Voice to date while Levine has shepherded just three of his team to victory.
For the blind auditions, the audience gets to see the contestants but the four judges must make their decisions based solely on the quality of the singing. Only if they are won over by the voice do they hit their button so that their chair turns and they can see the singer. If more than one judge turns, the contestant gets to hear each make their case before deciding on whose team they wish to be. For those contestants that do not inspire even one judge to hit their button, their time on “The Voice” is over.
SEE ‘The Voice’ winners: Where are they now (Season 1 – 15)?
“The Voice,” which won its third Emmy as Best Reality-Competition Show in 2017 is hosted by Carson Daly. The five stages in the competition are the blind auditions, which will be shown over the course of the first six episodes, followed by the battle rounds, knockouts, playoffs and, finally, the live performance shows.
SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s newsletter with experts’ latest predictions
