Gwen Stefani Admitted the Low Success of ‘The Voice’ Contestants Makes Her Feel ‘Amazed’ About Her Own Career
Gwen Stefani has been a coach on The Voice for years. In this time, she hasn’t seen many contestants on the show reach high levels of success. Stefani said that this can be explained by the challenge of navigating the music industry. After watching the contestants struggle, Stefani said she feels even more grateful for her own success.
Gwen Stefani spoke about how ‘The Voice’ makes her feel about her own career
The Voice has been running for 26 seasons, but it has not produced a major star in the way a show like American Idol has. Stefani believes this has nothing to do with the talent of the show’s contestants. She explained that the industry is difficult to break into.
“The winners have all been remarkable performers with amazing voices, but the music world is so complex. It’s tough to break through,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “The benefit of this show is that audiences love to watch ordinary people have the national opportunity to showcase their talent. As a culture, we’re constantly rooting for the underdog, so that’s the real appeal of the show.”
When she sees the challenge the contestants face, she feels amazed that she has been able to reach and sustain success.
“I watched people that went through that without seeing their faces, without knowing what color they are,” she told Paper Magazine. “And I chose the ones that pulled my heartstrings. And even though they were so talented, none of them have had careers. It’s made me look at myself and even feel even more amazed by the fact that anyone cared or cares.”
Gwen Stefani’s fellow coaches have spoken about the careers of contestants on ‘The Voice’
Other coaches are more frustrated with the contestants’ lack of success. Blake Shelton, Stefani’s husband, believes the record labels are failing the contestants.
“One of the frustrating things for me as a coach on this show year after year is they win this record deal with Universal, and so many times the ball’s been dropped,” Shelton said, per The New York Post.
Former coach Adam Levine agreed with him.
“We do so much great s*** for these singers, and then they go to a record label … that f***s it up,” Levine said.
She spoke about adjusting to fame
Stefani rocketed to success with No Doubt when they released the song “Don’t Speak.” She hadn’t expected it to be such a hit.
“The original version was written by my brother [Eric, keyboards], who lived at my grandparents’ house; after they passed away, it became the band house,” she told The Guardian. “He’d stay up all night eating peanut butter sandwiches, drinking milk, and smoking cigarettes and go: ‘Oh, I wrote this last night.’ Then I ended up rewriting the lyrics and changing the whole song because Tony [Kanal, bass] broke up with me.”
She said it felt like her life changed overnight.
“It’s crazy, but that song really is the heartbeat of who I am and changed everything,” she said. “After it came out, we were driving through Israel and these guards came up to the van with guns, which I’d never seen anywhere before. One of them looked in the van and started singing ‘Don’t Speak’ to me. That soon became normal.”
