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ShowsThe VoiceSeason 18
COVID forces remote finals — the format adapts mid-season

The Pivot

Season eighteen began as a standard cycle, with Nick Jonas making his coaching debut alongside John Legend, Blake Shelton, and Kelly Clarkson. Then production pivoted: the live shows and finale moved to remote format as COVID-19 reshaped the broadcast calendar mid-run.

Filmed
Los Angeles
Los Angeles · Nick Jonas's debut cycle, finale shot remotely for COVID
Premiered
Feb 24, 2020
NBC · February 2020
Format
Blind audition competition
Nick Jonas debuts; finale produced remotely due to COVID-19
Cast size
4 players
Coaches: Blake Shelton, Nick Jonas, John Legend, Kelly Clarkson
Host
Carson Daly
Carson Daly — eighteenth season at the helm
On this page5 sections
  1. 01The take
  2. 02The shape of the season
  3. 03Where it sits in the canon
  4. 04Adjacent in the canon
  5. 05Also appears in
01The take

The Pivot.

A season interrupted — the format's resilience tested when the studio closed.
02The shape of the season

A season interrupted mid-production.

Season eighteen didn't get to be the season it started as. Nick Jonas's coaching debut generated real interest — a former child star turned pop artist, biography unlike any coach before him — and the blind auditions ran with the energy a debut carries. Then COVID arrived and the live shows moved remote. The season is notable for both: a compelling new arrival and a format stress-tested in real time.

03Where it sits in the canon

The #21 slot.

Slot #21 of 29 in the Voice Editor's Canon. Season eighteen didn't get to be the season it started as. Nick Jonas's coaching debut generated real interest: a former child star turned pop artist, with a biography unlike any coach before him, making specific and assured arguments in the blind auditions. Then COVID arrived and the live shows moved to remote production, with coaches participating from their homes. The finale ran under constraints the format wasn't built for. The season is notable for both things — a compelling new arrival and a format stress-tested in real time — and ranked for the combination of the two. Twenty-first slot.

No spoilers. Every page is reviewed before it goes live.
05Also appears in

Cross-references.