The Voice – Norges beste stemme is a Norwegian reality singing competition and local version of The Voice first broadcast as The Voice of Holland. It started on 27 January 2012 and the final aired on 25 May 2012 on TV 2. One of the important premises of the show is the quality of the singing talent. Four coaches, themselves popular performing artists, train the talents in their group and occasionally perform with them. Talents are selected in blind auditions, where the coaches cannot see, but only hear the auditioner.
Format
The series consists of three phases: a blind audition, a battle phase, and live performance shows. Four judges/coaches, all noteworthy recording artists, choose teams of contestants through a blind audition process. Each judge has the length of the auditioner's performance to decide if he or she wants that singer on his or her team; if two or more judges want the same singer, the singer has the final choice of coach. Each team of singers is mentored and developed by its respective coach. In the second stage, called the battle phase, coaches have two of their team members battle against each other directly by singing the same song together, with the coach choosing which team member to advance from each of four individual "battles" into the first live round. Within that first live round, the surviving four acts from each team again compete head-to-head, with public votes determining one of two acts from each team that will advance to the final eight, while the coach chooses which of the remaining three acts comprises the other performer remaining on the team. In the final phase, the remaining contestants compete against each other in live broadcasts. The television audience and the coaches have equal say 50/50 in deciding who moves on to the final 4 phase. With one team member remaining for each coach, the contestants compete against each other in the finale with the outcome decided solely by public vote.
Due to the success of the inaugural season, a second season was announced for 2013. Sondre Lerche is the only judge returning from the inaugural 2012 season. All other three judges Hanne Sørvaag, Yosef Wolde-Mariam and Magne Furuholmen was replaced by singer and songwriterEspen Lind, singer and former Aqua member Lene Nystrøm and rapper and music producerTommy Tee. Knut Marius from team Lene Nystrøm won the season.
Season 3 (2015)
The third season premiered in March 2015 with returning coaches Sondre Lerche, Espen Lind as well as Hanne Sørvaag and Yosef Wolde-Mariam who both returned after a one-season hiatus. The hosts remained unchanged. Yvonne Nordvik, mentored by Espen Lind, won the competition.
The fourth season began in August 2017 with returning coach Yosef Wolde-Mariam and three new coaches Lene Marlin, Morten Harket and Martin Danielle. Starting from this season, voting will be individual-based instead of team-based like last seasons. Thomas Løseth from team Lene won the competition on 9 December 2017.
Season 5 (2019)
The fifth cycle of the show began in January 2019 with the same panelists as last season.
Season 6 (2021)
The sixth cycle of the show will premiere in 2021.
