‘The Voice’ of the Not-Just-White People: Diversity Sings at NBC

NBC’s reality singing competition The Voice could have been born under a bad sign. It premiered in the late spring not long after the underwhelming and cornball finale of the flagging American Idol juggernaut (I will never get over winner Scotty McCreery’s obligatory “championship” song “I Love You This Big.” Never) and has had to fend off the impending and much-hyped American installation of Simon Cowell’s UK import The X-Factor. And even when accompanied by some negative buzz online, the show has managed to be a ratings success.

The show’s popularity could have something to do with its format which — in reality singing terms — is somewhat novel. NBC experimented with this format in sleeper hit The Sing-Off, an a capella showdown whose judges Ben Folds, Nicole Scherzinger and Shawn Stockman — wait for it — actually know how to sing. Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance also employs judges with actual dance expertise, unlike its channel mate Idol who really can’t justify having Paula Abdul, Ellen DeGeneres and Jennifer Lopez (as likable as they all are) as authorities on vocal ability.

The “expert panel” premise is somewhat similar with The Voice but with a catch: Singers Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton aren’t so much judges as they are coaches or mentors to the singers they choose from a round of blind auditions. Yes, the automated rotating seats (which spin around to face the singer once the judge has decided they want to work with that particular “voice”) look like a cross between furniture cast-offs from the set of Star Trek and Steve Carell’s video game chair fromThe 40-Year-Old Virgin and the melodramatic suspense created while the judges hover their hands over their buzzers seemed canned.

But the results of this blind casting have yielded some of the most diverse contestants on a singing competition meant for lazy summer TV-watching Americans (read: almost all Americans). The assembled teams between the four coaches consist of 34 contestants (2 contestants are duos) and of them: 22 are female, 4 are Latino, 5 are Black (Javier Colon is both Black and Latino which will throw off my math), 3 are of Asian descent (Sara Oromchi is Japanese and Persian; Julia Eason is Scottish, Korean, Japanese; and Dia Frampton is Korean and Dutch), and 3 are openly gay (Nakia, Beverly McClellan, and Vicci Martinez).

In the last episode which has each coach’s team whittled down to 2 members, the finals are looking like a battle between Javier Colon, Casey Weston, Dia Frampton, Xenia, Nakia, Vicci Martinez, Frenchie Davis and Beverly McClellan. That means out of 8 near-finalists, we have 2 Black singers, 3 Latino singers (Again, I realize the math is off. This must be what it’s like to work for the Census…), 1 Asian American singer, and 3 openly gay singers.

And after last night’s results show, it has been revealed that the final four will be Colon, Frampton, Martinez, and McClellan, a significant amount of their support coming in from iTunes where downloads ($!) of their performances count as votes.

Translation: This is damn near unheard of on broadcast television.

American Idol is rife with gay panic (particularly the banter between host Ryan Seacrest and former judge Simon Cowell) and any non-hetero performers to take the stage on America’s Got Talent makes judge Piers Morgan break out into homophobic hives. Of the Idol winners, contestants have only come out publicly after their appearance on the show and only 3 out of 10 Idol winners were of color (and of them, all are Black). Of the 10 finales, match ups were between (2002) white/Black; (2003) white/Black; (2004) white/Black; (2005) white/white; (2006) white/white; (2007) white/Black; (2008) white/Latino; (2009) white/white; (2010) white/white; (2011) white/white. Of the tens of thousands of people who audition at each designated city — designed to provide access to virtually all potential contestants across the country — that representation doesn’t seem too representative.

So what’s the significance of The Voice’s diversity? For the most part this means that “blind casting” based on talent and not initially on appearance — and by extension, race — actually makes sense. Contrary to what we see onscreen, not all the people who deserve to be on TV are white. And with whites creeping steadily toward non-majority status in the US, we should be seeing a similar change in demographics on the tube. Studios, are y’all actually waiting until 2042 before more diverse casting is implemented? With The Voice, viewers are enjoying themselves and responding by tuning in (the show’s social media savvy with Twitter also helps track the impact of the show), the advertisers are reaping the rewards, and the networks will (hopefully) translate this as “non-white, non-straight people can make us money.”

I’ve read previous online rants of television and film casting not being about race but about money. True. The entertainment industry is all about profit, undoubtedly. But if one — as a studio exec or an average citizen — doesn’t want to directly or indirectly contribute financially to a media project not because of its content because it has people of color in it, then that is most definitely about race. And that mentality, coupled with some marginalized groups having less influence as consumers in the eyes of corporate America means people of color and LGBTQ groups will have to continue to rally for more representation and straight white people will continue to not understand why we rally for more representation.

The Voice is a good start and it’s success will hopefully snowball into a more organic method (no more Survivor: Racial Islands, please) of leveling the colored playing field in Hollywood. And if you’re wondering why I keep using “blind” in quotes, it’s because I hope readers don’t think I’m tacitly promoting the concepts of colorblindness or postraciality. Those are mythical creatures … created by people who have never had to think about race. Yes, technically singers are “race-less” during their audition, but the show gives people an opportunity to compete, people who would normally be rejected strictly based on somatic or sexual difference. The format wouldn’t be unique if it weren’t an alternative to an existing society that … rejects you strictly based on somatic or sexual difference.

Of course there’s the argument of contestant success lying in the hands of American voters. If competitors don’t resonate with an audience, then they go home. It’s totally merit based. And if Middle America happens to be drawn toward folks that look like them and sing the type of music that they like, what can you do?

Duly noted. But the ethos of The Voice is essentially about mentorship, which coupled with their unorthodox auditioning process — on the surface — seems far less exploitative than its other reality talent show brethren. And I do think the mentality of the particular show has an effect on viewers, i.e., a scrutiny based show vs. a show about fostering talent. It can also contribute to or help dismantle a highly stratified and exclusive entertainment industry. Idol is heavily based on “How can we package and market you?” which doesn’t seem to be a huge concern for The Voice. After all, I’m not quite sure how you market a husky gay bear soul singer or a bald lesbian rocker to the folks in the red states. I like that the show doesn’t seem to be sweating it either.

Because whether planned or accidental, they have forced America to choose between 1 moderately talented straight white person and 7 super talented gays and people of color. I couldn’t make up those odds, even if I tried. And trust me, I’m the type of person who would try.

The Voice finale airs on NBC on June 29.