Pharrell Williams Is Not 'Happy' When Asked to Defend 'The Voice's' Track Record
photo: NBC
A press conference with the Season 8 Voice coaches — mainstays Blake Shelton and Adam Levine, returning original coach Christina Aguilera, and relative rookie Pharrell Williams — took place in Los Angeles this week, and of course it didn’t take long for one of the reporters to ask the elephant-in-the-room question that comes up at every single Voice junket: Why can’t this show create real pop stars, a la American Idol?
The usually cool, calm, and collected Pharrell surprisingly bristled at the question, retorting: “I don’t understand why we have these interviews and people ask that same question every time. That’s not why we’re here to do this interview. We’re here to do this interview because… we want to explain to you what this is and what it means to us. It’s a gift. The show is not about someone signing a record deal and getting signed. The show is about a bunch of people who really care about people that they encounter and make sure that they’re changed when they walk off.”
This is a familiar sentiment: At a 2013 press conference for The Voice Season 5 (the season that eventually spawned Count on My Love by Tessanne Chin, the lowest-selling Voice-winner album to date), Adam Levine claimed that getting signed wasn’t the point of the show, likening The Voice more to a “musical boot camp” at which as aspiring artists get the invaluable opportunity to work closely with the best in the business — a great learning experience, regardless of whether it culminates in a trip to the winner’s circle or a record deal. But let’s face it: Most Voice contestants probably do audition in the hopes of landing a label contract. That is, after all, the grand prize of the show.
However, at this week’s press event, Pharrell insisted: “The show is not a record company. It’s a training camp. It’s an academy. And you only advance forward when you have what it takes to move forward. And there’s nothing wrong with working for something. There’s nothing wrong with having your eye on the prize and not winning. But there’s always a winner, and there’s 11 other people that ultimately end up going home. But they go home different people, because they’ve had tutors that they would never, ever in a million years probably have met.”
Pharrell went on to make a statement that implied that aspiring singers, hoping to “go viral,” might be better off posting their talents on YouTube or Vine than going on The Voice at all. “My two cents is I always tell [singers] stop worrying about the industry, because that is kind of nonexistent. Most artists that are being broken today are not being broken by labels; they’re being broken by themselves. Radio doesn’t chase what record companies tell them to chase; they chase what feels good, what’s out there. So you’re just as empowered as any other artist… It’s really all on you. And I wouldn’t concentrate so much on the business as I would the music. Because if you don’t have great music, it’s not going to go viral anyway.”
This is only Pharrell’s second season on The Voice, so his testiness was probably due to the fact that he’s just not accustomed to being asked this age-old question. But if he’s going to be on this show for the long haul, he better get used to it… at least until The Voice finally silences all doubters by launching the career of a potential Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood.
The Voice returns to NBC for Season 8 on Feb. 23.
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