Keith Urban Returns to Coach ‘The Voice Australia’ After a Decade
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It has been nearly 10 years since Keith Urban took his last spin in the iconic red chairs on The Voice Australia. The country hitmaker served as a coach in the very first season of the show. Rita Ora, Jessica Mauboy, and Guy Sebastian will join Urban as coaches for the show’s upcoming 10th season this year.
Keith Urban Makes His Big Return As a Coach on ‘The Voice Australia’
The Voice Australia has already begun posting promos of Season 10. The U.S. version of The Voice will see the debut of Ariana Grande as a coach this fall. But, The Voice Australia trailers look pretty enticing to the point where The Voice U.S. needs to step up its game. Could Urban bring in as many viewers to the franchise as Grande?
Bringing Urban back was a genius move for the show and he is looking forward to the new season. To celebrate Season 10, Urban joined his fellow coaches for a cover of Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” It is interesting to see how this new group interacts in the music video and if that will translate onto television screens.
“The stars have finally aligned again! Ten years after spinning in the first season, and just before getting back on stage around the world, I’ve been invited back alongside a very cool and musically diverse panel,” Urban told Yahoo.
Keith Urban Has Plenty of Talent Show Judging Experience
Urban performed on The Voice finale with P!nk late last year. He previously served as the mentor for Blake Shelton’s team in 2018. In his decade away from The Voice Australia, he served as a judge on American Idol for four seasons. Urban played the peacemaker in Season 12 when it came to the infamous onscreen feud between Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj.
If there was ever a competition for the world’s nicest talent show judge, Urban would be a strong contender to win it. Urban was always very encouraging towards contestants on American Idol. When it came to offering up advice or praising someone, he was always three steps ahead of the other judges. We still haven’t forgotten when he got all choked up during Kelly Clarkson’s performance of “Piece By Piece” in 2016.
Why Did the Show Decide to Give a Full-Blown Makeover to the Coaching Panel?
Guy is the only coach who survived the big chop of The Voice Australia coaching panel after the very controversial Season 9. His brother Chris won the show in what many believe was a rigged finale. Boy George, Kelly Rowland, and Delta Goodrem were all ousted from the show. It is common throughout the entirety of The Voice franchise to have a rotating panel of coaches. However, this change-up is actually a bit more calculated.
The Voice Australia will be moving to Channel Seven for Season 10 instead of its usual run on Channel Nine. New Idea reported that Channel Seven was really only looking for local coaches to fill the seats on the show. The exception to this is obviously the addition of Ora to the panel. Ora currently resides in North London. She was reportedly staying in a luxurious mansion in the Sydney suburb of Mosman while filming the Blind Auditions for this season.
The COVID-19 definitely forced a lot of changes to be made on the show. This included the use of video chatting for international coaches. Season 10 will bid farewell to that entirely. Goodrem has been a coach on the show since the very first season where she sat alongside Urban. It’s a bit sad to see her wave goodbye to the big red chair to make room for the new coaches.
“We have a whole new more efficient and cost-effective streamlined production and roll-out schedule which will concentrate the format over less episodes and shoot over a much shorter time frame,” Channel Seven’s CEO, James Warburton said.
Channel Nine faced declining viewership for multiple demographics with The Voice Australia. The show became less of a moneymaker over time. A class act like Urban was added to the show on this new network with every intention of getting viewership up. No official premiere date has been announced for Season 10.
