MTV News (June 11th 2013)
Blake Shelton tips his hat to ‘The Voice’ for a ‘great country season’
Coach Shelton calls the reality competition’s country domination a ‘perfect storm’ and makes his predictions for the finals
We reckon you're aware of the country domination on season four of "The Voice." Heck, it's hard to miss with three of the final five contestants representing the genre, primarily led by country superstar and Blake Shelton.
From the start of the season, it seemed Shelton was on a mission to round up every country artist in the competition to create his "dream team." He accomplished that and surprised the nation by landing the bulk of them in the finals.
"I've never read so much about 'The Voice' this year as I have talking about how it's dominated by country artists, but it is a, kind of, stand-out, interesting thing," Shelton tells MTV News, noting, "In the years past, we had four pop singers left in the competition at this point and it didn't read, hear so much about it."
Shelton calls it "the perfect storm," created by his finalists Danielle Bradbery, the Swon Brothers, the recently eliminated Holly Tucker and Adam Levine's Amber Carrington.
Besides the singers' natural talent, Shelton's experience in picking recognizable and impactful songs has enticed die-hard country fans to cast their votes week after week. "I think that's why I've had three contestants go this far because I at least know what songs are the right one for each particular artist," Shelton says.
With the finale around the corner, the two-time reigning coach is watching iTunes closely for some indication of where his artists stand, since, in years past, an artists' success on the charts has been a good predictor of their slot in the finale, but he admits "iTunes can fool you sometimes and they've delivered some shockers."
This time last year, Team Blake's Cassadee Pope was a clear stand-out, and while the competition is stiff, Shelton is aware of his breakout star this time around, "From Team Blake, Danielle Bradbery has been a front runner ... Danielle has probably been the most consistent in leading iTunes."
The finalists from Team Blake's Bradbery and Swon Brothers, Team Adam's Carrington, Team Shakira's Sasha Allen and Team Usher's Michelle Chamuel will be revealed Tuesday (June 11) at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.