The Voice UK (series 9)
The Voice UK is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The ninth series began airing on 4 January 2020, presented by Emma Willis on ITV. will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and Olly Murs returned for their ninth, eighth and third series, respectively, as coaches. Jennifer Hudson did not return as a coach for this series and was replaced by singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. A promotional trailer was released on 6 December 2019.
| The Voice UK | |
|---|---|
| Series 9 | |
| Hosted by | Emma Willis |
| Coaches | |
| Winner | Blessing Chitapa |
| Winning mentor | Olly Murs |
| Runner-up | Jonny Brooks |
| No. of episodes | 14 |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original release | 4 January – 14 November 2020 |
| Series chronology | |
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the semi-final and final of the competition, originally meant to air on 28 March and 4 April, were postponed until November 2020.
In September 2020, ITV revealed that the series would continue in October 2020. However, Trainor digitally coached from the United States because of travel restrictions due to her pregnancy and the ongoing pandemic.
On 14 November 2020, Blessing Chitapa was announced the winner of the season, making her the first winner to be born outside of the UK as Chitapa was born in Zimbabwe. In addition, she became the youngest winner in the show's history, surpassing Molly Hocking the year before. This also marks the second consecutive win of Olly Murs.
Coaches
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On 26 September 2019, it was confirmed that will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and Olly Murs would return to the show as coaches for their ninth, eighth and third series, respectively.[1] They are joined by new coach Meghan Trainor, an American Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, who replaces former coach Jennifer Hudson. Hudson opted not to return for her fourth series due to filming commitments in the US, which is Cats and Respect.[1] Trainor expressed her excitement at joining the coaching team and commented, "It's a dream come true and I can't wait to sit in the chair with my own button and listen to some incredible new talent!"[2] Alongside the coaches, the return of presenter Emma Willis was announced; she was excited by Trainor's casting.[2]
Trainor later spoke about joining the coaching panel, admitting that she found it "intimidating" and felt "insecure" about what the contestants would think about her, believing she was not as well established in comparison to the rest of the panel.[3] She added that she was nervous about replacing Hudson and asked her for advice on how to approach the show.[3] will.i.am thought it was hard for Trainor to settle into the position because Hudson was well loved on the show, but believed that Trainor would be liked by the audience too.[3] Murs agreed and described Trainor as "a very powerful woman, she's got this great energy about her, she's fun."[3]
Production
Filming for this series commenced on 14 October 2019 at Dock 10 studios with the taping of the blind auditions.[4]
A promotional trailer for the series was released on 6 December 2019, featuring the coaching panel.[5] The series premiered on ITV on 4 January 2020 in the 20:30 timeslot.[3]
On 18 March, it was announced by ITV that the live semi-final which was scheduled for Saturday 28 March, would be postponed until later in the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] The semi-final eventually was aired on 7 November, and the final on 14 November.[7]
Teams
Colour key:
- Winner
- Runner-up
- Third place
- Eliminated in the Semi-Final
- Eliminated in the Knockouts
- Artist was stolen by another coach at the Battles
- Eliminated in the Battles
| Coach | Top 40 Artists | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| will.i.am | ||||||
| Gevanni Hutton | Lucy Calcines | Doug Sure | Johannes Pietsch | Baby Sol | Claudillea Holloway | |
| Shauna Byrne | Alia Lara | Evergreen | Zindzi Thomas | |||
| Meghan Trainor | ||||||
| Brooke Scullion | Trinity-Leigh Cooper | Oli Ross | Beryl McCormack | Blaize China | Darci Wilders | |
| Katie & Aoife | Holly Scally | Dean John-Wilson | ||||
| Tom Jones | ||||||
| Jonny Brooks | Lois Moodie | ShezAr | Elly O'Keeffe | Zion | So Diva | |
| Lara George | Vivienne Isebor | Shaun Samonini | Sean Connolly | Lara Anstead | ||
| Olly Murs | ||||||
| Blessing Chitapa | Jordan Phillips | Cameo Williams | Cat Cavelli | Alan Chan | Ty Lewis | |
| Belle Noir | Brian Corbett | Millie Bowell | Bleu Woodward | |||
Blind auditions
- Colour key
| ✔ | Coach hit his/her "I WANT YOU" button |
| Artist defaulted to this coach's team | |
| Artist elected to join this coach's team | |
| Artist eliminated with no coach pressing his or her "I WANT YOU" button | |
| Artist Received an "All Turn" | |
Episode 1 (4 January)
| Artist | Order | Age | Song | Coaches and artists choices | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| will.i.am | Meghan | Tom | Olly | ||||
| Brooke Scullion | 1 | 20 | "Bruises" | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Adam Howarth | 2 | 27 | "Losing Man" (original song) | — | — | — | — |
| So Diva | 3 | Various | "Don't Walk Away" | ✔ | — | ✔ | — |
| Francisco Iannuzzi | 4 | 30 | "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" | — | — | — | — |
| Lara George | 5 | 32 | "Don't Be So Hard on Yourself" | — | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Trinity-Leigh Cooper | 6 | 16 | "Stone Cold" | — | ✔ | — | ✔ |
| Cameo Williams | 7 | 18 | "Heart of Glass" | — | — | ✔ | ✔ |
| ShezAr | 8 | 31 | "A Deeper Love" | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Episode 2 (11 January)
| Artist | Order | Age | Song | Coaches and artists choices | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| will.i.am | Meghan | Tom | Olly | ||||
| Blaize China | 1 | 21 | "Instruction" | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Ty Lewis | 2 | 18 | "When the Party's Over" | — | — | ✔ | ✔ |
| Babalola Ehidiamen | 3 | 25 | "A Change Is Gonna Come" | — | — | — | — |
| Baby Sol | 4 | 36 | "Lullaby Of Birdland" | ✔ | ✔ | — | ✔ |
| Lara Anstead | 5 | 26 | "Say You Love Me" | — | — | ✔ | — |
| Jay Harvey | 6 | 38 | "Woman Trouble" | — | — | — | — |
| Katie & Aoife | 7 | 16-16 | "Chiquitita" | — | ✔ | — | — |
| Zion | 8 | 26 | "Glory" | — | — | ✔ | — |
Episode 3 (18 January)
| Artist | Order | Age | Song | Coaches and artists choices | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| will.i.am | Meghan | Tom | Olly | ||||
| Alan Chan | 1 | 40 | "You Know My Name" | — | — | — | ✔ |
| Oli Ross | 2 | 21 | "Sail" | ✔ | ✔ | — | ✔ |
| AK | 3 | 24 | "Eye of the Tiger" | — | — | — | — |
| Doug Sure | 4 | 31 | "Feels Like Summer" | ✔ | ✔ | — | ✔ |
| Belle Noir | 5 | Various | "Feel It Still" | — | — | ✔ | ✔ |
| Jennifer Jamieson | 6 | 26 | "Wish You Well" | — | — | — | — |
| Sean Connolly | 7 | 30 | "Suddenly" | — | — | ✔ | — |
| Gevanni Hutton | 8 | 17 | "Everybody's Free" | ✔ | — | — | — |
Episode 4 (25 January)
| Artist | Order | Age | Song | Coaches and artists choices | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| will.i.am | Meghan | Tom | Olly | ||||
| Jordan Phillips | 1 | 20 | "Found What I've Been Looking For" | — | ✔ | — | — |
| Cat Cavelli | 2 | 29 | "I Put a Spell on You" | ✔ | — | — | ✔ |
| Grant Tuffs | 3 | 29 | "Sucker" | — | — | — | — |
| Brian Corbett | 4 | 29 | "Give Me Love" | — | — | — | ✔ |
| Elly O'Keeffe | 5 | 31 | "River" | — | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Natalie Good | 6 | 24 | "Shout Out To My Ex" | — | — | — | — |
| Johannes Pietsch | 7 | 18 | "The Sound of Music" | ✔ | — | — | — |
| Lois Moodie | 8 | 21 | "I Was Here" | ✔ | — | ✔ | ✔ |
Episode 5 (1 February)
| Artist | Order | Age | Song | Coaches and artists choices | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| will.i.am | Meghan | Tom | Olly | ||||
| Darci Wilders | 1 | 18 | "Can't Help Falling in Love" | — | ✔ | — | — |
| Lucy Calcines | 2 | 21 | "Mi Gente" | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Priscilla Cameron | 3 | 31 | "Juice" | — | — | — | — |
| Zindzi Thomas | 4 | 31 | "War Cry" | ✔ | — | — | — |
| Julius Cowdrey | 5 | 26 | "Take Me Home" (original song) | — | — | — | — |
| Blessing Chitapa | 6 | 17 | "I'd Rather Go Blind" | — | — | — | ✔ |
| Holly Scally | 7 | 16 | "Lay Me Down" | — | ✔ | — | ✔ |
| Jonny Brooks | 8 | 28 | "Sweet Thing" | — | — | ✔ | ✔ |
Episode 6 (8 February)
| Artist | Order | Age | Song | Coaches and artists choices | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| will.i.am | Meghan | Tom | Olly | ||||
| Bleu Woodward | 1 | 32 | "You Shook Me All Night Long" | — | — | — | ✔ |
| Mollie Scott | 2 | 21 | "Work It Out" | — | — | — | — |
| Vivienne Isebor | 3 | 26 | "The Weekend" | — | — | ✔ | — |
| Alfie Osborne | 4 | 19 | "On the Loose" | — | — | — | — |
| Sally Barrett | 5 | 44 | "What You're Made Of" | — | — | — | — |
| Dean John-Wilson | 6 | 30 | "Always Remember Us This Way" | — | ✔ | ✔ | — |
| Andre Sanchez | 7 | "When I Was Your Man" | — | — | — | — | |
| Rozzandi | 8 | "Señorita" | — | — | — | — | |
| Alia Lara | 9 | 19 | "How Do You Sleep?" | ✔ | — | — | — |
| Beryl McCormack | 10 | 22 | "Turning Tables" | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Episode 7 (15 February)
| Artist | Order | Age | Song | Coaches and artists choices | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| will.i.am | Meghan | Tom | Olly | ||||
| Jamie Deary | 1 | 32 | "Leave a Light On" | — | — | — | — |
| Shaun Samonini | 2 | 33 | "In Case You Didn't Know" | — | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Shauna Byrne | 3 | 16 | "If I Can't Have You" | ✔ | — | Team full | — |
| Martina Mennell | 4 | 32 | "That's Life" | — | — | — | |
| Alex Buckley | 5 | 23 | "Something" | — | — | — | |
| Evergreen | 6 | 18-19 | "Big Yellow Taxi" | ✔ | — | — | |
| Claudillea Holloway | 7 | 24 | "Queen of the Night aria" | Team full | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Chris Beynon | 8 | 22 | "Stuck on You" | Team full | — | ||
| Millie Bowell | 9 | 23 | "Titanium" | ✔ | |||
Battle rounds
- Colour key
| ✔ | Coach hit his/her "I WANT YOU" button |
| Artist won the Battle and advanced to the Knockouts | |
| Artist lost the Battle but was stolen by another coach and advances to the Knockouts | |
| Artist lost the Battle and was eliminated |
Episode 1 (22 February)
| Order | Coach | Artists | Song | Coaches' and artists choices | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| will.i.am | Meghan | Tom | Olly | |||||
| 1 | Olly Murs | Alan Chan | Bleu Woodward | "If I Could Turn Back Time" | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | will.i.am | Doug Sure | Zindzi Thomas | "One" | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | Sir Tom Jones | Jonny Brooks | Lara Anstead | "Us" | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | Meghan Trainor | Blaize China | Claudillea Holloway | "The Greatest" | ✔ | — | — | — |
| 5 | Oli Ross | Dean John-Wilson | "Take Me to Church" | Team full | — | — | — | |
| 6 | will.i.am | Johannes Pietsch | Evergreen | "Songbird" | — | — | — | |
| 7 | Olly Murs | Blessing Chitapa | Beryl McCormack | "Flying Without Wings" | ✔ | — | — | |
Episode 2 (29 February)
| Order | Coach | Artists | Song | Coaches' and artists choices | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| will.i.am | Meghan | Tom | Olly | |||||
| 1 | Meghan Trainor | Brooke Scullion | Jordan Phillips | "Water Under the Bridge" | Team full | Team full | — | ✔ |
| 2 | Sir Tom Jones | Lois Moodie | Sean Connolly | "Ordinary People" | — | Team full | ||
| 3 | Meghan Trainor | Trinity-Leigh Cooper | Holly Scally | "Keep Holding On" | — | |||
| 4 | will.i.am | Lucy Calcines | Alia Lara | "Bounce Back" | — | |||
| 5 | Sir Tom Jones | Elly O'Keeffe | Shaun Samonini | "I Lived" | — | |||
| 6 | Olly Murs | Ty Lewis | Millie Bowell | "If the World Was Ending" | — | |||
| 7 | Sir Tom Jones | Zion | Vivienne Isebor | "My Love Is Your Love" | — | |||
Episode 3 (7 March)
| Order | Coach | Artists | Song | Coaches' and artists choices | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| will.i.am | Meghan | Tom | Olly | |||||
| 1 | will.i.am | Baby Sol | So Diva | "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" | Team full | Team full | ✔ | Team full |
| 2 | Meghan Trainor | Darci Wilders | Katie & Aoife | "I Want It That Way" | Team full | |||
| 3 | Sir Tom Jones | ShezAr | Lara George | "Young Hearts Run Free" | ||||
| 4 | Olly Murs | Cameo Williams | Brian Corbett | "Eternal Flame" | ||||
| 5 | Cat Cavelli | Belle Noir | "Dance Monkey" | |||||
| 6 | will.i.am | Gevanni Hutton | Shauna Byrne | "Imagine" | ||||
Knockouts
Episode 1 (14 March)
| Order | Coach | Artist | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sir Tom Jones | So Diva | "End of Time" | Eliminated |
| 2 | Jonny Brooks | "Don't Let Me Down" | Advanced | |
| 3 | Zion | "Pray" | Eliminated | |
| 1 | Olly Murs | Cat Cavelli | "Careless Whisper" | |
| 2 | Jordan Phillips | "Rapture" | Advanced | |
| 3 | Cameo Williams | "Wicked Game" | Eliminated | |
| 1 | will.i.am | Gevanni Hutton | "People Help the People" | Advanced |
| 2 | Claudillea Holloway | "Paint It Black" | Eliminated | |
| 3 | Baby Sol | "Blackbird" | ||
| 1 | Meghan Trainor | Blaize China | "Light It Up" | |
| 2 | Darci Wilders | "Angel" | ||
| 3 | Trinity-Leigh Cooper | "You Say" | Advanced | |
Episode 2 (21 March)
| Order | Coach | Artist | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sir Tom Jones | ShezAr | "With a Little Help from My Friends" | Eliminated |
| 2 | Elly O'Keeffe | "Halo" | ||
| 3 | Lois Moodie | "Battlefield" | Advanced | |
| 1 | Meghan Trainor | Brooke Scullion | "Stay" | |
| 2 | Beryl McCormack | "Because You Loved Me" | Eliminated | |
| 3 | Oli Ross | "Hurt" | ||
| 1 | Olly Murs | Alan Chan | "Crazy Horses" | |
| 2 | Ty Lewis | "I'm So Tired..." | ||
| 3 | Blessing Chitapa | "We Won't Move" | Advanced | |
| 1 | will.i.am | Lucy Calcines | "Attention" | |
| 2 | Johannes Pietsch | "The Winner Takes It All" | Eliminated | |
| 3 | Doug Sure | "Don't Watch Me Cry" | Saved by Lifeline vote | |
Live shows
Results summary
- Team's colour key
- Team Will
- Team Meghan
- Team Tom
- Team Olly
- Result's colour key
- Artist received the most public votes
- Artist received the fewest votes and was eliminated
| Contestant | Week 1 | Week 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | Round 2 | ||||
| Blessing Chitapa | Safe | Safe | Winner | ||
| Jonny Brooks | Safe | Safe | Runner-up | ||
| Brooke Scullion | Safe | Eliminated | Eliminated (Week 2) | ||
| Gevanni Hutton | Safe | Eliminated | |||
| Doug Sure | Eliminated | Eliminated (Week 1) | |||
| Jordan Phillips | Eliminated | ||||
| Lois Moodie | Eliminated | ||||
| Lucy Calcines | Eliminated | ||||
| Trinity-Leigh Cooper | Eliminated | ||||
Week 1: Semi-final (7 November)
- Musical guest: Molly Hocking ("After the Night Before")
| Order | Coach | Artist | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Olly Murs | Jordan Phillips | "Power Over Me" | Eliminated |
| 2 | Sir Tom Jones | Lois Moodie | "Who You Are" | |
| 3 | Meghan Trainor | Trinity-Leigh Cooper | "Lose You to Love Me" | |
| 4 | will.i.am | Doug Sure | "Nice for What" | |
| 5 | Meghan Trainor | Brooke Scullion | "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" | Advanced |
| 6 | will.i.am | Gevanni Hutton | "Many Rivers to Cross" | |
| 7 | Sir Tom Jones | Jonny Brooks | "Million Reasons" | |
| 8 | will.i.am | Lucy Calcines | "Problem" | Eliminated |
| 9 | Olly Murs | Blessing Chitapa | "Without You" | Advanced |
Week 2: Final (14 November)
- Musical guest: Celeste ("A Little Love")
Group performance: The Voice UK coaches - "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" (All coaches except Meghan Trainor)
| Order | Coach | Artist | First song | Order | Duet (with Coach) | Order | Winners single | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meghan Trainor | Brooke Scullion | "Edge of Seventeen" | 6 | "Giant" (with Ella Eyre) | N/A | N/A | Eliminated |
| 2 | will.i.am | Gevanni Hutton | "You've Got a Friend" | 7 | "No Woman, No Cry" | N/A | N/A | Eliminated |
| 3 | Sir Tom Jones | Jonny Brooks | "Falling" | 5 | "Drift Away" | 9 | "Torn" | Runner-up |
| 4 | Olly Murs | Blessing Chitapa | "Before I Go" | 8 | "Hold Back the River" | 10 | "Angels" | Winner |
References
- Pearce, Tilly (26 September 2019). "Meghan Trainor confirmed to replace Jennifer Hudson as judge on The Voice UK". Metro. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
- "Meghan Trainor to replace Jennifer Hudson on The Voice UK as Dreamgirls star quits show". Heart. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
- "Meghan Trainor explains why joining The Voice UK was 'intimidating'". The Press. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
- Tonks, Andrea (15 October 2019). "Tom Jones: The Voice UK star seen with new coach Meghan Trainor after Jennifer Hudson exit". Daily Express. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
- Edwards, Chris (6 December 2019). "The Voice UK trailer gives coaches Olly Murs and will.i.am unexpected new looks". Digital Spy. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
- "Coronavirus: BBC and ITV revamp broadcast plans amid outbreak". BBC News. BBC. 18 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- "The Voice UK Final Start Time". 13 November 2020.