The Voice Kids is a reality television series that started from the Dutch television series with the same title, which was a spin-off of the Dutch series The Voice of Holland. The series features three coaches searching for a batch of talented new kids, who could become the Philippines' new child singing superstar. The coaches will judge a contestant termed by the show as "artist" with only their vocal talent without prejudice to their physical appearance.[3]
The contestants who have advanced from the audition round would be split into three teams, whom are mentored by three coaches in terms of singing which in the show, who in turn would collaborate with them and choose songs for their contestants to perform. Since the third season, kids ages six to twelve years old can participate.
There are five stages in the show: producers' auditions, blind auditions, battles, sing-offs and live shows.[3][4]
Producers' auditions – not shown on television. Different judges on auditions where the team will travel in and out of the country to find the best of the best to participate in the next set of auditions, "The Blind Auditions."
Blind auditions – first televised stage where auditionees will be given a minimum of ninety seconds to sing. The coaches of the show will be sitting on a chair facing away from the auditionees.[5] If a coach like what they hear and want to mentor the artist for the next stage, they will push a button on their chair that would turn the chair around to face the auditionees. When a coach turns for an artist, that artist will be included in their team. When more than one coach turns around, the choice to pick a who will be the mentor goes to the auditionees. If no coach turns their chair the auditionees' journey ends. The coaches have a certain number of artists in their team.[6] who will be advancing to the next round.[7][8][9]
The Battles – coaches will build up their team for "The Sing-offs", and group their artists into groups of three. Per group, they will be given a single song to sing together. A singing showdown commences in the Battle stage where the contestant whom the coach deemed performed better will advance to the next round.[10] Steals were added in the fourth season, where coaches can steal one losing contestant from a different team.[11]
The Sing-offs[6] – each coach will pick a certain number of artists (2 in the first two seasons and 3 in the next three seasons) in order to advance to the semi-finals.[10]
Live shows – the semi-final round and the final round. Results are based from the public votes.[10]
On November 18, 2013, Lauren Dyogi, ABS-CBN's business unit head, announced that there would be a kids version of The Voice of the Philippines.[12] It was launched after the success of the first seasonofThe Voice of the Philippines.[13][14] Auditions were announced in the same month.[12]
The first open call auditions were held on November 23, 2013, at Metro Gaisano Pacific Mall in Mandaue, Cebu and was open to kids aged 8 to 14 years old.[15][16] It was followed by an audition held on December 1, 2013, at the Newport Mall in Resorts World Manila.[17] In 2014, auditions for the Visayas, Mindanao, and Metro Manila were held on January 11,[18] 18 and 25 respectively. A separate audition for Luzon was held on February 1.[19]
The auditions for the second season was held on March 7, 2015, at the Araneta ColiseuminQuezon City. Other auditions were held at several cities. The age of the auditionees were reduced to aged 7 to 13 from the first season's aged 8 to 14.[20]
For its sixth season – the first season of the show to be broadcast by GMA Network – the auditions were scheduled from March to June 2024.[21]
On March 17, 2014, Luis Manzano and Alex Gonzaga were announced as the hosts.[22] The second season was hosted by Manzano, along with Robi Domingo and Yeng Constantino.[23] Domingo and Constantino replaced Gonzaga as the backstage and social media host. In the third season, Kim Chiu replaced Constantino.[24] For the fourth season, Toni Gonzaga replaced Manzano. Domingo returned as a backstage host. During the fifth season, Domingo returned as a host, with Bianca Gonzalez replacing Toni Gonzaga as a host.[25]
Lea Salonga, Sarah Geronimo and Bamboo Mañalac all served as coaches for the first two seasons of the show.[23] Salonga and Mañalac both returned as coaches for the third season.[26] On April 4, 2016, Geronimo left the show.[27] On May 2, 2016, singer-actress Sharon Cuneta joined as a coach for the third season.[28] After the third season, Cuneta did not return as a coach due to her stress on the show.[29] For the fourth season, Geronimo returned as a coach, along with Salonga and Mañalac.[30] For the fifth season, singers KZ Tandingan and Martin Nievera were both announced to replace Geronimo and Salonga. Mañalac also returned as a coach.[31] In April 2024, SB19 member Stell joined the show as a coach.[32]
According to AGB Nielsen Philippines' Mega Manila household television ratings, the pilot episode of The Voice Kids earned a 25% rating.[34] While the season 1 finale scored a 29.2% rating.[35] The season 2 premiere achieved a 20.7% rating.[36] While the season 2 finale garnered a 27.2% rating.[37] The third season's premiere got an 18.8% rating.[38] While the third season's finale ended with a 25.5% rating.[39]
