Entertainment

If You Wanna Win 'The Voice,' Sing This

by Kaitlin Reilly

One of the most exciting things about The Voice is that contestants can choose whatever genre of music they'd like, without limit. There's no rule that says that the winner of The Voice must be a rising pop star or a hard rocker — the show wants performers to let their unique sound shine through, whatever that may be. However, though the show may boast plenty of unique voices, that doesn't mean that no patterns exist when it comes to the winners of the series. We already know that your best bet to win the competition show is to team up with Blake Shelton, but what about the genre of music that you sing? Can the kind of music you play give you a better chance at winning the competition?

Statistically the answer is... yeah, maybe. The Voice has only aired seven seasons, so while there's no definitive proof that a specific genre will always win out, many of the show's winners stick to one type of music. So, is there one that's better than the other?

Well, if you're using the past winners as a guide, you may want to add just a touch of southern twang to your songs. That's right — country music seems to win out time and time again on The Voice. Let's take a trip down memory lane...

Season 1

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Winner: Javier Colon. Colon, who was known by the mononym Javier prior to his time on The Voice, did this genre so well that even Cee Lo Green called him a "soul brother." Then again, there's no need to prove how great a singer he is. I mean, he was the first winner of The Voice ever.

Genre: Soul.

Season 2

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Winner: Jermaine Paul. Paul followed in the footsteps of Colon by doing R&B/Soul better than everyone else, but a song he had done with Alicia Keys prior to The Voice had been nominated for a Grammy — so we shouldn't have been surprised.

Genre: R&B.

Season 3

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Winner: Cassadee Pope. Pope was previously the front woman of pop-punk band, Hey Monday, but she ditched the pop world for Nashville and country music. At least now no one is referring to her as not-Hayley Williams (of Paramore fame) anymore.

Genre: Country, duh.

Season 4

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Winner: Danielle Bradbery. Bradbery released the 2013 single "Heart of Dixie," which, if you're a fan of the similarly titled TV show, gives you an indication of her genre.

Genre: Country.

Season 5

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Winner: Tessanne Chin. Chin covered everything from The Beatles to Emeli Sandé to Bob Marley during her time on The Voice, and all of her covers gave me chills. Her first U.S. single was pure pop.

Genre: Pop.

Season 6

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Winner: Josh Kaufman. Kaufman might have started out on Adam Levine's team, but Usher knew talent when he saw it. After being stolen by the latter, Kaufman went on to dominate — even beating out the beloved Christina Grimmie, though Levine ended up signing her anyway.

Genre: Soul.

Season 7

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Winner: Craig Wayne Boyd. If you haven't heard "My Baby's Got a Smile on Her Face," then you'd better get out there and give it a listen. Boyd was a master of the country sound, and the fourth person from Team Shelton to take home the winning title.

Genre: Country.

Results

It's no wonder that Shelton has produced the most winners on the show — he's the King of Country. Sure, it's not a perfect science, since R&B, Soul, and Pop are close on its heels, but Country does seem to have an edge. Just a little something to remember for the next time you make that audition tape.

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