The Voice (American season 8)


The eighth season of the American reality talent show The Voice premiered on February 23, 2015 on NBC. Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, and Pharrell Williams returned as coaches. Whereas, Christina Aguilera returned for her fifth season as coach after a two-season absence, replacing Gwen Stefani. Carson Daly returned as host for the eighth season.
Sawyer Fredericks was announced as the winner of the season, marking Pharrell Williams' first win as a coach.

Coaches and hosts

returned from a two-season hiatus, rejoining Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and Pharrell Williams. The advisors for this season included Lionel Richie for Team Pharrell, Meghan Trainor for Team Blake, Nick Jonas for Team Christina, and Ellie Goulding for Team Adam. Nate Ruess served as an advisor for all teams during the Knockouts.

Teams

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Blind auditions

The first phase of the competition, the Blind Auditions began airing when the season premiered on February 23, 2015. Adam Levine auditioned as a joke in episode three with the song "Tiny Dancer," with all four chairs turning. He "chose" Christina.
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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

Episode 1 (Feb. 23)

The four coaches performed "Are You Gonna Go My Way".

Episode 2 (Feb. 24)

Episode 3 (March 2)

Episode 4 (March 3)

Episode 5 (March 4)

The fifth episode, titled "Best of the Blinds," was a recap of all the Blind Auditions broadcast up to that point.

Episode 6 (March 9)

The sixth episode included the last of the Blind Auditions as well as the first Battles.

The Battles

The Battles consisted of two 2-hour episodes, one 1-hour and one special episodes each on March 9, 10, 16 and 17, 2015. Season eight's advisors are Ellie Goulding for Team Adam, Lionel Richie for Team Pharrell, Nick Jonas for Team Christina and Meghan Trainor for Team Blake.
Color key:
Artist won the Battle and advanced to the Knockouts
Artist lost the Battle but was stolen by another coach and advanced to the Knockouts
Artist lost the Battle and was eliminated

The Knockouts

For the Knockouts, Nate Ruess was assigned as a mentor for contestants in all four teams. After announcing Anthony Riley's withdrawal from the competition, Pharrell grouped three of his team members into one knockout, in which two contestants from the trio advanced and one being declared loser. Just like season five, the coaches can steal one losing artist. The top 20 contestants will then move on to the "Live Shows."
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Artist won the Knockout and advanced to the Live Shows
Artist lost the Knockout but was stolen by another coach and advanced to the Live Shows
Artist lost the Knockout and was eliminated

Live shows

The live shows is the final phase of the competition, consisting of seven weeks starting on the playoffs and concluding on the season finale.
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Artist was saved by the Public's votes
Artist was saved by his/her coach or was placed in the bottom three
Artist was saved by the Instant Save
Artist's iTunes vote multiplied by 10 after his/her studio version of the song reached iTunes top 10
Artist was eliminated

Week 1: Live playoffs (April 6, 7 & 8)

The Live Playoffs comprised episodes 14, 15, and 16. The top twenty artists perform for the votes, and the two artists per each team advances via public vote, while the bottom three artists compete for the coaches' save in the results show. Monday's performance featured Teams Blake and Pharrell, and Teams Adam and Christina for the Tuesday's performance.
OrderPerformerSong
14.1Maroon 5"Sugar"
15.1Sia"Elastic Heart"
16.1Wiz Khalifa ft. Chris Jamison"See You Again"
16.2Team Blake
"I'll Take You There"
16.3Team Christina
"Like a Prayer"
16.4Team Pharrell
"Say Something"
16.5Team Adam
"Diamonds"

Week 2: Top 12 (April 13 & 14)

The Top 12 performed on Monday, April 13, 2015, with the results following on Tuesday, April 14, 2015. The Instant Save returned once again this season, with the bottom three artists performing for a spot on the next round via the viewers' votes from Twitter, and is in play until the semifinals. Oklahoma country music star Reba McEntire, last seen on the show's first season as an advisor for Team Blake, returned to serve as a mentor for the top 12 contestants.
This week's iTunes multiplier bonuses were awarded for Sawyer Fredericks, Kimberly Nichole and Meghan Linsey.
OrderPerformerSong
17.1Nick Jonas"Chains"
17.2Blake Shelton and his team
"In the Midnight Hour"
17.3Christina Aguilera and her team
"Hotel California"

Week 3: Top 10 (April 20 & 21)

The Top 10 performed on Monday, April 20, 2015, with the results following on Tuesday, April 21, 2015. Adam, Blake, Christina and Pharrell brought in Dave Stewart, Scott Hendricks, Mark Ronson and Ryan Tedder respectively to help in this week's coaching.
This week's recipients of the iTunes multiplier bonuses were Koryn Hawthorne and Fredericks.
OrderPerformerSong
19.1Top 10"Rocket Man/Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"
20.1Pharrell Williams and his team
"I Don't Want to Be"
20.2Reba McEntire"Going Out Like That"
20.3Adam Levine and his team
"The Joker"

Week 4: Top 8 (April 27 & 28)

The Top 8 performed on Monday, April 27, 2015, with the results following on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. Most of the previous coaches from past seasons returned to advise the remaining artists: Usher was the Advisor for Team Adam, Gwen Stefani advised both Teams Pharrell and Christina, and Cee Lo Green advised Team Blake. Shakira was the only previous coach not to return, due to the recent birth of her second child, but she did record a video message that was aired during the live show.
iTunes bonus multipliers were awarded to Fredericks and and Joshua Davis. This week's Instant Save was the closest in the show's history, with Carney being saved by only two votes behind runner-up Kent White.
OrderPerformerSong
21.1Top 8 Males
"Hey Brother"
21.2Top 8 Females
"Wake Me Up"
21.3Blake Shelton"Sangria"
21.4Matt McAndrew"Counting on Love"
22.1Jason Derulo "Want to Want Me"
22.2Rozzi Crane"Psycho"
22.3Lee Brice "Drinking Class"

Week 5: Top 6 (May 4 & 5)

The Top 6 performed on Monday, May 4, 2015, with the results following on Tuesday, May 5, 2015. In honor of Mother's Day, each artist performed one song on Monday celebrating "the mothers in their lives." This week eliminations is a single elimination and the bottom two artists faced the Instant Save.
iTunes multiplier bonuses were awarded to Fredericks and Linsey.
OrderPerformerSong
24.1Jacquie Lee"Tears Fall"
24.2Avery Wilson"If I Have To"
24.3Vicci Martinez"Bad News Breaker"
24.4Craig Wayne Boyd"I'm Still Here"

Week 6: Semifinals (May 11 & 12)

The Top 5 performed on Monday, May 11, 2015, with the results following on Tuesday, May 12, 2015. Similar to the Quarterfinals, the bottom two artists compete for the Instant Save and one artist was eliminated. iTunes multiplier bonuses were awarded to Fredericks and Linsey. Special guests in the audience included Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Hailee Steinfeld from Pitch Perfect 2.
With the elimination of Carney, Aguilera no longer has any remaining artists on her team.
OrderPerformerSong
25.1Nate Ruess"Nothing Without Love"
26.1Walk the Moon"Shut Up and Dance"
26.2Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams"California Roll"
26.3India Carney, Koryn Hawthorne, and Meghan Linsey"Faithfully"
26.4Joshua Davis and Sawyer Fredericks"Drift Away"

Week 7: Finale (May 18 & 19)

The Top four performed on Monday, May 18, 2015, with the final results following on Tuesday, May 19, 2015. Finalists performed an original song, a duet with the coach, and a solo song. As with previous seasons, there was no iTunes bonus multiplier applied to songs performed in the finale episodes; all iTunes votes received for the six weeks leading to the finale were cumulatively added to online, phone and app finale votes for each finalist. By the time voting ended, Fredericks charted at #2, #3, Linsey at #5, and Davis at #9 on iTunes.
Hawthorne's instant save made her the third of the three finalist who were stolen. Hawthorne was stolen by Williams from Aguilera, Davis was stolen by Levine from Shelton, And Meghan Linsey the runner-up was stolen by Shelton from Williams, The act who beat Linsey was Sawyer Fredricks, who ironically was from the same team as her prior to her steal.
CoachArtistOrderSolo SongOrderOriginal SongOrderDuet Song Result
Pharrell WilliamsKoryn Hawthorne1"It's a Man's Man's Man's World"10"Bright Fire"6"We Can Work It Out"Fourth place
Blake SheltonMeghan Linsey11"When a Man Loves a Woman"2"Change My Mind"8"Freeway of Love"Runner-up
Pharrell WilliamsSawyer Fredericks12"Old Man"5"Please"3"Summer Breeze"Winner
Adam LevineJoshua Davis7"Hallelujah"4"The Workingman's Hymn"9"Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"Third place

OrderPerformerSong
28.1Top 20"Carry On / Some Nights"
28.2Joshua Davis
"She Talks to Angels"
28.3Meghan Trainor"Dear Future Husband"
28.4Kelly Clarkson and Koryn Hawthorne"I'd Rather Go Blind"
28.5Meghan Linsey
"Piece of My Heart"
28.6Maroon 5"This Summer"
28.7John Fogerty and Sawyer Fredericks"Born on the Bayou"
"Bad Moon Rising"
28.8Sheryl Crow and Joshua Davis"Give It to Me"
28.9Luke Bryan"Kick the Dust Up"
28.10Koryn Hawthorne
"Uptown Funk"
28.11Ed Sheeran"Photograph"
28.12Kelly Clarkson and Meghan Linsey"Invincible"
28.13Sawyer Fredericks
"Lie To Me"
28.14The Voice Coaches - Adam Levine, Pharrell Williams, Christina Aguilera, and Blake Shelton"The Thrill is Gone"
28.15Sawyer Fredericks "Please"

Elimination chart

Overall

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;Artist's info
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Team

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;Artist's info
;Result details

Performances by guests/coaches

Artists' appearances in other media

The season eight premiere was watched by 13.97 million viewers with a 4.1 rating in the 18–49 demographic. It was up from last season's premiere by 1.02 million viewers. The season eight premiere was up 21% from the previous season's finale. The second episode retained 95% of viewers in P18-49 from the premiere episode, compared to just 79%, from the previous season.