Hear Me Out: I Think The Voice Is Making Way Too Big A Deal Out Of Season 29’s Big Twist

The Voice’s revamped Season 29 is underway, with some pretty major changes to the competition’s structure, including the impending return of some past fan favorites and only featuring three coaches this season. The Voice has leaned into Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine and John Legend not having a fourth superstar to compete against by initiating a new twist — the Triple Turn Competition — but I can’t help but think the prize is not significant enough to justify all of the hype.

Four Chair Turns have always been a big deal on The Voice, and that makes sense because of how often they produce the season’s eventual winner. The coaches wear it like a badge of honor when they’re able to convince an artist to join their team over the other three, so in that respect, I like the idea of attaching a prize to whoever can do it the most. However, they’re going way overboard in terms of how much of a difference this prize will make in the competition.

Let me break it down. When The Voice Season 29 Blind Auditions wrap (which will be the next episode to hit the 2026 TV schedule on March 9), whichever coach has won the most Three Chair Turns will earn a Super Steal for the Battles. That means they can immediately secure an eliminated artist from another team, bypassing any other coaches' steal attempts.

However, with just three coaches this season and no Saves, the mentor with the Super Steal will — at most — be going up against one other coach. So the big advantage is getting an artist that they already had a 50% chance at anyway. That’s kind of underwhelming, especially with all the hoopla surrounding the Triple Turn Competition.

Basically, all John Legend talked about on the March 2 episode was how determined he was to beat out Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson on a Triple Turn. The Voice has even brought in comedian Druski and former NBA player Derek Fisher to remind us of where the coaches stand.

No shade to them at all, because they’re being asked to break down a very simple on-screen graphic that reads, “Adam Levine: 3, Kelly Clarkson: 2, John Legend: 1.” There’s literally not much to say other than, “Can Adam maintain the momentum?” and “John better step it up!” I see what the show is trying to do with the whole sports-themed season, but it’s just simply not worthy of such fanfare.

It would be different if there were still four coaches, and the Super Steal had the power to override two other coaches’ regular Steals. Also, if the Super Steal were given in addition to the competition winner’s regular Steal, thus adding a team member for that person to take into the Knockouts, that would be major.

As it is, though, the Triple Turn Competition is underwhelming with such low stakes that it’s increasingly bothersome how much emphasis is being put on it during the Blind Auditions. At least the first round of competition is almost over. Tune in to see how the teams fill out when The Voice continues at 9 p.m. ET Monday, March 9, on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.