The Voice (American season 3)
The third season of the American reality talent show The Voice premiered on September 10, 2012 on NBC. NBC officially announced The Voice
Season three introduce Steals during the Battle rounds in which other coaches can save a losing artist to join them to their team and reinstating them in the competition. It was initially enacted during the Battle rounds, but would later extended to Knockout rounds from season five onwards.
This is the first season to introduce a revamp of the competition during the live shows adapting to a format similar to The X Factor, where eliminations now apply to any artists disregarding to the team's affiliation, and the iTunes bonus multiplier where it was awarded a tenfold of votes to certain artists if their recorded single peaked at a certain position at the close of the voting window. This is also the first time in the show's history a reduced three artists represented in the finale, thus making it the first season not all of the coaches would guarantee to represent an artist in the finale. This is one of only three seasons where the team size was not 12, but with a size of 16.
Cassadee Pope was announced as the winner of the season with first female winner, marking Blake Shelton's second win as a coach, and also the first time a coach won more than one season.
Auditions, coaches, and hosts
Auditions for were held on July 7 to August 12, 2012 in Memphis, Minneapolis, New York, Dallas and Los Angeles.All original coaches signed on for season three. Mary J. Blige, Michael Bublé, Rob Thomas, and Billie Joe Armstrong joined the show as advisers for Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, CeeLo Green, and Christina Aguilera's teams respectively during the Battle Rounds segment of the show. Christina, Blake, and Cee Lo brought in Ron Fair, Scott Hendricks, and Jennifer Hudson respectively to help coach in the episode, Top 10 Perform Live. Cee Lo brought in Bill Withers to coach Nicholas David the following week, and was sick during rehearsals for the subsequent week, so he brought in Pat Monahan, lead singer for Train, to coach all his artists that week, while still choosing his team members' songs and keeping in touch with them on the phone.
Teams
;Color key:Blind auditions
;Color 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 |
Episode 1 (Sep. 10)
The coaches performed "Start Me Up" at the start of the show.Episode 2 (Sept. 11)
This was the first episode in which a coach did not get any acts.Episode 3 (Sept. 12)
Episode 4 (Sept. 17)
A preview of Christina Aguilera's video for Your Body was televised.Episode 5 (Sept. 18)
Episode 6 (Sept. 24)
Episode 7 (Sept. 25)
Episode 8 (Oct. 1)
Episode 9: The Best of the Blind Auditions (Oct. 2)
Episode 9 featured a clip show recapping some of the highlights of the blind auditions, along with the preview of the Battle rounds.The Battles
The Battle Rounds were broadcast from Monday, October 8 to Tuesday, October 23. In a history first for The Voice, 'Steals' were introduced this season, where each coach could steal any two defeated artists from another team by pressing the button on their chairs; similar to the Blind Auditions, if the event multiple coaches decide to steal, the artist was given a choice to choose which team they want to join, and only the coach which was successfully joined counts as a "steal". The advisors for these episodes are: Mary J. Blige working with Adam Levine; Michael Bublé working with Blake Shelton; Rob Thomas working with Cee Lo Green; and Billie Joe Armstrong working with Christina Aguilera.;Color key:
| Artist won the Battle and advances 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 |
The Knockouts
The Knockouts were broadcast from Monday, October 29 to Tuesday, October 30.After the Battle Round, each coach had 10 contestants for the Knockouts. Each episode featured knockout battles consisting of pairings from within each team. The contestants were not told who they were up against until the day of the Knockout. Each contestant sang a song of their own choice, back to back, and each knockout concluded with the respective coach eliminating one of the two contestants; the five winners for each coach advanced to the live shows.
;Color key:
| Artist won the Knockouts and advances to the Live shows | |
| Artist lost the Knockouts and was eliminated |
Live shows
;Color key:| Artist was saved by Public's vote | |
| Artist was saved by his/her coach | |
| Artist's iTunes vote multiplied by 10 after their studio version of the song reached iTunes top 10 | |
| Artist was eliminated |
Week 1: Live playoffs (November 5, 7 & 8)
The live playoffs were aired on November 5 and 7, followed by a results show on Thursday, November 8. No episode was aired on November 6 due to the coverage of the 2012 United States presidential election.Performances were intentionally stripped down compared to previous seasons, so that there is greater focus on the voices of the artists. Special guests included Taylor Kinney from Chicago Fire in the audience.
| Order | Performers | Song |
| 18 | Team Adam & Team Blake | "Peace of Mind" |
| 19 | Team CeeLo & Team Christina | "Sing" |
| 20.1 | Team Adam & Team Blake | "Stronger " |
| 20.2 | Maroon 5 | "Daylight" |
| 20.3 | Team CeeLo & Team Christina | "Drive By" |
| 20.4 | Jermaine Paul | "I Believe in This Life" |
Week 2: Top 12 (Nov 12 & 13)
The live top 12 performances were aired on November 12, followed by a results show on November 13.From this point on in the competition, all remaining contestants performed live each week, and only the public's vote determined which contestants advanced in the competition. Unlike previous seasons, rather than each team eliminating equal numbers of contestants each week, third season eliminations applied individually without regard to contestants' team affiliation, introducing the possibility of a final without an equal team representation.
Additionally, producers made changes in the voting system with regards to iTunes singles purchases, announced during the results show. Previous voting via iTunes purchases of contestant performances had previously only counted singly during the official voting window and only accredited to the live show in concern. As of this week in the competition, if a competitor's performance stays within the Top 10 of the iTunes "Top 200 Single Chart" until the close of voting, it will be awarded an iTunes bonus that multiplies iTunes votes made in the 24-hour voting window by ten. The finale's vote count will have include a 'Cumulative iTunes Vote Total' of all singles purchased during and outside of the various voting windows, with iTunes bonus previously earned.
| Order | Coach | Artist | Song | Result |
| 1 | Blake Shelton | Michaela Paige | "Blow Me " | Eliminated |
| 2 | Christina Aguilera | Dez Duron | "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" | Public's vote |
| 3 | Christina Aguilera | Adriana Louise | "Good Girl" | Eliminated |
| 4 | CeeLo Green | Cody Belew | "The Best" | Public's vote |
| 5 | Adam Levine | Amanda Brown | "Spectrum" | Public's vote |
| 6 | Adam Levine | Bryan Keith | "Back to Black" | Public's vote |
| 7 | Blake Shelton | Cassadee Pope | "Behind These Hazel Eyes" | Public's vote |
| 8 | CeeLo Green | Trevin Hunte | "When a Man Loves a Woman" | Public's vote |
| 9 | Adam Levine | Melanie Martinez | "Cough Syrup" | Public's vote |
| 10 | CeeLo Green | Nicholas David | "The Power of Love" | Public's vote |
| 11 | Christina Aguilera | Sylvia Yacoub | "My Heart Will Go On" | Public's vote |
| 12 | Blake Shelton | Terry McDermott | "More Than a Feeling" | Public's vote |
| Order | Performers | Song |
| 22.1 | Christina Aguilera and CeeLo Green | "Make the World Move" |
| 22.2 | CeeLo Green and his three finalists | "Stayin' Alive" |
| 22.3 | Blake Shelton and his three finalists | "Life Is a Highway" |
| 22.4 | Jason Aldean | "The Only Way I Know" |
Week 3: Top 10 (Nov 19 & 20)
The live top 10 performances aired on November 19, followed by a results show on November 20.Christina, Blake and Cee Lo brought in Ron Fair, Scott Hendricks and Jennifer Hudson respectively to help in this week's coaching. Other special guests included lead actors from the cast of Guys with Kids in the audience.
Cassadee Pope became the first-ever artist to be awarded the iTunes bonus as her singles hit #1 on iTunes Top 100 Singles chart.
| Order | Coach | Artist | Song | Result |
| 1 | Christina Aguilera | Sylvia Yacoub | "Girl on Fire" | Eliminated |
| 2 | Blake Shelton | Terry McDermott | "Summer of '69" | Public's vote |
| 3 | Adam Levine | Melanie Martinez | "Seven Nation Army" | Public's vote |
| 4 | CeeLo Green | Cody Belew | "Crazy In Love" | Public's vote |
| 5 | Adam Levine | Bryan Keith | "New York State of Mind" | Eliminated |
| 6 | Adam Levine | Amanda Brown | "Stars" | Public's vote |
| 7 | CeeLo Green | Nicholas David | "Lean on Me" | Public's vote |
| 8 | CeeLo Green | Trevin Hunte | "Scream" | Public's vote |
| 9 | Blake Shelton | Cassadee Pope | "Over You" | Public's vote |
| 10 | Christina Aguilera | Dez Duron | "Feeling Good" | Public's vote |
| Order | Performers | Song |
| 23 | Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton | "Just a Fool" |
| 24.1 | Christina Aguilera and her two finalists | "Let There Be Love" |
| 24.2 | Adam Levine and his three finalists | "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" |
| 24.3 | Team Blake & Team Christina | "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" |
| 24.4 | Team Adam & Team Cee Lo | "I Want You to Want Me" |
| 24.5 | Rascal Flatts | "Changed" |
;Note
- Viewers voted between a performance of "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Team Blake & Team Christina, or "I Want You to Want Me" by Team Adam & Team Cee Lo via Twitter during the airing of the results show.
Week 4: Top 8 (Nov 26 & 27)
This week's iTunes bonus multipliers were awarded to Cassadee Pope, Melanie Martinez and Nicholas David.
With the elimination of Dez Duron, Aguilera no longer has any artists remaining on her team, thus for the first time in the series, not all coaches will be represented in the finale.
| Order | Coach | Artist | Song | Result |
| 1 | Adam Levine | Amanda Brown | "Someone Like You" | Public's vote |
| 2 | CeeLo Green | Cody Belew | "Somebody to Love" | Eliminated |
| 3 | Blake Shelton | Terry McDermott | "Over" | Public's vote |
| 4 | Adam Levine | Melanie Martinez | "Too Close" | Public's vote |
| 5 | Christina Aguilera | Dez Duron | "U Smile" | Eliminated |
| 6 | CeeLo Green | Trevin Hunte | "The Greatest Love of All" | Public's vote |
| 7 | CeeLo Green | Nicholas David | "What's Going On" | Public's vote |
| 8 | Blake Shelton | Cassadee Pope | "Are You Happy Now?" | Public's vote |
| Order | Performers | Song |
| 25.1 | Cassadee Pope, Dez Duron, Melanie Martinez, & Terry McDermott | "Move Along" |
| 25.2 | Amanda Brown, Cody Belew, Nicholas David, & Trevin Hunte | "Any Way You Want It" |
| 26.1 | Amanda Brown & Trevin Hunte | "Marry the Night" |
| 26.2 | Cee Lo Green and The Muppets | "Bein' Green" |
| 26.3 | Cody Belew, Melanie Martinez, Nicholas David, & Terry McDermott | "Rhythm of Love" |
| 26.4 | Dez Duron & Cassadee Pope | "Hate That I Love You" |
| 26.5 | 50 Cent featuring Adam Levine | "My Life" |
Week 5: Top 6 (Dec 3 & 4)
The live top 6 performances aired on December 3, followed by a results show on December 4. Each contestant sang two songs, one of their choice, and one of the coach's choice. Coach Cee Lo was sick during rehearsals, so he brought in Pat Monahan, lead singer for Train, to coach his artists this week, while still choosing his team members' songs and keeping in touch with them on the phone.This week's iTunes bonus were awarded for Terry McDermott, Cassadee Pope, Nicholas David and Trevin Hunte.
With the eliminations of Melanie Martinez and Amanda Brown, Levine no longer has any artists remaining on his team.
| Coach | Artist | Order | Song | Order | Song | Result |
| CeeLo Green | Nicholas David | 1 | "September" | 12 | "Over the Rainbow" | Public's vote |
| Blake Shelton | Cassadee Pope | 2 | "Stand" | 11 | "I'm With You" | Public's vote |
| Adam Levine | Amanda Brown | 9 | "Here I Go Again" | 3 | " A Natural Woman" | Eliminated |
| Blake Shelton | Terry McDermott | 7 | "Stay with Me" | 4 | "I Want to Know What Love Is" | Public's vote |
| CeeLo Green | Trevin Hunte | 5 | "Walking on Sunshine" | 8 | "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" | Public's vote |
| Adam Levine | Melanie Martinez | 10 | "The Show" | 6 | "Crazy" | Eliminated |
| Order | Performers | Song |
| 28.1 | Trevin Hunte & Terry McDermott | "Feel Again" |
| 28.2 | Cassadee Pope & Amanda Brown | "Breakaway" |
| 28.3 | Nicholas David & Melanie Martinez | "Criminal" |
| 28.4 | Ne-Yo | "Let Me Love You " |
| 28.5 | Matchbox Twenty | "Overjoyed" |
Week 6: Semifinals (Dec 10 & 11)
The semifinal performances aired on December 10, followed by a results show on December 11. Special guests included Howie Mandel from Take It All and Of Monsters and Men, whose song "Little Talks" was covered in a non-competition performance, in the audience. Tony Lucca was also interviewed for a short while with his coach from last season, Adam Levine, in the Sprint Skybox.This week's recipients for the iTunes bonus were Cassadee Pope, Terry McDermott and Nicholas David.
| Order | Coach | Artist | Song | Result |
| 1 | CeeLo Green | Trevin Hunte | "Wind Beneath My Wings" | Eliminated |
| 2 | CeeLo Green | Nicholas David | "You Are So Beautiful" | Public's vote |
| 3 | Blake Shelton | Cassadee Pope | "Stupid Boy" | Public's vote |
| 4 | Blake Shelton | Terry McDermott | "Let It Be" | Public's vote |
| Order | Performers | Song |
| 29 | Blake Shelton and 16 members of his team | "White Christmas" |
| 30.1 | Cassadee Pope and Terry McDermott | "Little Talks" |
| 30.2 | Nicholas David and Trevin Hunte | "Hero" |
| 30.3 | Michael Bublé | "Christmas " |
| 30.4 | Juliet Simms | "Wild Child" |
| 30.5 | RaeLynn | "Boyfriend" |
| 30.6 | Chris Mann | "Roads" |
Week 7: Finale (Dec 17 & 18)
The final performances aired on December 17, followed by a results show on December 18. Each finalist would perform a reprise of a past performance, a duet with their coach, and a solo performance. Special guests included the cast of 1600 Penn and The Biggest Loser in the audience.Three performances reached Top 10 on iTunes as follows Cassadee Pope and Terry McDermott.
| Coach | Artist | Order | Solo song | Order | Duet song | Order | Reprise song | Result |
| CeeLo Green | Nicholas David | 1 | "Great Balls of Fire"/"Fire" | 8 | "Play That Funky Music" | 4 | "Lean on Me" | Third place |
| Blake Shelton | Cassadee Pope | 9 | "Cry" | 6 | "Steve McQueen" | 2 | "Over You" | Winner |
| Blake Shelton | Terry McDermott | 5 | "Broken Wings" | 3 | Dude " | 7 | "I Want to Know What Love Is" | Runner-up |
| Order | Performers | Song |
| 31 | The Voice coaches, live show contestants, Christina Milian, and Carson Daly | "Hallelujah" |
| 32.1 | Rihanna | "Diamonds" |
| 32.2 | Terry McDermott | "Rock and Roll All Nite" |
| 32.3 | Nicholas David and Smokey Robinson | "Cruisin'" |
| 32.4 | The Killers | "Here with Me" |
| 32.5 | Cody Belew, Dez Duron, Diego Val, Julio Cesar Castillo, and Mackenzie Bourg | "Stacy's Mom" |
| 32.6 | Kelly Clarkson | "Catch My Breath" |
| 32.7 | Cassadee Pope | "It's Time" |
| 32.8 | Terry McDermott and Peter Frampton | "Baby, I Love Your Way" |
| 32.9 | Adriana Louise, Devyn DeLoera, Joselyn Rivera, Loren Allred, and Sylvia Yacoub | "Best of My Love" |
| 32.10 | Bruno Mars | "When I Was Your Man" |
| 32.11 | Nicholas David | "End of the Road" |
| 32.12 | Cassadee Pope and Avril Lavigne | "I'm with You" |
| 32.13 | The Voice coaches: Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green, and Christina Aguilera | "Good Riddance " |
| 32.14 | Cassadee Pope | "Cry" |
- The performance was a tribute to the Newtown, Connecticut shooting victims, and placards displaying the names and ages of the victims were held by the performers.
Elimination chart
Overall
;Color key;Artist's info
;Result details
Team
;Color key;Artist's info
;Result details
Performances by guests/coaches
Artists' appearances elsewhere
- Daniel Rosa, Sam James, and Dez Duron sang in the blind auditions in season two and failed to make a team
- JR Aquino and Alessandra Guercio reached the Hollywood rounds of American Idol in seasons four and ten respectively, but did not reach the Top 24.
- Liz Davis was the winner of P. Diddy's Starmaker
- DOMO appeared on America's Best Dance Crew – season four as a member of Rhythm City.
- Adanna Duru later became a finalist on the fourteenth season of "American Idol."
- MacKenzie Bourg later made the Top 24 on the fifteenth season of American Idol and finished in fourth place.
- Loren Allred would go on to provide the singing voice behind Rebecca Ferguson's character Jenny Lind in the 2017 movie The Greatest Showman, performing the song "Never Enough" which has since certified Gold in the United Kingdom and the United States, and has charted in several other countries. The reprise has since certified Silver in the UK. She has also featured on Hardwell's and KAAZE's "This Is Love".
- Sam James would later go on Season 1 of Songland.
- Cassadee Pope would later go on the Season 3 episode of Lip Sync Battle: "Dustin Lynch vs. Cassadee Pope".
- Melanie Martinez later went on to star in and direct her own film titled K-12 which is for her sophmore album of the same name she alo went on to have a Platinum album and multiple Platinum singles.
Ratings
| # | Episode | Original air date | Production | Timeslot | Viewers | Rating/Share |
| 1 | "The Blind Auditions Premiere, Part 1" | 301 | Monday 8:00pm | 12.28 | 4.2/11 | |
| 2 | "The Blind Auditions Premiere, Part 2" | 302 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 11.42 | 4.0/12 | |
| 3 | "The Blind Auditions, Part 3" | 303 | Wednesday 8:00pm | 10.89 | 3.4/11 | |
| 4 | "The Blind Auditions, Part 4" | 304 | Monday 8:00pm | 13.57 | 4.7/12 | |
| 5 | "The Blind Auditions, Part 5" | 305 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 13.60 | 4.7/14 | |
| 6 | "The Blind Auditions, Part 6" | 306 | Monday 8:00pm | 12.18 | 4.4/11 | |
| 7 | "The Blind Auditions, Part 7" | 307 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 11.57 | 4.2/13 | |
| 8 | "The Blind Auditions, Part 8" | 308 | Monday 8:00pm | 12.55 | 4.6/12 | |
| 9 | "The Best of the Blind Auditions" | 309 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 8.48 | 3.0/9 | |
| 10 | "The Battles Premiere, Part 1" | 310 | Monday 8:00pm | 12.89 | 4.8/12 | |
| 11 | "The Battles Premiere, Part 2" | 311 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 12.19 | 4.5/13 | |
| 12 | "The Battles, Part 3" | 312 | Monday 8:00pm | 13.01 | 4.8/13 | |
| 13 | "The Battles, Part 4" | 313 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 12.04 | 4.6/13 | |
| 14 | "The Battles, Part 5" | 314 | Monday 8:00pm | 12.02 | 4.3/11 | |
| 15 | "The Battles, Part 6" | 315 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 11.22 | 4.3/12 | |
| 16 | "The Knockouts Premiere, Part 1" | 316 | Monday 8:00pm | 12.44 | 4.8/11 | |
| 17 | "The Knockouts, Part 2" | 317 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 12.13 | 4.6/12 | |
| 18 | "Live Playoffs, Part 1" | 318 | Monday 8:00pm | 11.93 | 4.5/10 | |
| 19 | "Live Playoffs, Part 2" | 319 | Wednesday 8:00pm | 10.47 | 3.8/10 | |
| 20 | "Live Playoffs, Results" | 320 | Thursday 8:00pm | 8.83 | 3.0/9 | |
| 21 | "Live Top 12 Performance" | 321 | Monday 8:00pm | 11.63 | 4.4/11 | |
| 22 | "Live Top 12 Results" | 322 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 11.15 | 3.9/11 | |
| 23 | "Live Top 10 Performance" | 323 | Monday 8:00pm | 10.60 | 3.7/9 | |
| 24 | "Live Top 10 Results" | 324 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 9.47 | 3.4/10 | |
| 25 | "Live Top 8 Performance" | 325 | Monday 8:00pm | 12.17 | 4.2/11 | |
| 26 | "Live Top 8 Results" | 326 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 11.57 | 3.8/11 | |
| 27 | "Live Top 6 Performance" | 327 | Monday 8:00pm | 12.11 | 3.9/10 | |
| 28 | "Live Top 6 Results" | 328 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 11.52 | 3.5/10 | |
| 29 | "Live Top 4 Semifinals Performance" | 329 | Monday 8:00pm | 12.33 | 3.8/10 | |
| 30 | "Live Top 4 Semifinals Results" | 330 | Tuesday 8:00pm | 11.52 | 3.6/10 | |
| 31 | "Live Finale Performance" | 331 | Monday 8:00pm | 13.37 | 4.2/11 | |
| 32 | "Live Finale Results" | 332 | Tuesday 9:00pm | 14.13 | 4.9/13 |