Niki Cruz
Carson Daly has been on television screens across the country since his early days on MTV’s Total Request Live. TRL, the daily music countdown show, became a pop culture phenomenon that saw teens of the 90s and early aughts screaming their heads off outside MTV studios. It was the first show of its kind to give power to viewers, especially teens, way before American Idol or The Voice came to fruition.
Daly moved on to other hosting gigs such as NBC’s Last Call with Carson Daly, and, eventually, The Voice, a new kind of music show that put emphasis on the talent of contestants; with a genius concept, judges wouldn’t be able to see contestants as they performed on stage for a coveted spot in the competition. Not only are the rotating coaches a who’s who in today’s music scenes across all genres, but the show also invites mentors to guide the season’s contestants. It’s a show that, after 25 seasons, still feels fresh and new, thanks to producer/host Daly, who works with production to reinvision what the show could be season after season.
Awards Radar sat down with Carson Daly to discuss his talents as a host, The Voice’s longevity, and why, after 25 seasons, the show is as relevant as ever.
[This conversion took place before season 25th’s winner Asher HaVon (from coach Reba McEntire’s team), was announced]
Niki Cruz: You’ve had other hosting gigs before The Voice like TRL, you did Last Call, were there any lessons you took with you from those days that set you up for success?
Carson Daly: Oh my gosh, yeah. I have to go back to radio. Radio was such a great entry. My mom always said just wake up every day and do what you love. As long as you do what you love regardless of how much money you make, you’re gonna love what you do, and you’re gonna be happy; money can’t buy happiness. So, for me, it was music. I wanted to play music. I was a radio DJ into my 20s, where I was literally broke, but through my love of music, I got MTV. Then, that opened the door for NBC with The Voice, and here I am at age 50. I’ve had this long career because I’ve just stayed true to the initial thing that I loved the most as a teenager.
NC: The Voice has been going on for 25 seasons. How insane is that for you, to aid in developing such a unique concept and see it have such longevity?
CD: We’re on twice a year, but it’s crazy because it was such a lofty idea when we came on the air in April 2011. People thought this was never gonna work, and not only did it work, but it’s lasted for 25 seasons. So I think that’s really the crazy part is that it’s staying power that we’ve been able to keep an audience interested, and tweak the show and let the format evolve by adding steals and those little features that kind of make it exciting again. Every time it’s on, it feels fresh.
NC: When you were first developing the show with everyone what felt or seemed like a success story for you regarding what the show could be? Because at that point, you still you had the height of American Idol to go up against.
CD: I think it’s ironic that most of the people that were in production when we got this concept had an MTV background like Audrey Morrissey, our kickass executive producer, that at the beginning, myself, a lot of our crew, being authentic was our big thing.
I think with Idol, we all respected it greatly, but none of us wanted to make Idol part two. We weren’t interested in ripping off Idol, and none of us really appreciated the idea of making fun of people trying to sing because we all came from an authentic and incredible music background. Like Christina Aguilera, she’s not gonna make fun of anybody; she wants to help people. All that stuff we came up with conceptually for the format, was different from American Idol. And then, it’s about just having great singers.
NC: I love how you talked about bringing authenticity to this experience, because something that you’ve always had is great rapport with contestants during the auditions and before they get to the big stage. A lot of the time, they’re sharing some raw and vulnerable moments with you. How do you develop that presence that makes someone open up like that?
CD: That’s really a deep question. That’s a good question. I don’t know if I have the right answer, although my answer would be that you have to care. You have to care every time. Whatever you do for a living. You have to genuinely care. So when I sit down with, you know, my 40th artist of the day, and having a five-minute interview with their family, in that moment, I really care. When I say, “Hey, tell me about your musical journey. When did you start to love music?” The conversation that ensues is just organic and real. It may not be memorable. I may not say anything good or whatever, but I love what I do on The Voice so much as just kind of the host of the show off air.
I care about our artists enough that you just develop that over time. People watch the show, and then when they sit down with me, it’s like, “Oh, this guy cares. Carson feels like a regular dude that I went to high school with.” That’s really a strength to me. You have to actually care.
NC: And you actually have to be a good listener too.
CD: That’s really important. That’s really, really important. You can’t fake it. You can’t fake the funk.
NC: Pivoting to the performances on The Voice, there are so many iconic moments. I’m thinking of Matthew Schuler’s rendition of Hallelujah or Chris Blue’s Love On The Brain. Was there any that stuck out in your mind?
CD: Not one but Matthew Schuler; man, I love that performance. There’s too many, Niki; it’s so hard because there’s so many. Even this week, John Legend and I talked about it yesterday, and he’s said, “I don’t know if people reallyunderstand when we’re live on these Monday nights, it’s like The Grammys.” The art direction to our artists, to song selection, the costuming, and all of it is on such a big scale.
NC: I have to say, when it comes to John Legend, I’m a little biased. He always has a really strong team every season because he has such a specificity about what he’s looking for.
CD: He does, yeah, I mean, he’s also John Legend. He can coach anybody, and he’s an EGOT winner. He’s incredible. He’s also super smart and kind of prophetic, so when he’s talking on the blind auditions, trying to woo somebody, even if you didn’t want to be on his team, people are like, “I’m gonna be on team John. I don’t know what he just said, but he won me over.”
NC: You also touched on the production of this show. We get used to seeing The Voice a few times a week on television, but it’s still a massive show to put on, the lighting design, the set design, and all of it. Do you have fun stories of just the beast of putting on that show?
CD: It’s always fun to shout them out because the success of this show is theirs. I always love it when we drop balloons. For a singular anecdote about what’s fun about our crew, is when you suddenly have a performance and let’s say, 1000 balloons drop from the rafters, during that commercial break before the next performance, about 50 people come out with these long looking canes and at the end of the cane is a needle and they pop all the balloons, and so there’s this frantic, really bizarre murdering of 1000 balloons and then the cleanup of them. Also, with candles, we do a lot with real candles, and watching people light all 1000 candles is so cool. But yeah, to watch our crew in between a commercial break, strike down a set, and then set up the next set, it should be on C-SPAN.
NC: I would watch series of Behind The Scenes of The Voice on YouTube shorts or something like that.
CD: It’s really fun. They roll out the drum riser, all the plug in, they sound check real quick, then the orchestra comes out.Then there’s sometimes a barn setting, 200 fake roses — it’s crazy. What works in TV now is eventizing. We have to be an event because it’s so competitive now.
NC: We’re going into the live finale. What has been the most exciting moment for you?
CD: It’s really just being out there. I love music so much, hosting the show and it being live. I hate recording things now because I’m so spoiled with TRL. I created TRL with two people in the room, and we put the content together, and my fellow co-creators didn’t want to do it live, but coming from the radio, I said no, this has to be live. So when The Voice is live, I’m really in my element, which I love. I just love being there in the moment and watching the music.
NC: What does season 26 look like for you?
CD: Smokey comes to mind because Snoop Dogg is a new coach. So that’s going to be fun working with Snoop. Michael Bublé is going to be a new coach. I know Michael, and he’s actually one of my favorite people. We’re not the closest of friends yet, but I respect him. He’s one of the funniest guys I know. I can’t wait for America to get to know Michael more on The Voice. We like to tweak the format just a little bit, and we’re trying to change a whole round right now. I don’t know if it’s gonna be the knockouts or the battles or what, but we’re already really huddled up about season 26.
[This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.]
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