HER mouth full of crisps, Jessie J tells it how it really is on The Voice.
“Oh yeah,” she mumbles, “we’re all controversial about being offensive.”
Such self-awareness is rare in show business, but the British pop singer wears her ability to upset and antagonise like she does her provocative stage outfits. With plenty of swagger.
While her pals and new managers, Joel and Benji Madden have used their own brand of bad boy charm to win support – and build lucrative careers – on Australian television, Jessica Ellen Cornish (her birth name) knows she’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
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READ NOW“I’m myself and sometimes I piss you guys off, sometimes I piss myself off,” the unapologetic Price Tag singer says.
Brutal in her honesty, welded to her brand of BS-free coaching, she knows it’s exactly what put her on a collision course last season with her polar opposite on Channel 9’s reality show panel, Delta Goodrem.
While Goodrem, 30, and her loyal band of followers, did not take kindly to the way Cornish crash-bam-walloped her way onto the show, dismissing opinions like they were chip packets, the 28-year-old seemed to relish the drama and the headlines which inevitably followed.
For those who see Cornish as a powerful voice for feminism, the fact the show was promoted on the back of pitting two women against each other didn’t sit well with a large part of the audience who called out the conflict as depressingly made-for-television.
The cynicism did nothing for The Voice’s ratings, which had set the local TV world on fire when the show made its debut back in 2012, averaging 2.43 million viewers.
Instead, last year – even with the oxygen given to the coaching controversy – the program shed almost 50 per cent of its audience from year one, averaging 1.47 million viewers nightly.
It also left both women bruised by the encounter they have been repeatedly asked to detail and defend ever since.
“I was fully uncomfortable with it,” Cornish says, “cos I live my life lifting women up. I’m not into any negativity, because the same press who would have pushed ‘they hate each other’ and this and that, are the same people who will write articles about ‘how sad it is’…it’s just boring. And it is boring. Every time we’ve done interviews, we’re like ‘meh, we’re over it. We’re cool.’ We’re not the best of friends, but we don’t hate each other. And that’s the truth. It is what it is, but there’s a mutual respect there.”
If the showdown was scripted to add extra sizzle to a season featuring two female coaches for the first time, it clearly backfired.
Perhaps reason again why the show’s producer John Walsh reassured viewers last week, that while the women don’t always agree, there would be no repeat of the overblown fireworks between Goodrem and Jessie J this season.
The conflict is addressed in the opening episode, with Goodrem having the last word as peacemaker, telling audiences: “the thing we have to do is let Jessie be Jessie, and me be me and get on with the job.”
Just don’t expect Cornish to play nice entirely, with new recruit, Ronan Keating taking up the fight this year to the North East Londoner.
And not surprisingly, the cheeky firebrand is still up for it too.
“I like people pushing me. I like people taking the piss out of me and it being mutual; taking it fun and not being serious,” Cornish says. “Ronan definitely gets my humour.”
Benji Madden has also enjoyed the new dynamic with Keating, who he says: “came in with all of us and just fit right in,” to which J adds: “he wasn’t afraid.”
Coaching rivalries aside, if there’s one thing The Voice — and other talent shows like it — continue to struggle with is doing exactly what they claim to do on the box: find genuine, chart-topping stars.
Last year’s winner, Ellie Drennan, sold just 5907 copies of her debut single Ghost; unable to convert on the 1.5 million people who watched her crowned the winner during the live finale on Nine.
Even that was a slight improvement on the 2014 winner (and arguably more marketable) Anja Nissen who managed to sell just 3023 copies of her first track.
Joel Madden concedes the show has failed on that point.
“The Voice around the world has yet to produce a superstar charting artist and that’s a fact. But that’s not my job. My job is to coach the artists who come on this show. That’s all of our job here, is to find the best voice possible. The deal that The Voice and Universal have when they’re working together … they’ve got to do that. They are the professionals and I believe they will get a star off this show. It’s going to happen,” he vows.
For Cornish, who coached Drennan to her victory last year, “it’s not about winning.”
“I think success is happiness and every artist that comes on this show, his level of limitation and happiness is different. Some want to headline their own arena tour and some want an understanding about having a residency once a week in their local pub. Everyone’s need and wants are different and you know, I think it’s really down to the public to make sure they don’t vote for the sympathy story. They should vote for someone they would want to pay to see for an hour and a half perform, not hear their life story. On a show like this you do get to know the artist more than usual before music is realised and I think people become attached to personality over vocal. I really try to push that. I’ve always said it on the show, ‘vote for the person you want to hear sing, not the person you want to have coffee with because you’re never going to have coffee with them.”
At about $25 million in production costs each season, it seems like an expensive exercise to coach performers so they’re ready to gig at their local pub, but passionate pop singer Cornish argues otherwise.
“No, never. It’s so important. This is about care and passion and support and about creating great musicians we care to share our knowledge with,” she says.
“Some come on the show for exposure. Some people come on the show for confidence. Some people come on the show because they feel ready to do what we do.”
And, Benji quips: “some people come for the catering.”
The Voice winner alumni are yet to crack the global music industry
2012: Karise Eden
The week after Eden won the first Australian series, four of her songs appeared in the ARIA Singles Chart top five, and her debut album debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart. Despite the strong start, the 23-year-old’s subsequent music has not been commercially successful.
2013: Harrison Craig
Three of the songs Craig sang during his time on the show peaked in the ARIA Singles Chart top ten, however he has failed to mirror the success with his more recent singles. His second album L.O.V.E reached number five on the ARIA Albums Chart and the 21-year-old continues to perform at private events around the country.
2014: Anja Nissen
The 20-year-old’s The Voice album peaked at number 11 in the Australian album charts however her singles “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “I’m So Excited”, which featured will.i.am, received a lukewarm response.
2015: Ellie Drennan
The most recent winner of The Voice, 17-year-old Ellie Drennan is still a youngster in the industry. Her debut single sold less than 6,000 copies in its first week, and she is currently keeping busy with small performances.
The Voice airs 7pm, Sunday and 7.30pm Monday and Tuesday on Channel 9.
holly.byrnes@news.com.au
Twitter: @byrnesh