The Voice (American TV series) season 4

Auditions, coaches, hosts, and team sizes

Auditions took place from January 12 to February 17, 2013, in Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston, and New York City. Carson Daly hosted for his fourth consecutive season, and Christina Milian returned as social media correspondent for her third season.

The coaching lineup changed for the first time: Adam Levine and Blake Shelton were joined by Usher and Shakira, while CeeLo Green and Christina Aguilera stepped away to focus on their music careers. Team sizes were reduced to 12 per coach, and each coach had two steals during the Battle Rounds. Battle Round advisers were Hillary Scott, Sheryl Crow, Pharrell Williams, and Joel Madden.

Live shows

A special episode, "The Road to the Live Shows," aired on May 1, 2013, recapping highlights from earlier rounds. The live playoffs ran from May 6 to May 8, 2013, with contestants performing stripped-down songs. On Monday, Teams Adam and Usher performed; on Tuesday, Teams Blake and Shakira performed. On Wednesday, two artists per team advanced by public vote, and a third was saved by the coach.

The Top 12 performed on May 13, with results on May 14. Usher brought in choreographer Aakomon Jones to help his team. Host Carson Daly announced a change to the iTunes multiplier bonus: only one download per registered iTunes account counted as a vote, and the bonus applied only to artists in the Top 10 at the close of voting (10 am EST). No artists reached the Top 10 that week.

The Top 10 performed on May 20, with results on May 21. Battle advisers Sheryl Crow, Pharrell Williams, and Hillary Scott returned to coach; CeeLo Green replaced Joel Madden due to Madden's commitments to The Voice Australia. The results show included a performance honoring victims of an EF5 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. The iTunes bonus was awarded to Bradbery that week.

The Top 8 performed on May 27, with results on May 28, and a preview of America's Got Talent aired during the results show.

Controversies

At the start of the live playoffs results show, Carson Daly announced that "inconsistencies" in voting had been found, so text-message and online votes were excluded to ensure fairness. Jason George, CEO of Telescope, the company managing the voting system, stated on stage that the exclusion would not have changed the results. Reported issues included that voting on the Facebook app and website had closed at 11:30 pm PST (an hour and a half after the West Coast airing) instead of the scheduled 10 am EST the next day, possibly due to high user traffic.

After his team members Judith Hill and Sarah Simmons were eliminated, coach Adam Levine said, "I hate this country," prompting angry responses on Twitter. He later posted dictionary definitions of "joke," "humorless," "lighthearted," and "misunderstand," calling it a "heat of the moment" reaction, and explained his comments were based on personal dissatisfaction with the results.

Artists' appearances in other media

Garrett Gardner and Agina Alvarez sang in the blind auditions of season three of The Voice and failed to make a team. Rhian and Cara Morgan of The Morgan Twins, Colton Swon of The Swon Brothers, Luke Edgemon, and Agina Alvarez reached Hollywood Week on American Idol in various seasons. Jon Peter Lewis of Midas Whale finished eighth in season three of American Idol. Amy Whitcomb performed on The Sing-Off in season one with BYU Noteworthy and in season three with Delilah, placing sixth both times.

Sasha Allen was a contestant on VH1's Born to Diva. Mary Miranda appeared on Estrella TV's Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento. After failing to make a team, Sam Alves competed on season two of The Voice Brasil, turning all four chairs and winning on December 26, 2013. Agina Alvarez later competed on La Voz...

México season four, finishing third, and appeared on I Can See Your Voice as La Voz. Mark Andrew auditioned for American Idol season 14 and was eliminated in the Top 16. Sonika Vaid auditioned for American Idol season 15 and finished fifth. Duncan Kamakana participated in EMA 2017 for a chance to represent Slovenia in Eurovision 2017 but failed to qualify.

Brandon Diaz auditioned for American Idol season 16, made the Top 24, and appeared in season 14 to support his girlfriend. Ryan Innes appeared on season two of Songland. Julie Roberts appeared on Wheel of Fortune on February 13, 2007, winning $124,250 in cash and prizes.

Did You Know?

• The Battle Rounds were broadcast from April 15 to April 23, 2013, with each coach having two steals.
• Season four's premiere was watched by 13.64 million viewers with a 4.8 rating in the 18–49 demographic, up 11% from the previous season.