NBC’s ‘The Voice’ lowered its audition age; see Gwen Stefani on ‘Today’

As we get closer to the premiere of “The Voice” season 12 on NBC later this month, there are a couple of different things that are important to know, starting with some big news when it comes to the auditions.

Gwen Stefani, who is returning to the show this season after spending some seasons away, gave a couple of interviews on “The Today Show” this morning that covered the gamut of a wide array of topics. Of course, she talked about her personal life, and the relationship that she now has with fellow coach Blake Shelton. The reality that the two of them face here is that because of them being on the same show, it’s inescapable that they are going to be talking about their dating lives. There’s not really anything that the two of them can do about it, since it’s going to come up from some of their fellow coaches and even potentially some of the other contestants.

This is where we do want to start to discuss the news that broke today about the show lowering its audition age to 13. This is a tricky move for them to make, mostly because we envision it to be somewhat polarizing for viewers at home. While we’re sure that there are going to be some cute moments aplenty that come out of seeing some of these kids try out for the show, that doesn’t take away from the fact that you are putting them on the road to stardom pretty early. Some kids are capable of handling it, whereas some others have clearly shown themselves to be not … to put it mildly.

Maybe we wouldn’t have such a stark opinion on this particular practice of kid singers auditioning for these shows were it not for all of the meltdowns that we saw on “The X Factor” during its first run out of the gate in America.

What do you want to see on the upcoming twelfth season of “The Voice”? Be sure to share some of your thoughts on the subject now below, and head over here in the event that you want to get some more news right away when it comes to the show. (Photo: NBC.)