If you were watching NBC in the fall of 2017, you probably remember the sheer energy shift. It was The Voice Season 13, and honestly, the show felt like it was having a bit of an identity crisis, but in the best way possible. We had the usual suspects, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, doing their bickering brothers routine, but the infusion of Jennifer Hudson and Miley Cyrus changed the molecular structure of the coaching panel. It wasn't just about the singing anymore. It was about the personalities.
The vibe was electric. It was loud.
People forget that this specific season was a massive turning point for how the show handled talent. For years, The Voice struggled with the "winner's curse"—where the person who holds the trophy at the end vanishes into obscurity while the runner-ups actually find work. Season 13 tried to buck that trend. It gave us Chloe Kohanski, a rock goddess with a raspy voice that sounded like she’d been smoking cigarettes and drinking bourbon since the 70s. She was a total anomaly for a show that usually favors clean, gospel-trained powerhouses or "aw-shucks" country crooners.
Jennifer Hudson and the Shoe-Throwing Phenomenon
Let’s talk about J-Hud. She didn't just sit in the chair; she occupied it. When Jennifer Hudson joined The Voice Season 13, she brought a level of "church" and raw theater that the show desperately needed. And then there were the shoes.
Remember the shoes?
If a contestant sang something so good it moved her soul, Jennifer would literally take off her high-heeled shoe and hurl it at the stage. It became the season's calling card. To the uninitiated, it looked like an assault; to the fans, it was the ultimate compliment. It was a physical manifestation of "you killed that." It signaled a shift toward a more visceral, emotional style of judging that moved away from the clinical "pitchy" comments we saw in earlier years.
Miley Cyrus was back for her second go-round, too. She was more refined this time, less "Bangerz" era and more "Malibu." Her coaching style was surprisingly technical. She actually cared about the arrangements. The dynamic between Miley and Jennifer provided a much-needed female powerhouse energy that stood its ground against the Adam and Blake monopoly.
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The Chloe Kohanski Factor: A Win for the Weird Kids
Chloe Kohanski didn't start on Team Blake. That’s the wild part. She was originally on Team Miley, but got stolen. It’s one of the few times a "steal" actually resulted in a win.
Chloe was different. She wasn't trying to be a pop star in the 2017 sense of the word. She was doing covers of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Bette Davis Eyes" that felt like they belonged on a dark, moody movie soundtrack. Her voice had this gravelly, 80s rock texture that resonated with a demographic that usually ignores these shows.
When she won, it felt like a victory for the indie kids.
But it also highlighted the recurring problem. Despite her massive popularity during the live shows—her tracks were consistently hitting the top of the iTunes charts—the post-show machine struggled to figure out what to do with a rock artist in a hip-hop and synth-pop world. It’s a recurring theme in the history of The Voice Season 13 and the seasons that followed: the audience loves a rebel, but the record labels want a product.
The Talent Pool: More Than Just a One-Horse Race
While Chloe took the crown, the roster was actually stacked. You had Addison Agen, the 16-year-old with a voice that sounded like it was a hundred years old. She was the runner-up, and honestly, on any other season, she would have walked away with it. Her rendition of "Angel from Montgomery" was a masterclass in restraint.
Then there was Brooke Simpson.
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Brooke was a powerhouse. Pure vocal athleticism. Every time she stepped on stage, she looked like she was having the time of her life. She finished third, but her impact on the "Team Miley" legacy was huge. She represented the more traditional, "big singer" energy of the show.
Red Marlow was the country representative. You can't have a season of The Voice without a guy who sounds like he just walked off a ranch in Alabama. He was Team Blake, obviously. He stayed true to his roots, never tried to be anything he wasn't, and the middle-American audience loved him for it. He took fourth place, proving that the country voting block is the most loyal fanbase in reality TV history.
Behind the Scenes: The Kelly Clarkson Tease
One thing people often forget about this specific era is that it served as the launchpad for the next phase of the franchise. During The Voice Season 13, the show started heavily promoting the arrival of Kelly Clarkson for Season 14.
Kelly actually appeared as a key advisor during the Knockout Rounds.
It was a brilliant marketing move. By bringing in the original Idol to coach on The Voice, NBC was effectively saying, "We own the singing competition space now." Watching Kelly interact with the Season 13 contestants gave us a preview of the high-energy, fast-talking, incredibly empathetic coach she would eventually become. It shifted the gravity of the show.
Why Season 13 Matters Today
If you look back at the ratings and the cultural footprint, Season 13 was the last time the show felt truly "must-watch" in a way that dominated Monday morning water cooler talk. It was the peak of the "four-chair turn" hype.
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The production value was at an all-time high. The sets were flashier, the lighting was more cinematic, and the "Instant Save" on Twitter (now X) was creating genuine social media frenzies. It was the digital age of the show hitting its stride.
However, it also exposed the cracks in the "star-making" promise. While Chloe Kohanski (who later changed her stage name to chloe mk) is incredibly talented, the gap between a "Voice Winner" and a "Billboard Chart-Topper" remained wide. This season forced the producers to rethink how they handled the transition from the finale to the real world, leading to more involvement from the coaches in their artists' actual careers.
What We Can Learn From The Season 13 Arc
- Coaching Chemistry is King: The show lives or dies by the panel. The JHud/Miley/Adam/Blake combo worked because it was high-friction but high-respect.
- The "Niche" Wins: Chloe Kohanski proved that you don't have to be a generic pop singer to win. You can be weird. You can have a "difficult" voice.
- The iTunes Era: This was one of the last seasons where the iTunes charts were a primary metric for success before streaming truly took over everything, changing how the "votes" were perceived.
- Steals Change Destinies: The fact that the winner was a stolen artist changed how contestants approached the battle rounds. They started looking at the "loss" as a strategic move to get onto a different team.
How to Revisit the Magic
If you’re looking to dive back into The Voice Season 13, don’t just watch the finale. The real gold is in the Blind Auditions and the Knockouts.
Look for Addison Agen’s "Jolene" or Chloe’s "The Chain." Those moments define why we still talk about this season years later. You can find most of these performances on YouTube or via NBC's archives. It’s a time capsule of 2017 music culture—a mix of nostalgic rock covers and the beginning of the "indie-pop" vocal fry that dominated the late 2010s.
For those trying to track where the contestants are now, follow them on Instagram rather than looking for them on the radio. Most Season 13 alums have built solid, independent careers. They aren't playing stadiums, but they are selling out clubs and releasing music on their own terms.
To truly understand the evolution of reality TV, you have to look at the winners who didn't fit the mold. Chloe Kohanski was that winner. Season 13 was that season. It was messy, it was loud, shoes were thrown, and for a few months in 2017, it was the only thing worth watching on a Tuesday night.
Immediate Next Steps for Fans
To get the most out of your Season 13 nostalgia trip, start by curate-searching the "Best of Jennifer Hudson" clips to see the technical advice she gave; it was actually some of the most profound vocal coaching in the show's history. Then, check out Chloe mk's current discography on Spotify to see how her sound evolved from the 80s rock covers she did on the show into the synth-heavy alternative music she creates today. Understanding the trajectory from reality TV contestant to independent artist is the best way to appreciate the true impact of the show.