What is Playoff Pass on The Voice? Season 23 format and rules explored

The Voice returns for another season with new singers, new contestants, and a few new twists. Viewers will see many changes in the upcoming installment, including the introduction of the Playoff Pass, which will give four artists a big advantage while in the show.

The press release states:

"An all-new 'Playoff Pass' allows both Artists in a Battle to advance, with the 'Playoff Pass' winner gaining a major advantage when they skip the Knockout Rounds and automatically advance to Playoffs, taking them one step closer to the Live Performance Shows."

The Voice season 23 will premiere on Monday, March 6, 2023, at 8 pm ET on NBC.

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The Voice season 23 has a new format

The upcoming season of the NBC singing competition will include Blind Auditions, Battle Rounds, Knockouts, Playoffs, and Live performances. Coaches Blake Shelton, Niall Horan, Chance the Rapper, and Kelly Clarkson will have blocks, steals, and saves. These will allow them to drastically change the course of the show as it progresses.

The show will begin with Blind Auditions, where the coaches will select their teams based solely on how the singer sounds. They will be unable to see the actual contestant until after they either select them as their team member or until the song finishes.

However, the coaches only have until the end of the song to select the contestant. In the event that any two coaches press the buzzer, the contestant gets to decide who they want their mentor to be.

During The Voice auditions, the coaches have the power to block another coach from being able to select a certain contestant. Each coach will have a buzzer with the coaches' names on it which they can push. However, the blocked coach will only know once their chair turns that they’ve been blocked.

This will be followed by the Battle rounds, but this time around, there’s a new twist in play. Usually, during this round, The Voice contestants from the same team go up against each other as they sing the same song.

However, only one contestant proceeds, which depends on their own coach. In previous seasons, the coaches had the opportunity to steal the eliminated contestant, however, this time around, they will also have a Playoff Pass.

The new twist allows the coaches to use the Playoff Pass, which would allow both the competing singers to move to the next round. The winner of the pass, however, has an additional advantage as it will allow them to skip the upcoming round and go directly to the Playoffs.

The Knockout round is somewhat similar to the previous round. However, in this round, the contestants select different songs and perform separately. Whoever is not selected is up for grabs as the coaches can steal them. Moving on from the Knockout rounds, each team will be four winners and one playoff pass artist.

The Playoffs return in season 23 where the top 20 showcase their talents, hoping to be the two cast members that their mentors select to advance to the Live Performances round. During the semi-finals, the contestants will compete against each other weekly as the audience votes on who to save.

During the live performances, another twist comes into play. Singers with the least number of votes will be up for Instant Save, which allows them to perform once again as the nation votes for them on The Voice app or through NBC.com.

Tune in on Monday, March 6, at 8 pm ET to watch the season premiere of The Voice23 on NBC. Episodes of the same will be available to stream on Peacock the next day.