Y Llais
Welsh-language singing television series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Y Llais (Welsh for 'The Voice') is a Welsh-language singing reality competition television series. It premiered on S4C on 9 February 2025.[1] Based on the original Dutch singing competition The Voice of Holland and part of The Voice franchise, it has aired two series and aims to find currently unsigned singing talent (solo or duets) contested by aspiring singers, drawn from public auditions. The show is originally presented by Sian Eleri.[2][3] The winners receive the opportunity to record and release a professionally produced single, along with industry exposure and support from established Welsh artists and producers. The winners of each series have been: Rose Datta and Carrie Sauce.
| Y Llais | |
|---|---|
| |
| Genre | Reality competition |
| Created by | |
| Presented by | |
| Judges | |
| Country of origin | Wales, United Kingdom |
| Original languages | Welsh (English subtitles) |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 16 |
| Production | |
| Production location | Dragon International Film Studios |
| Running time | 60–120 minutes |
| Production companies | S4C, Boom Cymru and ITV Studios |
| Original release | |
| Network | S4C |
| Release | 9 February 2025 – present |
| Related | |
The series employs a panel of four coaches who critique the artists' performances and guide their teams of selected artists through the remainder of the series. They also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, thus making them the winning coach. The original panel featured Sir Bryn Terfel, Bronwen Lewis, Aleighcia Scott and Yws Gwynedd
In 2024, WalesOnline confirmed that the first series of the Welsh-language edition of The Voice was in production.[2] Y Llais is produced by Boom Cymru, a subsidiary of ITV Studios. The first season aired on 9 February 2025.[4]
Format
Y Llais is a reality television series that features four coaches looking for a talented new artist, who could become a global superstar. The show's concept is indicated by its title: the coaches do not judge the artists by their looks, personalities, stage presence or dance routines—only their vocal ability. It is this aspect that differentiates The Voice from other reality television series such as The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent or even Pop Idol. The competitors are split into four teams, which are mentored by the coaches who in turn choose songs for their artists to perform. There is no specific age range and anyone can audition; if a coach likes what they hear, a button-press allows their chair to spin around and face the performer, signifying that they would like to mentor them. If more than one does so, then the artist selects a coach. However, if no coach turns around then the artist is sent home.
There are three different stages: producers' auditions, Blind auditions, Callbacks and the final rounds.
Blind auditions
The first stage is the blind auditions, where they sing in front of the coaches. The coaches have their backs to the singer, and if they like what they hear, they can press their button to turn around and recruit them to their team. If more than one coach turns, the power shifts to the singer, who then decides which team they would like to be part of. Each coach must recruit a number of singers (8 in series 1 onwards) to their team in the blind auditions to progress on to the next round.
Callbacks
The second stage of the competition is the 'Callbacks'. The four coaches are all assisted by guest mentors to help make their decisions. They all have their eight acts from the 'Blind Auditions'. From here, the artists are put into a group of four where they will all take individual turns to perform the same song - given to them by their coach. After all the other artists perform, they come together & their coach then picks 3 artists from other groups to advance to the semi-final, leaving each coach with 3 semi-finalists. In total, 12 artists advance to the semi-final, eliminating 28 acts during the process.
Final rounds
The final rounds feature the semi-finals and the final. To this day, they are yet to be contested live. The semi-finals feature 12 artists, and each coach selects one artist to advance to the final. In the final, the remaining artists perform again to compete for the title of Y Llais winner.
Language policy
Unlike versions of The Voice in other territories, all songs performed in the Welsh edition are sung in the Welsh language. However, these do not have to be originally Welsh-language songs, as performances may include translations from English or other languages.
Some contestants are not fluent Welsh speakers, and limited use of English occurs in interactions with them. One of the coaches, Aleighcia Scott, was also learning Welsh at the time of the series and had been studying the language for two years.[5]
The programme attracted contestants from across Wales with varying levels of Welsh-language fluency and a wide range of musical styles. Singer Yws Gwynedd described the discovery of "incredible new talent" during the auditions as a "huge shock", noting in an interview on BBC Radio Cymru that he had expected to be familiar with most participants, but was surprised by the number of previously unknown performers.[6]
Series overview
| Artist from Team Aleighcia | |
| Artist from Team Yws | |
| Artist from Team Bronwen | |
| Artist from Team Bryn | |
| Season | Aired | Winner | Runners-up | Winning coach | Presenter | Coaches (chairs' order) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||
| 1 | 2025 | Rose Datta | Anna Arrieta | Liam J Edwards | Sara Owen | Aleighcia Scott | Sian Eleri | Bryn | Bronwen | Aleighcia | Yws |
| 2 | 2026 | Carrie Sauce | Cas Jones | Chuts | Lywis | Sir Bryn Terfel | |||||
Presenters
Y Llais is presented by Sian Eleri, who is also the original presenter of the show. She returned for a second series.[4]
Timeline
Key
- Main presenter
| Presenters | Series | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| Sian Eleri | ||
Coaches
On 2 May 2024, international opera singer Sir Bryn Terfel was the first confirmed coach, he said "It’s great that the land of song is getting its own special version of The Voice series – what better way to discover the next big star?"[2] On 6 February 2025, the last three coaches were announced, they featured reggae star Aleighcia Scott, musician and owner of Côsh record label Yws Gwynedd, and singer and songwriter Bronwen Lewis, who also previously competed on The Voice UK.[1] All four coaches were confirmed to return for series 2.[7]
Timeline
| Coach | Series | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| Sir Bryn Terfel | ||
| Bronwen Lewis | ||
| Aleighcia Scott | ||
| Yws Gwynedd | ||
Gallery
- Coaches gallery
Sir Bryn Terfel (2025–)
Bronwen Lewis (2025–)
Aleighcia Scott (2025–)
Yws Gwynedd (2025–)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Coaches' teams and their artists
In each series, each coach chooses a number of acts to progress to the finals. This table shows, for each series, which artists he or she put through to the finals. In each series, artists advance to the final week of the finals, by team-based.
Key
- - Winner
- - Runner-up
| Series | Sir Bryn Terfel | Bronwen Lewis | Aleighcia Scott | Yws Gwynedd |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sara Owen | Liam J Edwards | Rose Datta | Anna Arrieta |
| Megan Haf Davies | Emma Winter | Lauren Fisher | Stephen Hallwood | |
| Nia Tyler | Elys Davies | SJ & Endaf | Bethany Powell | |
| 2 | Carrie Sauce | Cas Jones | Lywis | Chuts |
| Harri Lloyd Morgan | Grace Sanders | Katie Ruth | Keila Hughes | |
| Jonathan Rees Davies | Mari Fflur Fychan | Ruth | Ryan Rowe |
Coaches' advisors
| Series | Sir Bryn Terfel | Bronwen Lewis | Aleighcia Scott | Yws Gwynedd |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elin Fflur | Steffan Rhys Hughes | Trystan Llŷr Griffiths | Alys Williams |
| 2 | Catty | Ian "H" Watkins | Caryl Parry Jones | Mali Hâf |