'The Voice' Coach Jessie J Reveals What She's Looking For

It's Not About The Money, Money..

"Everything that I look for is probably something that I look for in myself," says Jessie J, the 23-year-old singer who's just landed herself a spot on what could become the nation's biggest TV show.

Singing contest The Voice UK launches this month and, despite being the youngest - and arguably the least experienced - of the coaches on its big name panel, comprising singing legend Tom Jones, Black Eyed Peas star Will.i.am and The Script's frontman Danny O'Donoghue, Jessie is clear on what she's looking for.

The Price Tag singer explains: "For me it's just about looking for someone that really wants it and I'm all about vocals, forget all the styling and everything that goes along with being a female pop person. I train every single day, I sing every single day, and that's something I want to see in someone else.

"I'm still very much in the early days so it's lovely to be able to be on the other side of it while I’m still living what I'm doing."

To say Jessie is the token women on the talent contest panel, which aims to find music's next big star based purely on the quality of their voice, would be unfair.

It's clear from spending half an hour with the Brit Award-winning star that she is perfect for the job - outspoken and feisty, but likeable and funny at the same time, Jessie puts to shame other meek reality show judges who spend half their time flicking their hair.

She is only too aware of how hard it is to get in to the music industry. Despite it seeming like she popped up into the charts overnight, she confesses she was "signed for seven years" before releasing her first single.

Her debut record Do It Like a Dude was a bold number which peaked at number two in the charts and saw people stand up and take notice of the London-born singer who had already written for artists including Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus.

So why has she signed up to The Voice, while still dominating the charts herself?

"This show has opened up a whole new group of people that have obviously been around while other shows have been on, but not felt that they’d been given the opportunity to showcase what it's about, which is the voice."

Speaking about the advice she's given to her team, she says: "I’ve always said to everyone I’ve worked with so far that the lows in my career have given me the best songs. You’re going to have the whole world criticising not only your voice but the way you look and who you hang out with… my team especially are artists that are young and I think I warmed to them because they reminded me of me."

However, she admits she's been no soft-touch when it comes to mentoring her team: "The first thing I did with my team was make them watch all their blind auditions together, and I was really honest with them, like 'that is terribly out of tune, lets work on this.'"

Jessie's already a hit with her fellow coaches, Will.i.am told us: "Just being around Jessie for a second, she’s like a real pick-me-up, like a thousand volts of electricity." And when the public see Jessie in her new role, when the show starts on TV on Saturday 24th March, I've got a feeling they'll feel the same…

PHOTOS: The Voice's coaches...

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