Christina Aguilera gives ‘Voice’ to summer’s surprise hit

“In classroom terms, what you’ve got are three naughty boys and the hot teacher who tries to keep them in line,” Burnett says with sly assurance.

“Christina’s not just the hot teacher. She’s the naughty, hot teacher,” says Shelton. “The one who makes it into the news for doing naughty things.”

Shelton was a stranger to the TV world before he signed on and it took one night at the West Hollywood Soho House — and Burnett’s credit card — for the coaches to feel comfortable with each other.

“By the end of the night, we were all high-fiving,” Shelton says. “We talked about relationships and marriages and drank a lot of expensive Champagne.”

How expensive? “Thousands of dollars,” Burnett says. “I bet they went through five bottles of Dom Perignon. But it was money well-spent. The chemistry from that moment on was organic and they became friends. I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw [musical] collaborations among them.”

Burnett was so confident that “The Voice” would be a hit that he even predicted its initial rating — an excellent 5.1 in the demo — and was right (the show has averaged 12.9 million total viewers for the season). “I knew the show was really good. And NBC-Universal had done enough promotion. It would have been hard to live in America and not know it was coming on. Making a good show is only part of it,” he says.

Like any proud producer, he has his favorites among the singers.

Rocker Beverly McClellan “knocked the Melissa Etheridge song ‘I’m the Only One’ out of the park,” he says. “She always delivers. Patrick Thomas always delivers. Dia Frampton on the piano was surprisingly different. She showed herself as a true artist.”

That “The Voice” has tapped into so much undiscovered talent does not surprise Shelton. “This business is based on opportunities and on being lucky,” he says. “People just don’t know how to go about pursuing that dream. I guarantee you this show is a nice way. I wish there’d been something like this when I started out.”

As “The Voice” heads toward its June 29 finale, where the winner will receive $100,000 and a contract with Universal Republic records, the competition heats up and the field narrows to just four contestants, one for each coach. Burnett says, “It’s totally impossible to predict who will win. People are stepping up every week. It’s all that growth.”

Even though Burnett thinks that “The Voice” has little in common with his signature show, “Survivor,” he’d like to mention one point of commonality.

“ ‘Survivor’ Season 2 began with the Super Bowl lead-in which led us to beat ‘Friends’ on Thursday night. Season 2 of ‘The Voice’ will also have a Super Bowl lead-in. That’s 70 to 100 million people. I hope ‘The Voice’ lasts as long as ‘Survivor.’ ”

THE VOICE

Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 p.m., NBC

HIT PARADE

The “Voice” is approaching its finale, but these shows will carry a tune all summer.

Source: New York Post