Adam Levine: ‘Voice’ will make a star… eventually

THE VOICE -- "Season 8 Press Junket" -- Pictured: (l-r) Pharrell Williams, Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Adam Levine -- (Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC) (2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC)

LOS ANGELES – When "The Voice" returns on Feb. 23 for its eighth season, it will feature a brand-new group of contestants who are hoping to get a leg up on their singing careers by getting at least one of this season's mentors -- Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton and Pharrell Williams -- to turn their chair around based solely on the sound of their voice.

The clamor to become a contender on "The Voice" has only grown as the series continues its successful run on NBC -- this despite the fact that the singing competition has yet to produce a breakout artist like "American Idol" did in its early years with Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

Does that even matter? Is "The Voice" as just a TV series enough? Or does it need a recording star to make it relevant?

"We want to have that happen," Levine, who coached two winners -- Season 1 champ Javier Colon and Season 5 champ Tessanne Chin, told FOX411 when asked about producing a breakout star. "It is hard to do that… Being successful is really, really difficult.  A lot of things have to come together at the right moment for that to happen… It's going to happen.  I genuinely believe that."

Both Aguilera, who won a Grammy on Feb. 8 for best pop performance for "Say Something" along with A Great Big World, and Levine said that while it may not be immediately evident, much has changed for several of the artists who have appeared on "The Voice." They may not be recording stars, but they have risen to another level of their career.

In fact, Aguilera points to her early days -- when she was a competitor on "Star Search" in 1990 and was eliminated in the semi-final rounds -- as proof that there is hope for all the contestants -- even the losers.

"Every big celebrity I know today that went on that show didn't win, you still get a second chance," she says. "After 'Star Search,' I wasn't handed a record deal… That took years after that show aired and I lost, to then make a career out of the rest of my life."

Williams, especially, takes exception to the question of whether or not it matters if "The Voice" ends up with a breakout star. He explains, "The show is not about someone signing a record deal. The show is about a bunch of people who really care about people that they encounter, and make sure that they're changed when they walk off… [The contestants] go home different people, because they've had tutors that they would never ever in a million years probably have met, let alone get singing lessons from Adam Levine, or learn how to control your vibrato from Christina Aguilera, or learn how to put more heart and soul into your performance, like Blake Shelton."

For the mentors, the success of the show is a result of the human element -- the guys and gals that comprise their teams, who are struggling through the process of trying to win over first the mentors, and then America, in order to make it through to the next week.

"We're not dealing with people who are breaking into the stratosphere and becoming huge artists," Levine says. "We're actually dealing with the opposite on the show. And that's an interesting thing to get a look at. I think that it's inspiring to see what people go through personally and then how they apply it musically."

"People like to see someone start from humble beginnings, which I think we all did," says Aguilera, referring to the other mentors. "[On 'The Voice'], you get to see [the contestants'] families. It's human. And it's real… The tears you see that are dried are real tears."

Season 8 of "The Voice" premieres on Monday, February 23 at 8 p.m. on NBC.