Carson Daly has long been one of the hardest working people in show business, and that’s continued amid the 2026 TV schedule. He’s still been fulfilling his obligations to The Today Show and, at the same time, he’s remained the host of The Voice amid Season 30. This past week, though, it was announced that Daly would take on a new Today job, as he’s officially been named the co-anchor of the show’s Saturday broadcast. With that, Blake Shelton, Riley Green and other Voice coaches shared their reactions to the news.

For a little while now, Daly had been pulling double duty on Today, serving as a features anchor/co-host during the week and serving as co-anchor on Saturdays. November 7 actually marked his first official day as co-anchor of Today Saturday alongside Laura Jarrett. Fans had hoped Daly might land the gig, and they seem excited now that he has. They’re not the only ones, as Today shared a video in which Green, Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine all congratulated Daly. Check it out:

It’s so sweet that the Voice coaches would take time to send such supportive messages to Daly, who’s been hosting the reality competition series since its debut in 2011. What’s even funnier to me is that each comment feels on brand for the person sharing it. For instance, I’m not surprised that Clarkson would share such bubbly sentiments:

Of course, Shelton and Daly have long had a friendly rivalry filled with occasional trolling. So, while Shelton’s message to his longtime pal and former co-star is sweet, it also features a couple of funny jabs:

All of these warm thoughts come on the heels of rumors regarding Daly possibly leaving The Voice, on which he also serves as an executive producer. The Daly speculation proved to be correct and incorrect, as he did return for Season 30 but was confirmed to not be hosting Season 31. That latter season is subtitled Celebrity and will not only bring a new format to the franchise but will also see Keke Palmer take over hosting duties from Daly.

Considering Palmer’s presence and the potential for Carson Daly’s role on The Today Show to grow with this new job, it’s hard not to wonder whether he might step away from The Voice for good. Daly himself hasn’t given any indication that he plans to leave, as of this writing. Fans will just have to wait and see how that all plays out but, for now, let’s take a page out of the Voice coaches’ book and congratulate Daly on his new position!

You can’t deny it, Carson Daly is a very busy person who is prominently featured on the 2026 TV schedule. Between his work on Today and The Voice, he’s a constant on NBC. However, following his big update about his job on the news program, it’s got me all worried about those rumors regarding his work on the singing competition again.

Carson Daly Is Now A Co-Anchor Of Saturday Today

On November 7, we’ll go from seeing Carson Daly five days a week on Today to six. While he's been working on Saturdays since September, he’ll officially be joining the Saturday Today team as the co-anchor alongside Laura Jarrett this weekend. He’s been working with the Today show for the last 13 years, and Libby Leist, the Executive Vice President of Today and Lifestyle, told NBC they’re “thrilled” viewers will “get to spend one more day of the week” with Daly. The co-anchor also shared his thoughts on the news, explaining:

The announcement also clarified that along with this new role (which fans really wanted Daly to be in), the co-anchor will continue to host The Voice, which he’s an executive producer on as well. He’s also an EP on The Voice: Celebrity (but he is not the host). So, clearly, he’s going to make all this work, well, work. However, this new update that will take him up to working six days on the New York-based morning news show does have me thinking about all those The Voice rumors again.

Now, I’m Worried About Those The Voice Rumors

There have been rumors about Daly potentially leaving The Voice for a while now. The host and his family live in New York, which is also where Today is filmed, while the singing competition is based in LA. That’s a lot, no matter how you look at it, and it’s not lost on me that two years ago, the co-anchor did say he couldn’t wait to “get off television” while also noting that his “time with [his] kids is the most precious.”

So, with this workload at Today officially going from five to six days a week, it would make sense if he were looking for a way to cut back in other avenues of his career. Plus, rumors about Daly wanting to do that have been circulating for quite some time.

Again, absolutely nothing is confirmed when it comes to the rumors about him potentially leaving The Voice. And the announcement about his gig on Saturday Today even clarified that he will keep working on the competition show.

Therefore, Carson Daly will still be on our screens a whole lot as he takes on this new gig at Today and keeps hosting The Voice. However, as he starts working Saturdays permanently, I’ll be curious to see if there ever was any merit to those rumors regarding his tenure on the singing competition.

Riley Green is at the top of his game, with seven number one country songs, a spot as a coach on the long-running singing competition The Voice, currently in Season 30 on the 2026 TV schedule, and a well-received guest run on the Yellowstone spin-off Marshals. And while he might have recently made People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive issue, understandably so with his down-home appeal, he’s not looking to use that title to get himself out of bachelorhood anytime soon.

Whether he’s on tour as he takes his country crooning around the world or he’s in Los Angeles coaching a team of singers hoping to someday achieve the status of The Voice’s superstar coaches, Riley Green is booked and busy, and more concerned about finding time to spend with family than a girlfriend. While chatting with People about being selected for the sexiest list, he said he’s open to love but admitted to not even seeing his own dog in a month, so now is just probably not the best time. He explained:

It seems like the 38 year-old who likes to smack talk his fellow coaches on The Voice (especially O.G. American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson), has given the idea of love some definite thought. He’s very clear about the demands of his career and is riding that wave because he knows that his schedule likely won’t always be this hectic and the current high might not always be at the same level it is now.

For now, the “Worst Way” singer who even has his own customized Big Red Chair on The Voice is focusing on family. When you’re on the road 200-plus days a year, and also spending time in Los Angeles with coaching duties, hoping a member from Team Riley will take it all in Season 30, working in a FaceTime with your adorable nephew is about all the time you can spare. Green explained:

Constantly being on the road while touring can make any singer feel adrift, no matter how successful they are, so it’s great that Riley Green has close family that he can feel anchored by. Sure, the multi-talented performer who has added acting to his list of skills steals hearts and wins over the love of his growing fan base. But it’s probably a good thing that he wants to wait until he has the time to devote to focusing on just one woman before jumping into a relationship that he can’t fully be a part of. Check out the full clip of his thoughts on the subject:

While waiting to see how things turn out in the love life of The Voice newbie Riley Green, you can keep watching him as the Top 13 moves into the Live Shows. We won’t learn who the next winner will be until December but keeping tuning in to NBC on Mondays until then.

Spoiler alert! This story discusses Cut Week on The Voice Season 30, which aired November 2. Episodes are available to stream the day after they air with a Peacock subscription.

Season 30 of NBC’s long-running singing competition The Voice, currently airing on the 2026 TV schedule, is heating up with the first ever Cut Week. Due to audience demand, the Live Shows are back with six weeks of live competition, but before the singers could get to that next step, coaches Kelly Clarkson, Queen Latifah, Adam Levine and Riley Green had to make the biggest elimination in one week ever in the history of the show.

To get into the specifics, Cut Week saw each coach send two artists straight through to the Live Shows while the remaining five had to sing their hearts out as they battled for the last remaining spot. That’s three singers for each coach going through to the next round, with one additional pick made by America to round out the Top 13. While some coaches agonized over who to fill their final slot with, The Voice newbie Riley Green had the easiest selection of the night.

Cut Week Was Absolutely Brutal As Talented Singers Were Sent Home

This latest episode breezed by, as five singers for each team, 20 in total, gave everything they had to their performances in the attempt to win their individual coach over. The thing that surprised me the most about this new twist that was replacing the Knockouts, also known as Adam Levine’s least favorite part of the competition, was that each artist sang on a level where any of them were deserving of being sent through to the Live Shows. I’ve got to say, Cut Week was painful, with more than half of each team getting dropped all at once and having to say goodbye to truly talented competitors.

For me, the most shocking decision was the Maroon 5 frontman choosing to let Brandon Diaz, his steal from Team Queen, slip through his fingertips. Not to take anything away from Dakota Cohen’s performance of “Hemorrhage (In My Hands),” which was a worthy rock rendition that had Queen Latifah singing along.

However, Brandon’s version of “Dare You to Move” showcased expertly skilled vocals, and they prove he has what it takes to win. Not only that, but performance also ahd the Equalizer star and American Idol winner giving Brandon a standing ovation. That’s why I couldn’t believe Levine didn’t send him through to the next round.

Singer Joe Henley Has A Real Shot At Winning Season 30

While Riley Green didn’t get every single country singer on Season 30 for his team, he came pretty close, often pulling out all the stops to get them to choose him as their coach. From the beginning, 19-year-old Joe Henley has been a stand-out, so it was surprising when he didn’t get one of the automatic spots for the Live Shows. But his rendition of the Keith Whitley song “Don’t Close Your Eyes” was so heartfelt from the first note to the last that he earned the only four coach standing ovation of the night.

While the Marshals guest star said he thought he knew he was going to pick before Joe took the stage, Kelly Clarkson declared that she would be mind blown if he didn’t make it to the finale. It made Green’s decision to put Joe Henley through an absolute no-brainer, because he really could end up winning the season.

After the craziness of Cut Week, what I’m most curious about with next week’s episode is to learn who America will pick out of everyone the coaches eliminated. Clearly, I’m rooting for Brandon, but there wasn’t one bad performance from the 16 remaining singers. On that note, we’ll see how that turns out.

While we already know the competition series will be shaking things up with Season 31’s The Voice: Celebrity, we won’t learn who Season 30’s winner will be until December. So, be sure to keep tuning in to NBC on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET until then.

I knew it’d be a good season of The Voice when Riley Green claimed a chair alongside fellow newcomer Queen Latifah. The country singer feels right at home on set (right down to his hat holster), but that doesn’t mean being a coach is easy. It can be rough during battles having to decide who gets a chance at winning and who goes home. So I totally get why Green is excited for The Voice’s live shows, particularly because of how it impacts one brutal element of the show.

As someone watching from home, it can be brutal watching your favorite singers (shout to Johnnie Kapua) not be the ones chosen. So I can’t imagine the dilemma of having to pick between two talented people. Like watching the queen have to choose between BigCountry and Luke Cope. Given this, it’s understandable that Green is ready to put the decision-making onto someone else. The new coach shares in an interview with People how the live shows will take some of the pressure off:

The singer’s previously discussed the awkward part about the blind auditions: having to explain when he didn’t turn his chair. So it makes sense that picking between his own team can feel challenging. However, it wasn’t easy for his co-coach Kelly Clarkson, who did everything she could to convince country-leaning singers to pick her over him... even standing in front of Green’s chair as she did with Joe Henley.

Maybe now that we’re entering the live shows, everyone will feel freer. Still tis hasn’t stopped the coaches from having a good time, and I’m not just talking about all of the smack talk. The coaches, along with returner Adam Levine, have really stepped up their game when it comes to banter and pulling "goofy" hijinks on each other. When it comes to messing around and going for the win, all hats are off and that’s why Season 30 is working.

Clarkson also has stepped up her hijinks, competing against two popular newcomers, even offering one singer her hair, which was a Voice first. It was something the other coaches (and the rest of us) had never seen before, until maybe the duck blind stunt Green pulled against Levine in Season 30, Episode 5 to sway Kayleigh Mathews onto his team. The back-and-forth between them will hopefully continue into the live shows. Their playful rivalry has given me the vibes of Blake Shelton and Levine’s "feud." Although Shelton never put Levine in a time out in a duck blind.

Regardless, I’m excited to see what Green’s antics will be now that he’s putting it on America to choose. We can find out together every Monday on NBC and the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Spoiler alert! This story discusses Night 4 of The Battles on The Voice Season 30, which aired October 26. Episodes are available to stream the day after they air with a Peacock subscription.

The final night of The Battles in Season 30 of NBC’s long-running singing competition The Voice, currently airing on the 2026 TV schedule, continued to showcase the incredible level of talent that the coaches selected for their teams. So far, every Battle performance has consisted of two singers equally worthy of moving forward, and this latest episode was no exception. While I still feel like Team Queen has the best chance of winning the season, all of the coaches have singers that could easily slip right in there and take it all. One particular Battle was so good, that it led to an emotional moment involving Adam Levine and another coach.

Kicking off the night was a special coach performance with vets Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson joining newbies Queen Latifah and Riley Green on a spirited version of the classic song “The Weight” by The Band. One of my favorite aspects of The Voice has always been when we get to hear the coaches sing with each other or with the competing hopefuls because there’s just something so special about hearing how they can lift each other up and inspire each other. But on that note, let's get to the main event, shall we?

Two Powerhouse Rockers Laid It All On The Line, Vying for Season 30’s Final Steal

That stellar coach performance was followed by a super impressive Battle of “Never Enough” from The Greatest Showman, and both Sophia Liano and Mia Knight more than did it justice before Queen chose Mia to move on. That was quite a moment, but then came Team Adam.

For Team Adam’s final Battle and the final Battle of Season 30, the Maroon 5 singer had his two rock ladies, Dakota Cohan and Destinee Monroe, take on “Bring Me to Life.” With what is one of the best songs possible to showcase female rock vocals, Levine pushed and challenged the powerhouse vocalists to lay it all out there, and they did.

I am a fan of Evanescence and have heard the original song many times, and I’ve also heard endless covers from various past singing competitions because it’s a popular song to take on. But Destinee and Dakota, who jokingly referred to themselves as the DDs, were equally great individually and in their moments harmonizing together. They were clearly locked in with each other and they delivered one of the most memorable Battles of Season 30.

Queen Latifah Finally Used Her Steal Ahead Of Cut Week, And It Led To A Sweet Moment

The performance was such a standout that Queen Latifah pointed out that it got her whipping her ponytail around so much that she was worried she might actually throw her hair off. Vocally, they both crushed it, but ultimately Adam Levine chose Dakota, who he compared to Miley Cyrus. After her reaction, it was not at all surprising that the Equalizer star, who had been holding onto her Steal, jumped in to add fellow New Jersey girl Destinee to her team, deservedly so.

As soon as she did, with a genuine display of emotion, Levine got out of his red coach’s chair to thank Queen and give her a hug. He then stood back to applaud them both and also gave Destinee a hug. You could tell it was such a tough decision for the coach (who won Season 29 with Alexia Jayy), and he seemed grateful and relieved that both rock singers would get to stay.

The "She Will Be Loved" performer's reaction is a testament to the amount of passionate that The Voice's coaches have in this competition. It's always sweet whenever they share such tender moments with the members of their teams or their fellow coaches. And even though this moment was unexpected, I don't blame Levine at all for having all the feelings.

Next week, the singing competition goes to a whole different level with Cut Week, where the seven artists on each team will get cut down to three. Each coach will pick two singers to go through to the Live Shows, and then the remaining five will have to sing for that third and final spot. The cuts are bound to be heartbreaking because all of the remaining singers are incredibly talented and deserve a chance. With that, we could end up seeing another emotional moment that matches the one involving Levine and Queen Latifah this week.

While we already know the competition series will be shaking things up with Season 31’s The Voice: Celebrity, we won’t actually know who’s crowned the winner of Season 30 until December. So, be sure to keep tuning in to NBC on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET until then.

If Season 30 of The Voice (currently on the 2026 TV schedule) is any indication, some very talented singers on the show never make it to the end of the competition. In the Battle rounds alone, everyone that’s been cut could have just as easily been chosen to move forward. In fact, if you look back through everyone that’s auditioned for the long-running series, some famous names stand out for not having made it through.

What’s more surprising is that The Voice hasn’t actually produced that many successful winners. Sure, Season 1 winner Javier Colon reached the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, while the first female winner, Cassadee Pope, has multiple chart-topping hits. Plus Season 4 winner Danielle Bradbery has won a Grammy. But back in 2014 for Season 6, country superstar Morgan Wallen was eliminated before the Live Shows, and Luke Combs didn’t even make it in front of the panel of coaches, being deemed “too boring.”

The Highest-Selling Country Artist Of All Time Didn't Make It To The Live Shows

Morgan Wallen is currently recognized as the highest-selling country artist of all time, surpassing the previous record held by Garth Brooks and, funnily enough, Luke Combs. Much like Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson, who didn’t need to win American Idol to become a massive star, Wallen is doing just fine on his own. After his Blind Audition, where he sang “Collide” by Howie Day, the “You Proof” singer selected Usher as his coach before Adam Levine used his steal to keep him in the competition during the Battle Rounds, ultimately eliminating him in the Playoffs. According to TV Insider, a desire to move into a country lane while The Voice wanted him to sing pop combined with a naivety about the entertainment industry led him to be thankful for getting cut.

When you hear Luke Combs describe his experience with the NBC TV series, it’s clear that he’s equally as grateful that he never actually made it on the air and in front of the coaches. Known for his cover of the Tracy Chapman hit “Fast Car,” the singer had more of a cattle call experience with thousands of hopefuls waiting for a turn to perform without any guarantee they would ever even make it to a Blind Audition. And because Combs auditioned with the John Legend song “Save Room for My Love,” he says The Voice also wanted him to stay within that genre and not branch out into country music.

It sounds to me like you shouldn’t feel discouraged if you don’t win The Voice, or even if you never actually make it to air. Because that doesn’t mean it will be the end at any chance of a music career. Sure, the first winner of American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, has gone onto huge success and become one of the winningest coaches on The Voice, but her success seems like the exception when it comes to singing competitions, not the rule. Just ask Chappell Roan and Maren Morris, who also auditioned but never made it in front of the coaching panel.

Even with all of this, I will still be tuning in to the competition series to watch Season 30’s very talented singers as they continue to get one step closer to a winner being crowned in December. New episodes air on Mondays and are then available to stream the day after with a Peacock subscription.

Spoiler alert! This story discusses Night 3 of The Battles on The Voice Season 30, which aired October 19. Episodes are available to stream the day after they air with a Peacock subscription.

The level of talent on Season 30 of NBC’s long-running singing competition The Voice, currently airing on the 2026 TV schedule, has been truly stellar. I have yet to watch a Battle where I haven’t felt like it could go either way for who is selected as the winner of each duet, which means some really talented singers have been sent home. Although Queen Latifah and Riley Green are the newbies this time around, I think they both actually have a very good chance of winning, that is to say the winner being crowned from one of their teams. If this episode was any indication, I really believe Team Queen has the best chance of coming out on top. Hear me out.

Kicking off the night with a performance of the Stevie Wonder track “As,” which Bryan Jaymes referred to as “one of the greatest songs of all time off one of the greatest albums of all time,” was a tall task. Taking on a Stevie Wonder song is never easy because of his iconic vocals, but Bryan and his Battle partner Brandon Diaz were more than up to the challenge.

The First The Voice Battle Of The Night Was Truly The Best Of The Season

Typically, in a competition series, you don’t want to have to go first or last, but that’s really not the case with The Voice. Not only were Bryan Jaymes and Brandon Diaz the first Battle of the night, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how good their performance was by the end of the episode. Queen Latifah referred to the duo as “smooth as Tennessee whiskey,” and they really were. You could tell with every note that not only did they want to bring it to impress their coach, but they also wanted to uplift each other.

This Battle was the right song for the right singers in the right moment. Both shone in rehearsal and on stage. After getting a glimpse into their rehearsal process, I had no doubt that Bryan and Brandon (whose first audition was at 14 and led to no coach’s chairs turning) were going to deliver a memorable performance, but I was not prepared for how far it would surpass my already high expectations. Everything about it was perfection, from their singing choices and harmonies to how locked in they were with the audience and each other.

Queen Latifah specifically stood up to applaud their performance, and it was truly deserving of that moment. She even jokingly chastised B-Squared (the duo name they named themselves) for not messing up and making it such a difficult choice for her. I was all up in my feels after their performance, so I know how hard of a decision it was for her.

Ultimately, Queen kept Bryan on her team. Knowing an incredibly talented singer when he heard one, Brandon didn’t even get out a full sentence out when thanking The Equalizer star for working with him. The best moment though? When fellow coach Adam Levine, who won Season 29 with Alexia Jayy, jumped in with his steal. I’m just happy that means we’ll get to hear both singers again during Cut Week.

Queen Latifah Needing Coffee To Stay Awake During A Long Day On The Voice Was Also A Great Moment

Who hasn’t been tired at work and needed a cup of coffee – or two or three – to just make it through the day? About a third of the way through the episode, Queen Latifah pointed out her need for coffee to wake herself up, which I found quite amusing, having had that same need more times than I’d like to mention. It made the whole episode feel about Latifah-centric to me, and it was so deserved.

I love the little moments when we get to see the human and relatable side of the superstar coaches of The Voice, and watching the Chicago star keep drinking coffee to the point where she had to tell herself to stop or she would never be able to go to sleep had me laughing out loud. In between asking for tea, doing voice exercises, and punching the air to bring up her energy, it was just so charming to watch, and I hope we continue to see those little moments from the coaches.

While we already know the competition series will be shaking things up with Season 31’s The Voice: Celebrity, we still have a ways to go until the Season 30 winner of The Voice is crowned in December. Even though I have no idea who’s going to win it all, I feel like both Bryan and Brandon are definitely contenders for the title.

Spoiler alert! This story discusses the first two nights of The Battles on The Voice Season 30, which aired October 12 and 13. Episodes are available to stream the day after they air with a Peacock subscription.

Things are really heating up on NBC’s long-running singing competition The Voice, as Season 30 continues to air on the 2026 TV schedule. While Queen Latifah and Riley Green may be the newbies this time around, they’re certainly not acting like it as their teams are dominating The Battles. However, don’t count out veteran coaches Adam Levine, who won Season 29 with Alexia Jayy, and Kelly Clarkson because their teams also rose to the occasion in this surprising set of episodes.

While things got off to a strong start on Monday, the cliffhanger ending was what really stuck with me. However, after tonight's episode, I'm even more shocked about a different revelation.

Riley Green Got A Second Chance With A The Voice Contestant That Previously Got Away

The first night of The Battles was truly one of the best I can remember in the history of The Voice. The talent was of such a high level that it didn’t feel like there were clear and obvious choices with any of the duets. It was also surprising that the coaches weren’t using their saves to keep any of the eliminated singers in the competition.

That is, until the final performance of “Girl Crush” by Little Big Town, when the American Idol winner got to face off with the Marshals guest star to get a second chance to work with Kayleigh Matthews after the country singer surprisingly picked Team Queen during the Blind Auditions.

When Kayleigh first appeared, Riley Green pulled out all the stops, even making the Maroon 5 singer sit in a straw hut known as a duck blind. However, the shenanigans between the two prompted her to avoid them both entirely and instead pick Queen Latifah as her coach.

So, when the Chicago star gave the win to Lillie Kolich, Kelly and Riley decided to go head-to-head to fight for the artist who had previously slipped through both of their fingers. To build anticipation, the reveal of Kayleigh’s new coach was held until Tuesday’s episode.

Night 2 of The Battles immediately jumped right back into that cliffhanger ending. While Kelly Clarkson declared the duo’s cover of “Girl Crush” to be her favorite ever, Kayleigh ultimately made the decision to take her love for country music over to Team Riley. I’m excited to see what they’ll do together moving forward.

However, that wasn't the biggest surprise of the night.

Two The Voice Singers Learned Just How Much They Have In Common

Originally, 19-year-old Marcus Ladden Jr. and 30-year-old Chari weren't even paired together until Queen Latifah decided to switch things up. And thank goodness that last-minute switch happened, because these two artists share something very important. The duo who sang “On My Own" learned that not only did they graduate from the same high school, 10 years apart, but they also had the same music/piano teacher who mentored them both, truly making them the perfect duo to lift each other up.

That’s exactly what they did, too. Watching Chari and Marcus share their talent was a gift, and while Chari might have been more technically skilled because she’s been singing longer, Marcus was so good that Kelly just couldn’t let him slip away and decided to use her steal.

All around, this thrilling set of episodes kept me on the edge of my seat and provided surprises that warmed my heart.

Now, the live shows are on the horizon, but the Season 30 winner of The Voice won’t be announced until December. With the level of talent, I have no idea who’s going to be the last singer standing. Beyond that, the competition series will be shaking things up with Season 31’s The Voice: Celebrity, and I’m definitely curious to see how that will play out. However, for now, I'll be here, thinking about these surprises and how this season of The Voice could shake out.

The Voice has been going big for its 30^th season, which kicked off with a three-night premiere on the 2026 TV schedule. And, as the season continues, fans and former coaches are getting nostalgic. Given I'm someone who's watched the show for a while, it's still hard for me to believe it's now in its milestone 30th season. At the same time, Gwen Stefani is unsurprisingly getting sentimental as well. She looked back at her time on the series, and of course, it’s all about the fashion.

Stefani was a coach on The Voice for eight seasons total, and it’s where her relationship with her now-husband and former fellow coach Blake Shelton began. The Grammy winner took to Instagram to reflect on the show that essentially changed her life. While she did include some snapshots of her and her beau, she’s mostly focused on all the great fashion she’s worn over the years:

Stefani has always been quite the fashionista, dating back to her early No Doubt days. Her outfits on The Voice turned a lot of heads throughout her tenure on the show for being fun, bedazzled and maybe even a bit over-the-top. Considering she has eight seasons’ worth of unpredictable outfits, it’s no wonder that she’s taking a look back at some of her favorites. And I wouldn't be surprised if it took her a while to pick her top choices.

Even though Stefani’s final season of The Voice was Season 26, that was not her final appearance on the show. Both she and Shelton returned to the stage during the three-night premiere in September for a special one-hour retrospective. It was nice to see her back on the show, even if she wasn’t in a coaches’ chair.

It’s unknown if Stefani will return in a full-time capacity, but it's worth mentioning that none of her seasons have been consecutive. So I don't think it's impossible that we could get more fun outfits and coaching advice from her in the future.

Meanwhile, The Voice’s milestone season has been pretty entertaining. Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine return as coaches, with Queen Latifah and Riley Green joining them. The Blind Auditions have officially wrapped up, with the Battles kicking off this coming week. Overall, the competition is already pretty stiff, and there’s no telling who will be making it to the next round.

And, while Season 30 may just be getting started, Season 31 is already set in stone. Just as the case was with Season 29, the series will try out a new format. Season 31 will be a celebrity edition, hosted by Keke Palmer instead of Carson Daly, with musicians, actors, athletes, influencers, and comedians trying their hand at the long-running competition series. Queen Latifah and Green are already confirmed to be returning as coaches, with Joe Jonas making his coach debut.

There will be much more singing and fashion to look forward to on The Voice, even if Stefani isn’t doing either. Regardless of that, though, I love that she's retaining her signature fashion sense. As for the aforementioned show, new episodes air on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice hit a milestone season on the 2026 TV schedule, with Season 30 already off to a hot start. While competitors like American Idol were canceled and brought back in that same timeframe, the NBC singing competition has been going strong since 2011. Granted, it's not getting the viewership it used to, as television viewership continues to dwindle.

A new report from Variety revealed the Season 30 premiere pulled in 7.8 million viewers across seven days between watching on NBC or with a Peacock subscription. It's a respectable number in 2026, but had it performed the same way back when it first aired, let's just say executives wouldn't have given that performance a "chair turn."

It Took The Voice Seven Days To Reach The Same Viewers It Would Reach In One Night In Season 1

Compare that number to the series premiere of The Voice, in which the show received 11.78 million viewers on its first night. Granted, it was the first episode of a new show, but even at its lowest-rated outlier episode, 8.48 million viewers still trump the 7-day cross-platform numbers of Season 30 by a wide margin. It could be that television audiences feel the show lost its way over the years and have a similar mindset to that of former coach Christina Aguilera. I think it's more in line with the trend we're seeing across television across the board.

People Are Still Watching The Voice, Just Not Right Away

The television landscape continues to evolve, as more streaming services and cable continue to compete with network television in primetime. With cord-cutting continually on the rise and DVR technology continually improving, audiences are taking more time to watch their shows.

These days, the only network TV programs consistently getting tens of millions of viewers in one night are live sports, according to Nielsen. Appointment television can also draw a large number of eyes when a show is extremely popular, and while The Voice is a television staple, I think its fair to say it's dwindled in popularity from its heyday.

As far as why, there are a litany of factors, even beyond television. Even the show's most successful standouts haven't had careers near the level of Kelly Clarkson, who set a high bar with her win in American Idol Season 1. It's hard to continue rooting for these promising young talents year after year, knowing we may likely never hear anything from them after all is said and done.

Even the show's winners have expressed frustration with The Voice, noting that the series can sometimes prioritize the overall product over the singing. I think it's possible the audience recognizes that at times, and while the overall television landscape plays a factor in this show's declining viewership, all sides are worth considering.

For now, The Voice continues on with Season 30 on NBC on Mondays and Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. The network seems pleased enough to already be hinting at another season on the way, and even has an upcoming spinoff in the works.

Spoiler alert! This story discusses the fifth night of Blind Auditions on The Voice Season 30, which aired October 5. Episodes are available to stream the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Every time there’s a cast change on any TV series, you never know how that will shake things up. Sure, NBC’s long-running singing competition The Voice, currently airing Season 30 on the 2026 TV schedule, has done that a lot over the years. Still, you just never know what the chemistry will be, especially when the banter among the judges plays such a crucial role.

Yes, Queen Latifah and Riley Green may be the rookies this season, but that’s not stopping them from getting in on the shenanigans that often occur as the singing legends compete to fill up their teams. Not only are they holding their own against veteran coaches Adam Levine, who won Season 29 with Alexia Jayy, and Kelly Clarkson, but they are racking up memorable moments that will surely continue to be talked about.

The Voice's Kelly Clarkson Put Together A Survival Kit For Riley Green, While He Pranked Adam Levine

Isn’t Kelly Clarkson the sweetest, most thoughtful coach, just trying to help out a Voice newbie? After missing out on some top-notch singers for his team while sitting in his customized Big Red Chair, Riley Green had a chat with the American Idol winner as she gifted him with a survival kit to help him get over losing.

Her little case included a "surrender white flag" to wave when the country singer knows he’s about to lose. Additionally, there were tissues for tears, a compact mirror to give himself a pep talk, and a jar of nuts to help him perk back up. Not one to miss out on an opportunity for a surprise, Clarkson made sure the jar also doubled as a prank when Green opened it. The entire exchange made me laugh and want to see more of the two together.

Unwilling to be outshined, the Marshals guest star had some fun of his own with veteran judge Adam Levine. After Kayleigh Mathews got a four-chair turn for singing the Vince Gill tune “When I Call Your Name,” the Maroon 5 frontman declared he would fight to get her to join his team. That prompted Riley Green to pull out the duck call and make Levine sit in a straw hut that’s apparently known as a “duck blind.” The shenanigans were so silly that the two guys canceled each other out of the fight, and Kayleigh surprised everyone by picking Queen Latifah to be her coach.

Honestly, I think the singer made a great choice in going with someone so well-rounded who also loves country music.

I Got Emotional With One Contestant's Song That Got Kelly Clarkson's Attention

While there have been some great singers in Season 30, the best performance of Episode 5 of the Blind Auditions has to go to Nina Howland, who took on the Bonnie Raitt track “Love Me Like A Man.” With a swagger and strut that physically embodied the lyrics while her vocals soared, she got the audience going, the judges’ chairs turning, and me wanting to stand up and cheer from home. Kelly Clarkson not only turned first, but was so excited to jump in with her pitch that she ended up getting bleeped for cursing!

Nina showed up for her audition knowing that if she delivered with Clarkson's favorite Raitt tune she could get her idol's attention. It was a special, moving moment that made me emotional because, while most contestants are just hoping for at least one chair turn to get on the show, this singer came in with a plan that she executed perfectly. I moments like these, I'm reminded that sometimes the biggest dreams really can come true.

With only one episode of Blinds left for this season of The Voice, the Battles are just around the corner, and I do not envy the judges for having to pair the talent against each other so they can start eliminating. And while the winner won’t be announced until December, we already know that the competition series will be shaking things up with Season 31’s The Voice: Celebrity. I will definitely be turning in for it all, and I just hope the shenanigans and pranks never stop.

Spoiler alert! This story discusses the fourth night of Blind Auditions on The Voice Season 30, which aired September 28. Episodes are available to stream the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Ever since Queen Latifah was announced as one of the new coaches of The Voice ahead of Season 30’s premiere on the 2026 TV schedule, I’ve been excited to see how she’d use her years of experience to guide up-and-coming musicians. She definitely hasn’t disappointed, and her success continued on Night 4 of the Blind Auditions. To my surprise (and amusement), however, it wasn’t her talent and background alone that caught singers’ attention — it was that gorgeous silk press.

I’m not sure what’s happening on The Voice this season, but the premiere saw Kelly Clarkson taking out a hair extension and literally offering it to one of the artists. Now it’s Queen Latifah whose hair is making magic happen. When 31-year-old Chari took the stage for the final audition of the night, her cover of Oleta Adams’ “Get Here” turned all four coaches’ chairs pretty quickly. After they pleaded their cases, it was Team Queen who claimed the artist. When asked why, Chari said:

It really did feel like Adam Levine might be able to pull Chari, especially after he brought up the fact that he won Season 29 with Alexia Jayy, whose style seems similar to the Season 30 artist. Queen Latifah offered a strong argument for herself, though, weaving medical terms into her pitch that spoke to the artist’s day job as a surgical technologist. Check it out below:

It was a solid pitch, and honestly, with the way Queen Latifah smiles so warmly at the artists, I’m not actually sure how she ever gets beat. But it was that hair that apparently did the trick. And here’s the thing — Chari wasn’t the first Season 30 hopeful to mention that flawless silk press.

Earlier in the episode, Serrin Joy took on a beast of a song, covering Mary J. Blige’s “Be Without You.” Unfortunately no one turned for the 24-year-old, but she still shared a meaningful moment with The Voice royalty, as she and Queen Latifah had this exchange:

• Queen: Serrin, girl, you are beautiful. Did you steal my hairstylist, because…
• Serrin: You know, I need to know who your hairstylist is, because the silk press is always…
• Queen: Umm, ‘cause your silk press is silk pressin’ too. I just want to say I see you, babe.

Between Kelly Clarkson’s hair extensions, Queen Latifah’s silk press and Riley Green’s mustache (which has also come up multiple times this season so far), Season 30 is involving a lot of hair play. I’m not sure that bodes very well for Adam Levine.

We’ll have to see if this theme continues when Blind Auditions pick back up at 8 p.m. ET next Monday, October 5, on NBC.

The Voice’s milestone 30th season is well underway after its three-night premiere on the 2026 TV schedule, and Queen Latifah and Riley Green may be the rookies this season, but you’d never be able to tell it from the way they’ve been holding their own against veteran coaches Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson. That doesn’t mean it’s been easy, according to Green, and he got real about how “awkward” the Blind Auditions can be (and not just when Clarkson starts offering contestants her hair).

Riley Green is making quite an impression in his first season as a coach on The Voice, with his duck call, his mustache and his customized Big Red Chair. Although as is the case with many of the show’s new coaches, the country music star finds it challenging to turn people away, particularly the singers who aren’t chosen in the Blind Auditions. He told TV Line:

I hadn’t considered just how awkward it would be to have your back turned for an artist’s entire performance and then have to look them in the eye while you explain why you didn’t hit your button.

Riley Green joked (maybe half-joked) that the coaches should start out facing the singer, then hit their button to turn their chair away if they’re not interested. It sounds a little cruel, but hey, at least that would get rid of all that pesky eye contact. He went on to explain why it can be such an uncomfortable situation, saying:

It definitely sounds like an intimidating atmosphere, especially when the stakes are so high. That’s something that Green keeps in mind when he has to give feedback to artists, and he admits it's something he’s struggled with on the show:

It’s nice that the coaches try to offer some constructive criticism for the artists who don’t get chosen, so that ideally no one walks away empty-handed.

Hopefully the “My Way” singer figures it out, because it’s already been announced that he’ll return alongside Queen Latifah and incoming coach Joe Jonas for Season 31’s The Voice: Celebrity. If turning down strangers is an issue for Riley Green, I can’t imagine it’s going to be any easier when the person looking back at him is a recognizable face.

See how the country star continues to handle those awkward Blind Auditions when The Voice Season 30 continues at 8 p.m. ET Mondays on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice is celebrating a big milestone on the 2026 TV schedule. NBC's long-running singing competition series is officially in its 30^th season, and the network is pulling out all the stops. Adam Levine and Blake Shelton have reignited their bromance during the three-night season premiere, which kicked off on Monday. It’s hard to believe that the show is celebrating 30 seasons, and Levine had no clue the show would be the "juggernaut" it is today. Yet fellow coach Kelly Clarkson understands the success, and I love that.

Whenever a show starts out, it's hard to say how it’s going to go, as it can either be a success or a bust. So it’s not surprising to know that Levine, who had been a coach on the first 16 seasons before returning for Season 27 and again for Seasons 29 and 30, wasn’t sure where The Voice would go. The Maroon 5 frontman recalled to People how “there was no show” when Voice was still new, explaining that no one had any idea just how big it would go on to be:

It may seem wild to say this now, but The Voice -- which debuted in 2011 -- was something of a risk for Levine. Not only was it a new show but, at the time, the singer-songwriter himself didn't have much experience with the reality competition genre, aside from his brief stint on Canadian Idol. Levine also recalled:

I definitely see where Levine is coming from. While there were a handful of singing and talent competition shows on TV, The Voice marked a new format. And, of course, the genre -- in general -- can be fickle. No one knows that better than Clarkson. She won the very first season of American Idol back in 2002 and, at that time, no one knew how long the series would go. Now, she’s one of the most famous Idol contestants from its various season, and it’s all because the show took risks and, like The Voice, turned into quite the phenomenon. Clarkson shared:

It’s pretty insane thinking about the beginnings of American Idol and The Voice, knowing that these two shows have become such hits and have had quite an impact on audiences. As Voice heads into Season 30, Idol is starting its 25^th season, and both series show no signs of slowing down.

I, for one, am grateful that fans took a chance on The Voice, and that Levine was more than willing to give it a shot, despite not knowing what could happen. Of course, it could have gone one of two ways, and I’m glad that it went in the positive direction. Levine also still can’t wrap his head around it:

As The Voice Season 30 gets started, Season 31 is already being prepped. The upcoming season, set to premiere during midseason 2027, will be taking on a new format. Hosted by Keke Palmer and not longtime host Carson Daly, Season 31 will be a celebrity edition, with a whole variety of famous faces seeing if they have what it takes to be the next winner. Needless to say, even after all this time, the show's producers are still taking risks and keeping Levine, Clarkson and co. on their toes.

Fans will be able to tune in to the milestone 30^th season of The Voice as the three-night premiere continues on Tuesday and Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription. New episodes will subsequently premiere on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.

Spoiler alert! This story discusses a couple of artists from The Voice season premiere, which aired Monday, September 21. Episodes are available to stream next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice Season 30 is underway, and as the first of the three-night premiere aired on the 2026 TV schedule, we all got our first real look at what Queen Latifah and Riley Green are like as coaches. Let’s just say they came to play. Both showed impressive skills when it came to attracting artists, and Kelly Clarkson was so intimidated that she actually offered her hair to one of the contestants.

Kelly Clarkson may have been talking trash ahead of the Season 30 premiere, but she seemed pretty intimated by the new Voice coaches on Monday. Why do I say that? Well, when the American Idol champ was up against Riley Green for 21-year-old Hazel Gerson, Clarkson was literally willing to pull out all the stops to get her on Team Kelly. And by “stops,” I mean “hair extensions.” This is how that conversation went:

• Kelly Clarkson: When I was watching you, I was like, ‘Just let it out.’ I just want that lion in there.
• Hazel Gerson: I love that. Also, the long hair looks really beautiful, by the way.
• Kelly Clarkson: Thank you. I’ll give it to you! It’s clipped in. Do you like it? You can have it. I will share! Don’t you want a coach that will share with you?

Queen Latifah muttered that Kelly Clarkson had gone beyond sharing. Adam Levine marveled that a coach offering hair was something he’d “never seen, ever before.” And as for Hazel Gerson, she politely declined the hair. She did, however, join Team Kelly, so the coach felt vindicated, saying:

So, that’s quite a bar that Kelly Clarkson has set for this milestone season — which is saying something, since we’ve already seen a reunion between Blake Shelton and Adam Levine and had Carson Daly admit that he tried to keep Shelton and Gwen Stefani apart when they started dating on the show.

Queen Latifah And Riley Green Made It Look Easy On Their Premiere Night

The new Voice coaches, meanwhile, didn’t have to offer things off of their body to get people on their teams. Riley Green didn’t have to do much other than look into contestants’ eyes. He also was quick with the humor, like when Adam Levine admitted he was worried about losing artist BigCountry to Green, the country star shot back:

As for Queen Latifah, her reputation preceded her with the artists, and she was able to use Kelly Clarkson’s penchant for talking a lot to her own advantage. After both of them turned for 19-year-old Marcus Ladden Jr., Clarkson pointed out that she won American Idol at 19 and had won The Voice four times. She said:

• Kelly Clarkson: Wouldn’t it be nice to go with someone you just know has won this show? Do you want to risk it, or do you want to be, like, ‘No, man, I’m gonna go with Kelly. She knows how to win this show.’ Don’t you wanna?
• Queen Latifah: Or do you want the world?

Needless to say, Marcus Ladden Jr. chose Team Queen.

The Season 30 premiere was a fun introduction to the new coaches, and there’s a lot more where that came from (but hopefully les hair). The Voice premiere continues Tuesday and Wednesday, airing at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock.

The Voice is set to premiere its milestone 30th season on the 2026 TV schedule next week, but before the Blind Auditions kick off, Carson Daly sat down with three of the four OG coaches to take a look back at the past 15 years. That’s right, that means Blake Shelton and Adam Levine were reunited, along with CeeLo Green, but one of the wildest revelations from their walk down memory lane involved another coach — Gwen Stefani — as Daly admitted he tried “everything” to keep her away from Shelton.

There have been a number of phenomenal singers to come out of The Voice since its 2011 debut, but talent aside, the show is also proud to have been the birthplace of Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani’s relationship. Carson Daly discussed his initial reaction when he realized something was up, recalling:

I guess I can’t speak for every fan of The Voice, but my reaction was exactly the same as Carson Daly’s. I totally didn’t buy that the No Doubt ska rocker from Orange County would be attracted to the goofy country music star.

Adam Levine doesn’t remember the disbelief, but he does recall his excitement, telling the group at The Voice 30th Season Celebration:

Apparently, it took Carson Daly a little longer to get on board, as Blake Shelton recalled the host trying to get him to “pump the brakes.” Daly said:

It’s not hard to see where Carson Daly’s concern came from. He knew what was going on in both of their personal lives back in 2015, with Gwen Stefani’s marriage to Gavin Rossdale ending at the same time that Blake Shelton was divorcing Miranda Lambert. I can only assume Daly thought this was a rebound situation and that they were going to get hurt.

Now, over a decade later, we know that definitely wasn’t the case. In fact, it was Carson Daly who not only officiated Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani’s wedding but encouraged them to write their own vows, which led to their wedding song, “We Can Reach the Stars.”

It was great to see Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani return to The Voice — even if it was just for one night — and now I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Season 30. Tune in to see Adam Levine go to battle against Kelly Clarkson, Queen Latifah and Riley Green when Blind Auditions kick off at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 21, on NBC for the first of a three-night premiere.

Adam Levine was declared the winner of The Voice’s Battle of Champions earlier this year, when his team member Alexia Jayy won Season 29. Before he can begin to defend that title, however, he’ll have to survive a blast from the past. Levine’s former rival Blake Shelton is returning to The Voice for a celebration of the show’s 30th season, and heads up: it’s hitting the 2026 TV schedule sooner than you think.

The Voice Season 30 premieres Monday, September 21, with rookie coaches Queen Latifah and Riley Green making their debuts alongside veterans Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson. Before that, though, on Thursday, September 17, NBC will take some time to look back on the past 15 years, with a promo showing the big reunion between frenemies Levine and Blake Shelton:

“There’s an old sheriff in town,” a voiceover teases, as Blake Shelton is shown walking into the studio with his wife and fellow former coach of The Voice, Gwen Stefani. Shelton and Levine hug and pose for photos before they’re shown sitting down at a table, presumably to discuss their history on the show.

Adam Levine and Blake Shelton met on The Voice Season 1 and became fast friends. In fact, their bromance and ensuing rivalry were a couple of the things that secured The Voice as a hit in its early seasons and set the precedent for the singing competition’s coaches to be constantly trolling each other.

Blake Shelton established early on with Adam Levine that he could go as hard as he wanted during their squabbles, and the Maroon 5 singer took him at his word. Things even got personal when Levine talked trash about Shelton’s relationship with Gwen Stefani. Shelton gave as good as he got, though, continuing to shade Levine long after he left the show. There was also that great pig prank Shelton pulled.

The two haven’t coached together since 2017, when Adam Levine left The Voice after 16 seasons and a couple of controversial moments. Blake Shelton followed him into retirement after Season 23, a couple of years before the rocker returned in Season 27. They have had a couple of reunions since then. Maroon 5 performed on the Season 20 finale, and Levine returned for Shelton’s final episode. They even shared a moment at the Season 27 finale when Shelton came back to perform.

I’m excited to see what happens when Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani sit down to rehash The Voice’s past. What all the 30th Season Celebration will entail is a bit of a mystery.

The promise of Blake Shelton’s return and a reunion with Adam Levine is enough for me, though. Be sure to tune in at 10 p.m. ET Thursday, September 17, on NBC to catch the special event, which will be available to stream the next day with a Peacock subscription. Then tune in for Season 30’s premiere at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 21.

Anybody who watches The Voice knows that the celebrity coaches are almost as important as the talent on stage. US audiences have tuned in for an astonishing 29 seasons — with Season 30 premiering on the 2026 TV schedule this month — to see Blake Shelton’s rivalry with Adam Levine or Kelly Clarkson fighting with John Legend. However, while those feuds are all in good fun, it seems there’s real drama brewing across the pond regarding Sir Tom Jones.

Sir Tom Jones is objectively a music legend, known worldwide for hits like "It's Not Unusual," "What's New Pussycat?," and “She’s a Lady.” He’s also coached The Voice UK for all but one season since its inception in 2012 — until now, that is. Jones took to Instagram to address the news that he will not return for Season 15, making it known that this was not his decision. His post reads:

That’s pretty brutal, especially given the fact that he’s had plenty of success coaching The Voice UK. He won the very first season with Leanne Mitchell, Season 7 with Ruti Olajugbagbe, and Season 11 with Anthonia Edwards.

Sir Tom Jones’ statement went on to say:

Ouch. It sounds like The Voice UK might have offered Tom Jones a mentoring role, where a celebrity joins a round of the teams’ rehearsals but does not have a say in the making of the teams or the eliminations.

Tom Jones’ exit presumably makes Will.i.am the only coach remaining from the UK version's original panel, though the Season 15 coaches haven't yet been announced publicly. The series is reportedly set to begin production soon and will air in 2027.

Meanwhile, here in the US, The Voice is also implementing some big changes in 2027. Following the NBC singing competition’s 30th season, host Carson Daly will exit the show for Season 31.

Instead, Keke Palmer will take over hosting duties for The Voice: Celebrity, which will feature contestants already famous for something other than music. They’ll audition to join one of three celebrity coaches’ teams — Queen Latifah, Riley Green or Joe Jonas.

Be sure to tune in to see Queen Latifah and Riley Green make their Voice debuts against Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson when The Voice Season 30 premieres at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 21, on NBC, streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

We’re only weeks away from the premiere of The Voice Season 30 on the 2026 TV schedule, where we’ll see if Adam Levine can go back-to-back after winning the “Battle of Champions” earlier this year. That face-off between Levine, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend gave us a good look at how important artists’ choice of coach is, and now — thanks to NBC — we’re learning more about what advice those megastar mentors are giving the contestants.

Adam Levine Helped Season 29 Winner Get Out Of Her Head

The Maroon 5 singer secured his fourth win in Season 29 — which puts him in a second-place tie with Kelly Clarkson for winningest coach on The Voice — as he led Alexia Jayy to victory. Adam Levine told NBC he doesn’t take much credit for what Jayy pulled off, but he did divulge the advice he gave her, saying:

Alexia Jayy cosigned Adam Levine’s story, saying her coach was there to lift her up and remind her that this was something she loved doing and that she was good at it. She said:

What’s funny is that Alexia Jayy might have ended up on John Legend’s team if not for a huge fumble from the EGOT winner, so what kind of advice is he doling out on Team Legend?

John Legend Assures His Team They’ve Got The Talent

When it comes to the caliber of talent that we see on The Voice, John Legend has no doubt that any one of them has the vocal talent needed to make it in the music industry. So when he talks to the members of Team Legend, he gives it to them straight, telling NBC:

The Voice coaches have talked about catching lightning in a bottle, which is having all of the right circumstances come together to launch someone into stardom. The artists’ vocal ability is just a part of it, and most of the singing competition’s contestants are already well on their way. Season 29 finalist Lucas West said John Legend helped him take advantage of what made him stand out from other artists:

John Legend won’t be around for the next couple of seasons, but we’ll be able to see what gems Adam Levine brings to the table when The Voice Season 30 premieres at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 21, on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Fans of The Voice were dealt some pretty shocking news last week, when it was revealed that Season 31 of the singing competition would feature celebrity contestants. As unique and fun as that sounds, the announcement was bittersweet, because the spinoff — slated for spring 2027 — won’t feature Carson Daly as its host for the first time since its 2011 premiere. Rumors suggested Daly may have wanted to take a step back, but could money have also been a factor?

NBC announced that Keke Palmer will be handling hosting duties for The Voice: Celebrity, with Joe Jonas joining Season 30 rookies Queen Latifah and Riley Green on the coaching panel. According to a source for The Sun, Palmer coming on allegedly saves the network quite a bit of cash, as they said:

Keke Palmer will reportedly earn only about one-third of that, according to the insider, who added:

It makes sense that the Nope star would start out earning less than Carson Daly makes after 15 years — especially considering she will not be a producer on the singing competition like Daly is. The former Total Request Live host will continue to serve as an executive producer on The Voice, but it’s unknown how much he’ll be paid without having "host" as part of his job duties.

The source didn’t specify whether or not money played into the decision to go with a new host (or, incidentally, to go back to having just three celebrity coaches, like on The Voice: Battle of Champions).

It was previously reported that Carson Daly allegedly wanted to take a step back to spend more time with his family, which he’d mentioned himself over a year ago on The Today Show. He also said in an Instagram post following the Season 31 announcement that he simply wasn’t right for this spinoff, writing:

Keke Palmer is already part of the NBC family, too, and she’s even won an Emmy for hosting Password.

As for whether The Voice will move forward with Keke Palmer or Carson Daly for Season 32 and beyond remains to be seen, as the door allegedly remains open for the longtime host to return.

That’s a problem for the future anyway, because we’ll still be able to see Carson Daly as the host of The Voice Season 30 when it premieres on the 2026 TV schedule at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 21, on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Travis Barker has been in the limelight for quite some time. First with Blink-182, then his turn to reality television after starting a relationship with now-wife Kourtney Kardashian. The drummer has experienced quite a lot over the years, dipping his toes into different genres and collaborations. But I never would have guessed he’d be so anti-The Voice before hearing what his son Landon said.

Since Barker has appeared on American Idol numerous times, you’d think he wouldn’t have anything bad to say about it or other singing competitions, such as The Voice. You’d also think that he would encourage his children who have been following in his footsteps to pursue either series, but surprisingly, that’d not the case. He shared on Popcast that his 22-year-old son Landon, who has been a musician for a few years now, told him that a particular singing competition wanted him on, and Barker’s response was not so kind towards said show:

It can be assumed that Landon’s involvement would be for Season 31 of The Voice, which would be a celebrity edition. Meaning he wouldn’t be the only one who has had some experience and wants to show off what they truly can do. I definitely didn’t think that Barker would be one to put down singing competition shows, especially since he’s been on one before. Of course, he was more established when he did American Idol and wasn’t competing, but still.

He did explain why he felt that way about Landon doing The Voice, admitting that he might sound contradictory because of his previous experience. Barker noted that he’s a drummer and flexes going from genre to genre, collaborating with other artists. It’s fun for him, and he’s not on the forefront. He shared that he asked his son one very important question and had some pretty encouraging advice:

I do understand Barker’s reasoning for not wanting his son to do The Voice, even if it is a celebrity edition. He definitely could have been a bit more encouraging though, especially if it was something Landon wanted to do. These kinds of opportunities don’t always come, and who knows if there will be another celebrity version of The Voice, assuming this would be the edition that they wanted Landon for.

However, I also love that he doesn’t want Landon to rush into anything. When it comes to The Voice, things happen so quickly between the auditions and the different rounds, and then your whole outlook on your future can change in an instant depending on how far you make it. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Barker is against The Voice. He just doesn’t see it as the right outlet for his son, who has already started getting his foot in the door.

As The Voice prepares to return for Season 30 this fall on the 2026 TV schedule, its future is already being planned out. There have been rumors about the new coaches and also rumors about longtime host Carson Daly. And I was surprised how the rumors about Daly both did and did not pan out.

Just days ago, a source told The U.S. Sun that the former TRL host was stepping away from The Voice due to how demanding the schedule is. The singing competition tapes in LA, while Daly is still a co-host on the Today Show in New York. Plus, being away from his family has been hard, which also wouldn’t have been surprising. But The Voice typically films seasons back-to-back, so Daly choosing to step back for one season and not the other wouldn’t make sense. NBC has finally announced The Voice Season 31, and the Daly rumors seem to have actually been true. For the most part, at least.

The Voice is doing a whole new format for Season 31, with a celebrity edition. Dubbed The Voice: Celebrity, actors, musicians, influencers, athletes, comedians, and reality stars will be taking the stage for their chance to be the first Voice celebrity champion. To stay on theme, there will be a different host, with Keke Palmer stepping in for the special season. Daly will remain on as an executive producer.

It seems to be just for The Voice: Celebrity that Daly won’t be hosting, as he confirmed on Instagram that he just wasn’t the right fit. Nothing is indicating that Season 30 is going to be his last season, as he even assured fans that he is not leaving The Voice. He’s just going to take a break for The Voice: Celebrity, hosting-wise. Since he’s consistently hosted the first 30 seasons, I’m assume he welcomed the chance to step back, no matter how long.

I am curious to see how The Voice: Celebrity turns out. It’s like The Masked Singer, only you know who the contestants are. The Voice has been trying out new formats recently, likely to try to keep things fresh. Season 29 was Battle of Champions, which saw only three coaches instead of four, new and revamped rounds, and many more changes. Meanwhile, The Voice coaches have been announced for Season 30, with rumors about Queen Latifah proving true. She and previously announced new coach Riley Green will join returning favorites Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson.

I’m happy that Carson Daly doesn’t seem to be permanently leaving The Voice, and I’m intrigued to see how The Voice: Celebrity does. I’ve been a fan of Keke Palmer for a long time, and she is no stranger to hosting, so she is definitely going to kill it. More information on Season 31 should be announced in the coming months. Season 30 of The Voice premieres on Monday, September 21 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Since The Voice premiered in 2011, many coaches have come and gone from the Big Red Chairs, but there’s only been one host. Carson Daly will lead the 30th season of NBC’s singing competition when it premieres on the 2026 TV schedule this fall, and according to rumors, it may be his last. Supposed insiders are suggesting that Daly will leave his long-time position ahead of Season 31, and there are reasons both why I could believe this and why I don’t.

The rumor suggesting Carson Daly is leaving The Voice comes from The Sun, where a source alleged that Daly's commitments to The Today Show and wanting to be spend more time with his family necessitated the move. According to the source:

No official word has come from Carson Daly or The Voice, so for now these are simply unverified rumors. While I’m definitely taking this report with a grain of salt, I also see how it could be true. Let me explain:

Why I Believe It: Carson Daly Has Spoken About Wanting To ‘Cut Back’ On Work

Carson Daly stays busy with his commitments to NBC, both on The Voice and as one of the co-hosts of TODAY. It’s been quite a year on the set of the morning show, with the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie’s mother and the intruder who reportedly confronted Craig Melvin. So it’s probably not at the front of anyone’s mind that a couple of years ago when Hoda Kotb announced her retirement, Daly said this:

At the time it sounded like he might be thinking of leaving The Today Show, but if he’s giving up one job or the other, The Voice might make more sense. Carson Daly and his family live in New York, where the morning news program is filmed, while The Voice films in Los Angeles.

The timing also seems to make sense in terms of his family. Carson Daly’s son Jackson is 17 and entering his senior year of high school, and the longtime host said he’s soaking in every “micro-minute” of their time together. That’s not to mention Carson’s wife Siri and their three younger daughters — Etta, 13, London, 11, and Goldie, 6.

Why I Don’t Believe It: The Rumor Doesn’t Align With The Voice’s Filming Schedule

There is a really strong argument to be made for why this rumor could be true, but I’m caught up on the part about Carson Daly allegedly leaving after The Voice Season 30 .

For the past few years, The Voice has filmed two seasons simultaneously. We know the initial rounds of the upcoming season have been filmed, thanks to the buzz about new coaches Queen Latifah and Riley Green, and according to fans on Reddit citing 1iota (the site that provides tickets for The Voice’s studio audience), Season 31 also began filming in late June.

If The Sun’s sources are correct, why would Carson Daly choose to film Season 30 but not 31, since they’re in production at the same time? It would also mean that a replacement for Daly has already been made, and not only that, but the new host would have already filmed episodes in front of an audience. That would be a pretty risky move for NBC to pull before even announcing their host of 15 years was leaving.

Something feels a bit off here, regardless of what Carson Daly has said about wanting to spend more time with his family. We’ll have to wait to see if the longtime host himself addresses the rumors or if NBC makes an announcement. Either way, catch Daly when he returns for The Voice Season 30 at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 21, on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The auditions have wrapped on America’s Got Talent, but with Simon Cowell and the gang saying “yes” to more acts than there are spots in the live shows, some tough decisions had to be made. Tuesday night’s episode on the 2026 TV schedule promised “Live Acts Revealed,” except that’s not exactly how things played out. Cowell decided to add a twist to Season 21 (he can do that, you know), and I love how very The Voice-esque it is.

Now, Terry Crews did get around to revealing some of the acts to make the live shows in America's Got Talent's July 28 episode, including Chicago’s Jesse White Tumbling Team, who tragically lost a member following their audition. In other cases, though — like with the magician who nearly had his act ruined by Simon Cowell — no consensus could be reached. So Cowell initiated the first ever AGT Callbacks.

Mel B, Sofía Vergara, Howie Mandel and Simon Cowell himself all chose a handful of acts they want to see again. They’ll invite those people into their homes, offer advice and watch them perform again before choosing who will, in fact, move on to the live portion of Season 21.

The AGT Judges Are Forming Teams

OK, I am getting really strong vibes of The Voice here, and I can’t help but wonder if Simon Cowell is intentionally taking inspiration from its fellow NBC reality competition show. First of all, each America’s Got Talent judge picked a number of auditions that they personally liked — that sounds like choosing teams to me!

Simon, Mel B, Sofía And Howie Are Becoming Coaches

Also, never before have the judges worked with new acts such on a personal level. Sure, they’ll offer feedback and constructive criticism. Advise them on whether their next performance should be bigger or different in a specific way. Now, however, they’re going to work one-on-one with the contestants to hone the potential each judge saw during auditions.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call “coaching,” and The Voice is famous for casting superstar coaches, not judges.

AGT Is Adding Celebrity Mentors

Not only will the Callbacks allow the talented hopefuls to learn from the judges, they’re going to also get advice from celebrity mentors — a device used by both The Voice and Simon Cowell’s old stomping grounds, American Idol. Those famous faces include Normani, Poo Bear, Lele Pons, Sebastián Yatra, Emma Bunton and Nikki Glaser.

As a fan of The Voice, I think this is pretty exciting, and there’s extra intrigue with the Callbacks happening at each judge’s house. (I don’t see Kelly Clarkson opening her home up to artists on the singing competition, but I’d love to!) It looks like things get pretty dramatic, too, in a way that I’m not sure America’s Got Talent has ever seen.

There are plenty of details yet to be divulged, including how many contestants each judge gets to send to lives, or if the others will weigh in on their choices. But overall, I really like this twist and can’t wait to see how it plays out. America’s Got Talent continues with Callbacks at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday, August 4, on NBC.

The Voice Season 30, meanwhile, premieres at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 21, on NBC. Both series’ episodes can be streamed the next day with a Peacock subscription.

We’ve still got a couple of months before The Voice Season 30 premieres on the 2026 TV schedule, but filming is well underway. Queen Latifah and Riley Green are joining veteran coaches Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson on this season’s panel, and rumors are dropping about how the newbies are fitting in. I was already looking forward to a new season of the singing competition, but I’ll be especially psyched if these Queen Latifah claims are true.

Queen Latifah is a legendary rapper who’s been an entertainment icon for decades, while Riley Green is a relatively new — albeit popular — country music artist, so it doesn’t surprise me to hear that they’re allegedly on different ends of the spectrum when it comes to coaching styles. Queen Latifah, though, is the one who has reportedly been commanding the set, as a production insider told The Sun:

This is a very exciting update, if true. Queen Latifah is a boss, so I fully expect her to hold her own on Season 30, even against The Voice coaches who have been there longer. (You certainly don’t hear reports of Kelly Clarkson talking smack to Queen Latifah, do you?) Also, the Set It Off star has been in the industry long enough to know that sugarcoating feedback isn’t going to get anybody anywhere.

Seeing Queen Latifah described as “Simon Cowell” — who was known for his rude feedback on American Idol’s early years — is exciting to me, because I hate when the coaches serve as a cheerleader for their team members instead of giving them constructive criticism that they can use going forward.

I don’t want them to be mean, by any means, but a nice dose of honesty would be refreshing. It sounds like Queen Latifah has that balance, as the insider continued:

Meanwhile, we might see Riley Green take a little longer to settle in, if the source’s reports are true. He’s reportedly taken a “quieter approach” with the contestants, which isn’t hard to believe when you consider the big personalities around him. The insider said:

In addition to being one of country music’s hottest rising stars, he had a role in the Yellowstone spinoff Marshals, so it’s not like he’s new to the spotlight. The Voice producers are apparently optimistic that he’ll kick any initial nerves and even allegedly plan on asking him back for Season 31.

I can’t wait to see the coaches’ new dynamic when The Voice Season 30 premieres at 8 p.m. Monday, September 21, on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Lots of people (myself included) were in disbelief 11 years ago, when Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani’s relationship crossed the line from just being coaches on The Voice to something worth writing love songs about. As mismatched as they may seem, they’ve proven their doubters wrong so far, celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary this month. Sources, however, say their friends still have concerns.

Rumors of a split between Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton have plagued the couple from the beginning, despite seeing so many sweet moments between them on The Voice. Love apparently isn’t the issue for this odd couple, a supposed insider tells In Touch. They alleged:

As much as Gwen Stefani appears to love “Oklahoma life,” the insider said she would allegedly prefer to be in California. The “God’s Country” singer, meanwhile, reportedly is far more fond of his farm. The source continued:

Blake Shelton did say he became more mindful about what jobs he accepted after leaving The Voice, and said he was committed to spending more time with his wife and her three sons. However, both of them have continued to make music and perform concerts, allegedly causing them to spend less time together, according to the insider, who said:

Every marriage takes work and sacrifice, and I’m sure that Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani have had to overcome their share of issues. However, this isn’t this couple’s first breakup rumor rodeo. They actually have a whole bathroom wallpapered in tabloid covers about them.

Will the rumors someday be correct? Possibly. Are Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani’s friends still worried about the longevity of their relationship after 11 years? They definitely might be. Only time will tell what the future holds for these two.

While we wait for more updates on the mismatched-but-in-love couple, you can get ready for The Voice Season 30, which features neither Shelton nor Stefani returning as a coach, but rather two new faces — Queen Latifah and Riley Green — taking on veterans Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine. The milestone season hits the 2026 TV premiere schedule at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 21, on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Riley Green is set to make his debut as a coach on The Voice when its milestone 30th season hits the 2026 TV schedule in September, providing some of that country charm the show is known for, thanks to artists like Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire. Green is bringing along with him one thing that those coaches didn’t have, though — a cowboy hat — which presented a challenge due to the size of the Big Red Chair. The “Worst Way” singer explained the solution they came up with and why it was so important.

Riley Green will have his work cut out for him on The Voice Season 30, as he faces off against veteran coaches Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson and music icon Queen Latifah. He definitely seems up to the task, though, despite realizing early on that his cowboy hat was going to present a problem. Green told Willie Geist on the Sunday Sitdown podcast:

Why am I just now realizing that other country coaches like Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton never wore a cowboy hat? Even if I had noticed, I would have assumed producers wouldn’t want them to wear one in order to better see their eyes, but I’d never given any thought to the brim being an issue in such a high-backed chair.

For a competition that celebrates country music as much as The Voice does, I’m kind of surprised this is the first time the issue came up. Thankfully, Carson Daly was able to help figure out a solution, and you can even see the little holster on Riley Green’s chair in the promo for Season 30:

Having that authentic cowboy look is pretty important, too, especially with the trash-talking from Kelly Clarkson and the overall coaching competition that Riley Green faces. Blake Shelton has faith in Green and his ability to attract contestants in the genre, but a little help from the cowboy hat definitely can’t hurt. Green said:

This isn’t the first time The Voice has made adjustments to the Big Red Chairs to accommodate the coaches. Season 25 saw Dan + Shay as the first duo coaches, complete with a two-seated Big Red Chair.

I think The Voice crew did a great job on Riley Green's chair, because the hat looks so natural hanging there on the side of the chair, and now I just can’t wait to see the coach and his cowboy hat in action. We’ve still got a couple of months to go, so mark your calendars for The Voice Season 30 premiere at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 21, on NBC. Episodes will stream the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice is getting ready to celebrate a big milestone when Season 30 premieres on the 2026 TV schedule this September. Two new faces will join Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson on the coaching panel — Queen Latifah and Riley Green, the latter of whom is surely hoping to honor the show’s history of country music dominance. Blake Shelton seems to believe Green’s up to the task, and he’s got some blunt advice for the newcomer.

Blake Shelton exited The Voice in 2023 after 23 seasons, and while he still has no plans to come back (in a coaching capacity at least — he has performed on the show since then), he’s still got plenty of opinions about the show, especially with his former rivals Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine going strong after their respective returns. Shelton offered some strong words of advice to Riley Green as he prepares to go up against them, telling ET:

Blake Shelton makes it sound like The Voice coaches are all mortal enemies, and admittedly if you ever witnessed the feud he had with Kelly Clarkson or heard the F-bombs Adam Levine’s thrown his way, you might believe it. However, trolling is Shelton’s love language — he even trolled his own wife when they competed on The Voice Season 22 — so there’s really no animosity there.

Friendships aside, however, Blake Shelton still thinks Riley Green’s got what it takes to go up against the two veterans, despite both Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine having won four seasons of The Voice (second only to Shelton himself, who won nine). The “God’s Country” singer suggested the other coaches might have trouble luring artists away from Luke Grimes’ friend and Marshals co-star, saying:

Kelly Clarkson actually may be a tad intimidated by Riley Green, as she has definitely tried to take over as the country music expert on seasons without Blake Shelton and Reba McEntire. In fact, the American Idol winner started talking smack to Green before The Voice Season 30 started shooting — even before she’d actually met the country singer in person!

I’m excited to see how these four coaches get along and what surprises Carson Daly might have in store for The Voice’s milestone season.

Speaking of milestones, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani just celebrated their 5-year wedding anniversary after meeting on The Voice, with their big day coming just weeks after Shelton turned 50 years old. Now, he may not be returning to the NBC singing competition, but it sounds like he’ll be rooting for Riley Green.

The Voice Season 30 premieres at 8 p.m. ET Monday, September 21, on NBC with episodes streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

While The Voice is coming back to the 2026 TV schedule this fall without Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani as coaches, that doesn’t mean the real-life couple aren’t privately enjoying their relationship out of the spotlight. The pair of musicians may often be the subject of divorce rumors in the tabloids lately, but public PDA from the both of them for their anniversary helps put the speculation to rest.

Shelton and Stefani’s names often come up as a celebrity couple who might be secretly on the rocks since they mostly keep to themselves. However, new social media posts from both of them remind us that the speculation is likely purely that. Check out what Blake Shelton posted to Instagram:

Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani tied the knot on July 3, 2021 - a wedding anniversary they now share with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, who officially got married at Madison Square Garden on Friday. It’s been five years since their ceremony at an Oklahoma ranch surrounded by their loved ones, and the country singer proudly shared pictures from their day. He also said “every day is better than the last”, before wishing his wife a happy anniversary in front of the world.

Gwen Stefani commented on the post by writing “🙏🏻 love u !!” along with adding two posts of her own to celebrate the occasion. Along with sharing more wedding photos from the day they said "I do", she posted a reel full of images of the couple over the years. Take a look:

Aww, these sweet little moments from Gwen Stefani’s camera roll say it all. It must be so frustrating for them to see speculation about their relationship being over all the time when it seems like they’re just out here enjoying their lives together and minding their own busines. Back in January, Shelton commented on the speculation with these words:

Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani met in 2014 when they were both coaches on The Voice's seventh season. They reportedly began dating in late 2015 before eventually getting engaged in October of 2020.

As of late, Blake Shelton has been touring following the release of his latest record, For Recreational Use Only, which came out back in May. Gwen Stefani just concluded her residency at Las Vegas’s Sphere with No Doubt last month. It was the band’s first tour together in almost 14 years. Now, I love that they're taking a moment to celebrate the day they said "I do."

Happy Anniversary to Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani! The couple look more adorable than ever.

The Kelly Clarkson Show is quickly approaching its end, as the Emmy-winning host announced in February that Season 7 would be its last. In fact, filming has actually already wrapped, with the pre-taped episodes set to run on the 2026 TV schedule into the fall. Kelly Clarkson has spoken candidly about her decision, and now one of her buddies is opening up about her post-show plans.

Lifestyle expert Lawrence Zarian is a regular fixture on The Kelly Clarkson Show, appearing in more than 140 episodes over the past seven years. He said this ending is “bittersweet” because it was such a good job, and everyone there had become a family. It seems appropriate, then, that family will be the focus of Kelly Clarkson’s life when the talk show’s over. Zarian told US Weekly:

Many fans were shocked to learn of Brandon Blackstock’s death back in August 2025, which followed a long, private battle with cancer. He was 48. It immediately became clear that the show tapings Kelly Clarkson had missed and the concerts that were postponed were in order to help her two children — River 12 and Remington 10 — cope with their father’s illness and passing.

That, unsurprisingly, was at the center of the American Idol champ’s statement when she announced The Kelly Clarkson Show was coming to an end. She said:

As for that duet that Lawrence Zarian mentioned, he says we will get to see him sing alongside Kelly Clarkson before the lights go down on The Kelly Clarkson Show’s New York City production. The duo will sing “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors in what the lifestyle guru called the “best moment of my life, truly.”

In addition to spending more time with her little ones, Kelly Clarkson — as promised in the statement above — is set to appear as a coach on The Voice for its milestone 30th season (her 11th on the show).

In the upcoming season, she’ll face off against OG coach Adam Levine in what will be his 19th competition, and Queen Latifah is joining The Voice with fellow first-timer Riley Green.

Last season we saw John Legend bring a couple of his kids to The Voice set, and I think it would be so cool to see River and Remy join Kelly Clarkson at work for some bonus time with mom. They’ve taken the stage during her Las Vegas residency, so who knows what could happen? The only problem is if her kids do come around, Clarkson might want to watch how much she trash-talks rookie Riley Green.

It’s good to hear that Kelly Clarkson’s pals are supportive of her ending her talk show, even under such bittersweet circumstances, and we’ll keep you posted about when The Kelly Clarkson Show’s finale will air. Check your local listings to see when to catch her each weekday until then.

The Voice will hit a big benchmark when it returns to the 2026 TV schedule this fall, gearing up to crown its 30th champion since debuting 15 years ago. Anyone who’s tuned into NBC’s singing competition knows how important The Voice’s superstar coaches are to the show’s success, because when their competitive juices start to flow, so does the smack talk. Apparently they don’t always wait for the cameras to start rolling, either, because incoming rookie Riley Green revealed that Kelly Clarkson has already sniffed out that fresh meat.

One aspect of The Voice that’s contributed to its success is the fact that each season is really two competitions in one — there’s the singing competition that aims to launch an artist into the industry and then there's the battle amongst the coaches to have that person be their team member. Rising country music star Riley Green is set to take his place in the Big Red Chair for the first time in Season 30, and he told E! News ahead of the AMAs how Kelly Clarkson is welcoming him to the family:

It is absolutely wild that Kelly Clarkson is putting newbie Riley Green in his place before production even starts on The Voice Season 30. Knowing how competitive she gets, it’s not exactly a surprise, though, and I have to say, I absolutely love it.

The “Worst Way” singer said that while he hasn’t gotten much facetime with his fellow Season 30 coaches Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson or Queen Latifah yet, he’s excited about the idea of their rapport developing in real time in front of the camera. I agree that will be fun to watch — but I stand by concerns that the trio of music industry veterans might just eat Riley Green’s lunch. At least Clarkson showing her competitive edge early gives the Marshals actor a hint of what to expect, as he said:

You can say that again! In Kelly Clarkson’s 10 seasons, she’s taken 4 artists to the end. That’s the same number of victories as OG coach Adam Levine, except it took him 19 seasons to accomplish it.

The “Since U Been Gone” singer proved how ruthless she is during Season 29’s Battle of Champions, winning both the Triple Turn Competition and the All-Star Showdown that brought back the coaches’ past team members. She wasn’t able to get the crown in the end, though, as Adam Levine team member Alexia Jayy took top honors.

So Kelly Clarkson can be beaten, but it sounds like she’s definitely going to make Riley Green work for it. The Voice Season 30 will premiere in September on NBC, with episodes available to stream the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Kelly Clarkson may be one of the most renowned singers of our day — with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, her own eponymous talk show and multiple wins as a coach on The Voice to boot — but to her two children, River (11) and Remington (10) — she’s a mother first. However, the same can’t be said for her kids’ friends. Clarkson got real about one hilarious side effect of being as famous as she is, and it’s certainly something I’ve never thought about.

The American Idol champ may be “Mom” to her two little ones, but to their friends, she’s still the ridiculously famous singer of hits like “Since U Been Gone” and “Behind These Hazel Eyes.” As such, they apparently refer to her as any normal person would when addressing a celebrity of her caliber. She said on The Kelly Clarkson Show (via US Weekly):

I’m glad she finds humor in the situation, because it’s actually so adorable to think of tweens just constantly full-naming Kelly Clarkson. I can’t blame them, because I’d do the same thing!

There’s certainly an adjustment period when people stop calling you by your name, and you have to accept the fact that your identity is now being someone’s mom. Living in Texas — Kelly Clarkson’s home state — I also get a lot of “Miss” and “Ma’am,” which is fine because it’s not “Hey,” or “Bruh,” and I don’t expect them all to learn my name.

However, everybody knows Kelly Clarkson’s name, and wouldn't it be so weird to call her “Miss Kelly” or “River’s mom”? She’s won three Grammys for godsakes!

Even Jenna Bush Hager — who was Kelly Clarkson’s guest — admitted she wouldn’t be able to call the singer anything but her full name, saying:

The Today with Jenna & Sheinelle host said she didn’t have the same issue using first names for her colleagues like Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie, but they’re such a family over there at the NBC morning show that that’s not really a surprise.

It’s possible that River and Remington’s friends might be seeing more of Kelly Clarkson soon, as the host is ending The Kelly Clarkson Show at the end of its seventh season. She admitted that she needed to take some things off of her plate in order to be there for her children, especially in the wake of their father Brandon Blackstock’s death last August.

I think it’s a great move for her family, but I doubt it’s going to make a difference in how her kids’ friends refer to her. You can still catch The Kelly Clarkson Show on weekdays on NBC through the fall (check your local listings), and she’ll be back on The Voice for its milestone 30th season, which will premiere on the 2026 TV schedule in September.

The Voice is celebrating its milestone 30th season this fall, and it’s certainly bringing the star power to the 2026 TV schedule. As I suspected, rumors of Blake Shelton’s potential return were greatly exaggerated, but I’m definitely not disappointed in the coaching lineup that NBC has assembled. Queen Latifah is set to join The Voice family alongside the previously announced Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson and newcomer Riley Green, and I have to admit I’m a bit concerned about the country music artist.

The Voice prides itself on finding superstar talent to lead each season’s group of contestants, and Queen Latifah is unequivocally that. Not only does she have a music career dating back over three decades (earning her a Grammy and myriad other awards), she’s an actress who’s won an Emmy and a Golden Globe and been nominated for an Oscar.

I can’t wait to see how her experience and expertise informs her mentoring strategy, because while she’s never coached on The Voice before, Queen Latifah has been a guest judge on America’s Got Talent, sang at the Super Bowl and hosted numerous awards shows and her own talk show (Carson Daly better watch out!).

That’s obviously a lot more entertainment experience than Riley Green has accumulated, and I’m really interested to see how he plays that on The Voice Season 30.

That’s not to downplay the achievements the country singer has see in his comparatively short career. Riley Green hasn’t coached before, but he performed in The Voice finales for Seasons 26 and 28. He’s won numerous ACM and CMA Awards since releasing his debut studio album in 2019 and has hits with artists like Thomas Rhett and Luke Combs.

He also recently made his acting debut on the CBS series Marshals (streaming with a Paramount+ subscription), so clearly he’s qualified to coach entertainment industry hopefuls.

Riley Green also played college football, so we're probably looking at a strong competitive spirit. I also admit how naive it would be of me to underestimate how well any country music artist can do on The Voice. However, not only is Riley Green going up against Queen Latifah, he’s got to face two of the competition’s most venerated coaches.

Season 30 will be Adam Levine’s 19th time on The Voice, which is more than any coach other than Blake Shelton (23). He and Kelly Clarkson each have 4 wins — the most of any coach other than Shelton (9). Clarkson’s reign is all the more impressive because those victories came in just 10 seasons, giving her an impressive 40% win percentage.

I love that Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson are coming back, because they carry a legacy of winning, and I’m super pumped to see how Queen Latifah and Riley Green fit into the mix.

With this being the NBC singing competition’s 30th season, I’m sure Carson Daly’s got some twists up his sleeve, and the network has already teased special appearances from former coaches and mentors.

What we don’t yet know is the premiere date, but stay tuned, because we’ll definitely be on the lookout for The Voice Season 30 this fall on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice family has suffered a tragic loss, as it was reported that Season 24 contestant Dylan Carter died Saturday night in a car accident in South Carolina. He was 24 years old. During his time on the singing competition, Carter was a member of Reba McEntire’s team after earning a Four-Chair Turn in the Blind Auditions. Upon hearing about Carter's passing, McEntire paid tribute to her former team member.

Dylan Carter was reportedly killed in a single-car accident at 11:42 p.m. Saturday, April 25, in Colleton County, South Carolina, according to TMZ. He was set to perform Monday, April 27, at a local “Music on Main” event, but the event has since been canceled.

The singer was 20 years old when he competed on The Voice, earning a Four-Chair Turn for his rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Look to You.” He picked Reba McEntire as his coach, and in light of the tragic news of his death, McEntire posted the following to her Instagram Stories:

Fans of The Voice may remember that Dylan Carter’s audition song in 2023 was one that he’d tried to perform at his mother’s funeral the year before, but he’d become overwhelmed with emotion and wasn’t able to finish.

He finished it on that day, though, with Reba McEntire, Gwen Stefani, Niall Horan and John Legend all amazed with the performance. In the end, though, it was the Queen of Country who got to work with him. You can see his emotional performance of “I Look to You” below:

Dylan Carter was eliminated in the Battle Round of Season 24, after he and fellow Team Reba member Tom Nitti dueted to Cody Johnson’s “‘Til You Can’t.”

After his stint on The Voice, Dylan Carter went on to co-found the nonprofit The Local Voice, which helps to support women fighting breast cancer and their families. The group honored Carter in an emotional Facebook message, writing:

It sounds like Dylan Carter touched a lot of people's lives, and it's always awful to hear about losing someone so young. Our condolences go out to Dylan Carter’s family and friends at this time.

Blake Shelton sings a lot of songs about being a country boy who likes his farm, his family, his truck, and his God — though probably not in that order — but for him it’s more than just lip service. Shelton may have 13 studio albums, more than 30 No. 1 hits on country radio, a chain of restaurant/bars and a 23-season stint on The Voice under his belt, but he embodies that cowboy lifestyle, and when it comes to maintaining his sanity, he has a very on-brand remedy.

The “God’s Country” singer and his wife Gwen Stefani — who met when they were coaches on The Voice — have made no secret about how much they love the “Oklahoma life,” and it turns out when Blake Shelton’s not recording music or traveling with his new music competition show The Road, he has no qualms about shutting the phone off to do some hunting, fishing or just spending quality time with Stefani and his three stepsons. He told Forbes:

Blake Shelton spent a lot of years missing out on family get-togethers and other personal events due to his touring schedule or — more likely — The Voice’s filming schedule. It must be so refreshing these days to be able to prioritize his personal life.

The country music star said he shut down for about a year after leaving NBC’s singing competition — which he said was “just too good of a job to walk away from, until one day the frustration outweighed everything else.” He said for the longest time he really did do absolutely nothing. In his words:

I really love that he was able to step away and spend time with family and rediscover his passion for country music. Not only has this led him to team up with Taylor Sheridan and Keith Urban to help budding artists (The Road Season 1 can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription), but he’s taken to sending his former Voice colleagues delicious refreshments from the farm.

He and Gwen Stefani have even made good use of all the tabloid covers their relationship inspired — wallpapering their bathroom with them.

Blake Shelton has told us time again he wants to be doing nothing more than spending time with his family on his Oklahoma ranch, and it sounds like he’s really found the perfect way to shut out all the noise to maintain his sanity.

Despite some wild reports about The Voice Season 30 — on which Adam Levine has been confirmed to return — I don’t expect to see Blake Shelton back, while the future of The Road is also up in the air. Stay tuned to the 2026 TV schedule for more updates.

It definitely seems like Adam Levine is having a blast since making his big return to The Voice following a 10-season hiatus, and the fun’s not over yet. After recording his fourth overall victory on Season 29’s “Battle of Champions” with a very deserving Alexia Jayy, the Maroon 5 singer will be in the Big Red Chairs again when Season 30 premieres on the 2026 TV schedule this fall. So what made this the right time for a comeback?

No other coaches have yet been confirmed for The Voice’s upcoming milestone season, which will mark Adam Levine’s 19th time as a superstar mentor. The rockstar was one of the original coaches of The Voice, appearing on the first 16 seasons — and contributing to some of the competition’s wildest moments — before walking away for 10 seasons. As People confirmed his return for Season 30, Levine explained what drew him back to the show after so long, saying:

During Adam Levine’s original run, The Voice was filming two seasons a year, with a good portion of the episodes airing live. The NBC singing competition has since taken to recording two seasons simultaneously with limited live episodes — or, in the case of the recently wrapped Season 29, zero live episodes.

The original filming schedule was a lot to handle, especially for Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, the latter of whom was definitely showing his frustrations by the end of his 23-season run. Levine can relate, as he said:

After taking some time to be at home with his family and focus on making music with Maroon 5, the “stars aligned,” he has said, and the timing was right for him to come back to The Voice. Although he said he didn’t miss the show after he left, coming back was a different story, and the amount of nostalgia that he experienced was surprising to him.

We don’t know yet who will be joining Adam Levine when Season 30 premieres, but Gold Derby reports there will be a new artist to add to our list of The Voice coaches. And as much as Levine liked the three-coach format, the showrunner has confirmed they’ll be returning to a quartet of superstar mentors.

Will the “Sunday Morning” crooner be able to continue his legacy of winning this fall? We’ll be keeping an eye out for updates on the upcoming season, but in the meantime, you can relive Adam Levine's victorious Season 29 journey with Alexia Jayy by streaming The Voice with a Peacock subscription.

We’re mere hours away from learning who will win The Voice Season 29 and which coach will claim bragging rights for the first-ever Battle of Champions. The Top 9 were cut down to the Top 4 in Monday’s Semifinals, and here, I’m taking a look at that quartet of artists who the studio audience voted through to the finale — which will air Tuesday on the 2026 TV schedule — and picking who I think should win The Voice Season 29.

The Battle of Champions has made a lot of changes to the competition we’ve grown so familiar with (like only having three coaches), and another big one is how the winner will be chosen. For the first time in The Voice’s history, there are no live episodes and no vote from America. I can’t say I love this twist as much as I like the reduction in coaches, but NBC doesn’t really make a habit of asking my opinion. Below, I'll break down the performances that earned these artists a spot in the Top 4 and give my pick for the winner.

SPOILER ALERT! From here on out, I will be discussing the four artists who were voted on to advance to the finale during Monday’s episode. If you haven’t seen the April 13 Semifinals, you can stream the episode with a Peacock subscription.

Team Adam’s Finalist: Alexia Jayy

Alexia Jayy, a 31-year-old singer from Alabama was the first artist voted through by a special studio audience composed of The Voice superfans and alumni, beating out her fellow members of Adam Levine’s team, Jeremy Keith and Jared Shoemaker. This may have only been the Semifinals, but she gave a finale-worthy performance of “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” by Aretha Franklin, which you can see above.

The Voice coaches gave her glowing praise, with John Legend saying she exudes creativity and positive energy. Kelly Clarkson — who screamed throughout the performance but was crying by the end — lauded Alexia Jayy’s strength and femininity. Jayy’s coach just said she was “the best singer ever" and that he felt more like a fan than a mentor.

Team Legend’s Finalist: Lucas West

The audience was captivated by 21-year-old Lucas West’s rendition of Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed,” (above) which closed out the Semifinal performances Monday night. The New Yorker will represent John Legend in the finale, knocking out teammates KJ Willis and Syd Millevoi. The coaches called West the complete package, as he dazzled the room with both his piano skills and his voice.

Adam Levine called Lucas West “captivating,” and while Kelly Clarkson said she doesn’t like the lack of intimacy of stadium shows, she thinks West is the kind of artist who would totally crush in that type of venue. John Legend pointed out that his knack for tackling big songs by big artists signalled strong songwriting acumen, and he can’t wait to see some original material.

Team Kelly’s First Finalist: Liv Ciara

Liv Ciara may not have turned a chair in Season 28, but she is making Season 29 her own. The 16-year-old from Missouri produced her own version of Irene Cara’s “Flashdance… What a Feeling,” starting out a capella but building up to those huge runs that you crave in singing competition finales. (You’ll want to watch the above video.) The crowd went absolutely nuts, and Adam Levine said he was sad that she wasn’t on his team:

Kelly Clarkson said a fire’s been lit under Liv Cara, and she’s hungry for the win. Don’t sleep on this one when it’s all on the line in Tuesday’s finale.

Team Kelly’s Second Finalist: Mikenley Brown

Because Kelly Clarkson’s past champions won the All-Star Showdown, she earned a second spot in the finale, which went to Mikenley Brown, the 19-year-old from Indiana. Brown has been an inspiration throughout the competition, and on this night she became a real competitor. Brown sang “I’m Not the Only One” by Sam Smith, and John Legend and Adam Levine said this performance demanded that people take notice of her.

Her coach agreed, as Kelly Clarkson said believability is key with Mikenley Brown. Lots of people can sing a great song, the American Idol alum said, but she buys what Brown is selling. It’s been a joy to watch Brown this season as she spoke out about not letting anyone else tell you who you are. Her song choices spoke to her message all season, from Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” to Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.” Check out her Semifinal performance above.

With Liv Ciara and Mikenley Brown representing Kelly Clarkson in the Season 29 finale, that meant the end of the road for her third semifinalist, country music artist JW Griffin.

Who I Think Should Win, Based On The Semifinals? Alexia Jayy

I’ll admit, I’ve got a soft spot for the blues, so Alexia Jayy’s Semifinal performance was right up my alley. She had the gritty scream, the super low notes and just so much power. I loved her set that had the band circled around her like the queen she is.

This performance was the latest in a season that saw her crush “You Give Good Love” by Whitney Houston and another Aretha song — "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” which earned her a Triple Turn in the Blind Auditions. Alexia Jayy hasn’t fumbled, and while she’s still got some performing to do Tuesday, she’s my choice to win going into the final night.

With a whole episode of finale performances to go, the competition is still anyone’s for the taking. The special studio audience will again vote after these four take the stage, and a winner will be announced by the end of the episode. Tune in to see who wins over the superfans and Voice alumni, starting at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday, April 14, on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock.

A winner will be announced this week on The Voice, as Season 29’s “Battle of Champions” will be decided in back-to-back slots on the 2026 TV schedule. The end of the Knockouts last week solidified the final nine contestants who will compete for the audience’s vote (not America’s vote) in Monday’s Semifinals, and I’m surprised that both Kelly Clarkson and John Legend made the same candid confession about their final three.

This season’s three coaches — Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Adam Levine — are each taking a trio of artists into the April 13 episode, and if you’re surprised to see KJ Willis, Syd Millevoi and Lucas West leading the way for Team Legend, well, that makes one of you. The EGOT winner admitted his Top 3 hasn’t changed since the Blind Auditions, telling People:

Strangely enough, Kelly Clarkson said the same thing about JW Griffin, Liv Ciara and Mikenley Brown, as she said to People:

My feelings about these candid confessions are mixed. While this definitely speaks to the strength of the semifinalists, I also feel a bit disheartened for the singers who lost in the Battle and Knockout rounds. How much of a chance did they have to change their coaches’ minds — particularly since, as she pointed out, Kelly Clarkson missed some rehearsal days?

The Voice coaches have discussed in the past how they try not to play favorites and let the performances determine who wins each dual. But, when you’ve got two of three coaches of The Voice saying that their favorites on Day 1 are still their favorites going into the penultimate episode, it just gives me a moment of pause.

That’s not to take away from the semifinalists, though, because they are phenomenal. I really don’t begrudge Kelly Clarkson or John Legend for sticking with these artists. As Legend said about his trio:

Kelly Clarkson spoke to the “raw soul” that she hears in each of her team members. When you’re listening to their music, she said:

I’m excited for the two nights of musical storytelling that are coming our way. The Top 9 will compete at 9 p.m. ET Monday, April 13 in the Semifinals, with the Top 4 (one each from Adam Levine and John Legend’s teams and two from Kelly Clarkson’s as she won the All-Star Showdown) competing in the Season 29 Finale at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday, April 14.

For the first time in The Voice’s history, there will be no live episodes. The Semifinals and Finale were pre-recorded, with the winner decided by a studio audience of alumni and superfans. The results will be announced at the end of Tuesday’s episode.

Spoiler alert! Minor spoilers ahead for The Voice Season 29 Knockouts that aired April 6. The episode is now available to stream with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice “Battle of Champions” is down to its Top 9, with each of Season 29’s trio of coaches finalizing their teams of three in the Knockout round. After the contestants’ final head-to-head performances, the show did something it had never done before — it welcomed back past winners to compete in the inaugural All-Star Showdown, and one performance was so emotional that Kelly Clarkson was brought to tears.

Five champions from The Voice’s past and one former finalist took the stage for a special in-season competition that aired Monday on the 2026 TV schedule. It was actually wonderful to see so many familiar faces perform on The Voice stage again, but for Kelly Clarkson, hearing Season 17 winner Jake Hoot’s cover of “Desperado” caused a strong emotional reaction. She told him:

Others in the studio were clearly moved by Kelly Clarkson’s words, including Girl Named Tom’s Bekah Grace Liechty, who was also seen wiping away tears. You can see Jake Hoot’s moving performance below:

In addition to Jake Hoot, Kelly Clarkson welcomed back Girl Named Tom — the first (and so far only) group to ever win The Voice — while Adam Levine brought back the very first Voice champion, Javier Colon, as well as Jordan Smith. John Legend invited his sole winner, Maelyn Jarmon, and Season 25 finalist Renzo, and I’d have to agree with Clarkson that there was something special about hearing them all sing again.

As some of The Voice coaches said, I’d forgotten just how good these singers were, so it was good to be reminded. I also wasn’t aware of some of the success these artists have seen post-show, including Javier Colon winning a regional Emmy in 2025 for his musical tribute to frontline workers and Jordan Smith co-writing the song “Ashes” that Celine Dion recorded for the Deadpool 2 soundtrack.

Overall, though, the All-Star Showdown was all about the emotion that music evokes, and I certainly can’t blame Kelly Clarkson for shedding a few tears. This season was likely not an easy one for the American Idol champ to get through, as she was dealing with the illness and ultimate death of her ex-husband, Brandon Blackstock. Her absence reportedly caused some “crucial” parts of the season to be delayed, and Jennifer Hudson was called to fill in for her in Battle rehearsals.

As far as the competition goes, though, things are still going Kelly Clarkson’s way. After she won The Voice’s inaugural Triple Turn Competition, her team was also declared the winner of the All-Star Showdown, meaning she’ll take an extra artist into next week’s finals.

Tune in at 9 p.m. ET Monday and Tuesday, April 13 and 14, for The Voice Season 29 Semifinals and Finals on back-to-back nights on NBC.

The competition is fierce on The Voice, of which the 29th season is airing on the 2026 TV schedule. Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Adam Levine are engaged in the “Battle of Champions,” as all three of the Voice coaches have previously won the show. Whoever takes the W this season will have huge bragging rights, but as Clarkson looked back at her very first win, it sounds like nothing could beat getting “the ultimate revenge” on Blake Shelton.

It doesn’t matter how long Blake Shelton has been gone from The Voice, his spirit lingers. The cowboy had a reputation for winning all of the country music artists and then rubbing it in his colleagues’ faces as he racked up nine wins over 23 seasons. That means he bumped heads a lot with Kelly Clarkson. Just recently, the current coach took a look back at her biggest moments recently, and when she happened upon a photo of Brynn Cartelli from Season 14, she said:

Clarkson winning The Voice with Brynn Cartelli was quite the unforgettable experience, but that’s thanks in part to Shelton. The trolling came early and often from the country music superstar, who set the tone for what would be one of the show’s greatest rivalries by saying on Clarkson’s first episode:

Blake Shelton continued to make a point over the years to downplay Kelly Clarkson’s country music experience — much in the same way that John Legend and Reba McEntire did her dirty on the current season — and that’s what made her Season 14 victory oh-so-sweet. Clarkson said:

The American Idol champ expressed a similar sentiment when recalling her Season 17 win with Jake Hoot, saying:

Say what you will about Blake Shelton's trolling of his fellow Voice coaches, but there’s something to be said for his tactics when even in the sixth season since he walked away from the Big Red Chair, Kelly Clarkson and other mentors continue to hold their victories over him as the highest honor they’ve achieved on the show.

Blake Shelton may not be around anymore, but tune in to see who will win the “Battle of Champions,” as Season 29 continues at 9 p.m. ET Mondays on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice’s revamped 29th season is flying by — much like Jennifer Hudson’s shoes — as the Battle round has wrapped, leaving this season’s three coaches with just six team members apiece. The so-called “Battle of Champions” has been full of surprises, and J-Hud’s return was one of the latest. After watching her fill in for Kelly Clarkson, I’m now desperate for a season that features all coaches who came to fame through reality competitions.

I Loved The Advice Jennifer Hudson Had For Team Kelly

It was previously reported that Kelly Clarkson had missed some filming days for The Voice Season 29 after the death of her ex-husband Brandon Blackstock. However, it was only when the Battles began that we learned Jennifer Hudson was returning to pull double duty as Team Kelly’s Battle Advisor and coach during rehearsals.

J-Hud was previously a coach on The Voice in Seasons 13 and 15 and a Mega Mentor on Season 26, and while we all remember her penchant for throwing shoes, I’d forgotten how strong those competitive juices flow. It should come as no surprise, of course, from someone who took a seventh-place finish on American Idol and became an EGOT winner with her own talk show (complete with that viral Spirit Tunnel).

Where The Voice’s other coaches encourage their Battle contestants to forget about the competition and focus on chemistry with their duet partner, Jennifer Hudson went in the opposite direction, reminding Kelly Clarkson’s artists they were vying for the same spot. As she told Drew Russell and Jared Shoemaker in the March 23 episode (streaming with a Peacock subscription):

Her unique perspective coming from a talent competition makes me want to see how her strategies would play out against Kelly Clarkson and other artists who have found fame on American Idol and other talent shows.

I Want To See A Full Coaching Panel Of Former Competition Stars

Artists like Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson bring such gravitas to The Voice because they’ve been through this. It’s why Carrie Underwood returning to American Idol as a judge was such a big deal. It’s why Clarkson and John Legend butted heads earlier this season over song choice. Now I’m so curious to see what four former competition stars would do if pitted against each other.

Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson and Niall Horan — whose former band One Direction was formed on The X Factor in 2010 — would be obvious options, with all of them having coached on The Voice before.

There are endless options for a fourth, including Cassadee Pope or another past winner of The Voice. I’d love to see Adam Lambert (American Idol Season 8 runner-up) or Kelly Rowland (who competed on Star Search), and if The Voice weren’t so entwined with Blake Shelton, his ex-wife Miranda Lambert, who came in third on Nashville Star in 2003, would be an option.

Or maybe The Voice would stick to its 3-chair format. However they’d choose to do it would be fine with me. I was just delighted to hear Jennifer Hudson offering some different advice during the Battle round, and I think it would be a treat to see her face off against Kelly Clarkson and others who have been through a similar experience.

See how The Voice Season 29 plays out, with new episodes airing at 9 p.m. ET Mondays on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock.

It’s pretty wild to see how much of a difference one chair makes (even if that chair is a Big Red one), as The Voice has downsized to just three coaches for Season 29. Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend have been duking it out on the singing competition’s first all-champion panel, but how do they feel about losing their fourth? The Maroon 5 frontman actually loves it, and I’m surprised that I agree with him.

There were a lot of unknowns before The Voice Season 29 premiered on the 2026 TV schedule, with host Carson Daly promising plenty of all-new twists for the sports-themed “Battle of Champions.” Going from four coaches to three was arguably the biggest change though, and it’s one that has been fully embraced by Adam Levine, who told NBC:

Fans of The Voice know that Adam Levine loves to cause trouble, so it makes sense that he supports a change that makes it easier for him to banter with his fellow coaches of The Voice. He also said his familiarity with Kelly Clarkson and John Legend — who all appeared together on Season 16, along with Blake Shelton — forced him to get more creative in pitching himself to potential team members.

I have to say, I agree with him, and I wasn’t sure that would be the case. I was frankly confused by the Season 29 revamp and definitely not happy with the number of contestants being reduced to 30 (10 per coach), in comparison to the 48 or more we’ve seen in previous seasons.

However, just like taking the coach count down allows for a better rapport amongst them, I think giving more time to fewer artists has benefited Season 29 so far. For one thing, the coaches were super picky about which singers they turned for, creating some amazingly talented teams. In fact, Adam Levine called one Team Kelly battle from March 16 the “best Battle round in the history of the show.” (See that performance below.)

We’ve also been able to get to know the contestants better, with no performances being severely truncated in the interest of saving time. While I’d still like to see more than 30 artists on future seasons, I actually loved having fewer nights of Blind Auditions, because by the time we got to the Battles, I hadn’t completely forgotten the singers we met in the beginning.

I’m not sure the reduction to three Big Red Chairs is something we’ll see permanently, but I agree with Adam Levine that there are benefits to the format that could open up producers’ options going forward.

Tune in to see how the rest of Season 29 plays out, with new episodes airing at 9 p.m. ET Mondays on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Things have already gotten a bit fiery on The Voice’s revamped 29th season, especially between Kelly Clarkson and John Legend, as they — along with Adam Levine — compete to win the show’s first season with an all-champion coaching panel. First, Legend turned Reba McEntire against her own former daughter-in-law, and then things got really interesting during a strong debate over song choice strategy. In fact, their “fight” actually changed my opinion on how important coach selection is.

Don’t get me wrong, obviously some artists are going to gel better with specific coaches — it’s the main reason I’m glad they’ve done away with Blocks — but for the most part I’ve always thought that singers would benefit from the mentorship, regardless of which of The Voice coaches they landed with. I’m not so sure anymore. On the second night of auditions (airing March 2 on the 2026 TV schedule), Mike Steele earned that coveted Triple Turn, and the mentors went about trying to recruit him to their team.

John Legend started by asking what artists the 28-year-old Mississippi singer liked to cover, likely already forming a plan of which GIVĒON, Tyrese and Jodeci songs he could get for his potential team member. Kelly Clarkson, however, was concocting a different strategy, as she said:

John Legend clearly disagreed with this line of thinking, as he addressed the artist on stage:

Probably around this point, Adam Levine started attempting to remind Mike Steele that he also had turned his chair, and while he didn’t offer his own song choice strategy, he did offer him refuge from the drama, saying he hated it “when Mom and Dad fight.” But the debate continued:

• Kelly: I’m going to be honest with you. We’re so different, so everything he said, I would not do. So don’t choose me if that’s what you like. No, because here’s why. It’s because I went on a competition and sang Aretha Franklin almost every week, and then I made a pop-rock album. This is the time, I think, that you should stretch yourself a bit.
• John: But he’s doing it on national TV. This is his moment. This is his moment to tell people who he is.
• Kelly: I just think this is the moment that you are able to stretch and do things. So I don’t think you should pick me if that’s the route you want to go, because I am totally going to push you to pick things that are maybe outside of the box.

It got pretty intense, with Kelly Clarkson even reminding everyone that, hey, I won American Idol, remember? Thankfully, the tension didn’t last long, as they hugged it out and agreed they were done fighting.

Honestly I see both sides. I’m inclined to agree with John Legend, because if an artist only gets one or two weeks of national exposure, they can still start to grow a fanbase if they’ve more or less previewed the kind of album they’d want to make.

However, it’s also really hard to argue with somebody who not only has actually been through this process and achieved so much success in its aftermath, but also has taken more artists to The Voice finish line than her compatriots.

Either way, it’s really interesting to see how different coaches approach their artists’ journeys, and it proved just how important it is to choose the right coach. Mike Steele ended up going with John Legend, so he must have connected with the EGOT winner’s plan to take advantage of his moment. You can see Steele’s audition and the ensuing debate below:

Tune in to see how Mike Steele fares in the competition and which coach’s strategy pays off! The Voice Season 29 airs at 9 p.m. ET Mondays on NBC, streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice’s revamped Season 29 is underway, with some pretty major changes to the competition’s structure, including the impending return of some past fan favorites and only featuring three coaches this season. The Voice has leaned into Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine and John Legend not having a fourth superstar to compete against by initiating a new twist — the Triple Turn Competition — but I can’t help but think the prize is not significant enough to justify all of the hype.

Four Chair Turns have always been a big deal on The Voice, and that makes sense because of how often they produce the season’s eventual winner. The coaches wear it like a badge of honor when they’re able to convince an artist to join their team over the other three, so in that respect, I like the idea of attaching a prize to whoever can do it the most. However, they’re going way overboard in terms of how much of a difference this prize will make in the competition.

Let me break it down. When The Voice Season 29 Blind Auditions wrap (which will be the next episode to hit the 2026 TV schedule on March 9), whichever coach has won the most Three Chair Turns will earn a Super Steal for the Battles. That means they can immediately secure an eliminated artist from another team, bypassing any other coaches' steal attempts.

However, with just three coaches this season and no Saves, the mentor with the Super Steal will — at most — be going up against one other coach. So the big advantage is getting an artist that they already had a 50% chance at anyway. That’s kind of underwhelming, especially with all the hoopla surrounding the Triple Turn Competition.

Basically, all John Legend talked about on the March 2 episode was how determined he was to beat out Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson on a Triple Turn. The Voice has even brought in comedian Druski and former NBA player Derek Fisher to remind us of where the coaches stand.

No shade to them at all, because they’re being asked to break down a very simple on-screen graphic that reads, “Adam Levine: 3, Kelly Clarkson: 2, John Legend: 1.” There’s literally not much to say other than, “Can Adam maintain the momentum?” and “John better step it up!” I see what the show is trying to do with the whole sports-themed season, but it’s just simply not worthy of such fanfare.

It would be different if there were still four coaches, and the Super Steal had the power to override two other coaches’ regular Steals. Also, if the Super Steal were given in addition to the competition winner’s regular Steal, thus adding a team member for that person to take into the Knockouts, that would be major.

As it is, though, the Triple Turn Competition is underwhelming with such low stakes that it’s increasingly bothersome how much emphasis is being put on it during the Blind Auditions. At least the first round of competition is almost over. Tune in to see how the teams fill out when The Voice continues at 9 p.m. ET Monday, March 9, on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice is officially back, as the “Battle of Champions” premiered on the 2026 TV schedule, introducing the first of the artists hoping to work with either Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson or John Legend. The NBC singing competition is packing a lot into its revamped 29th season, including a couple of twists we haven’t seen before. One of those — the Triple Turn Competition — kicked off February 23, and I can’t get over how quickly Legend blew up his chances.

What Is The Voice’s Triple Turn Competition?

There’s a reason there are only three coaches on The Voice this season, and it’s got a lot to do with trying to fit in all the fun of NBC’s sports-themed Legendary February. Big twists coming to Season 29 include an “In-Season All-Star Competition,” in which fan-favorite alumni will go head-to-head to try to earn an advantage for their former coach, as well as the Triple Turn Competition.

The Voice has always made a big deal about Four-Chair Turns, and it’s going a step further now that the coach count has been reduced — whichever superstar mentor wins the most Triple Turn artists gets a Super Steal in the next round. That means they’ll have the power to steal the losing artist of a battle for their team, regardless of who else wants a shot at them.

With the start of Blind Auditions, the Triple Turn Competition kicked off, and that’s where we get to the misfortune of John Legend.

How John Legend ‘Engineered [His] Own Demise’

Alexia Jayy was the second artist to take the stage on The Voice Season 29, and all three coaches wanted to work with her after hearing her version of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman." When the mentors learned that Jayy’s 9-year-old son Matthew was there to support his mom, they brought him out on stage, and this happened:

• John Legend: Who do you listen to, Matthew?
• Matthew: Maroon 5.
• John Legend: Oh no, that backfired!

This elicited a lot of fist-pumping from Adam Levine, as he ran on stage to thank Matthew. John Legend realized the error of his ways, commenting:

Unfortunately, he was right, because Alexia Jayy chose Team Adam. The Maroon 5 frontman treated Matthew and his mother to the basketball jerseys being given to each contestant, but Carson Daly suggested that Adam Levine probably owed him something more expensive, like a car, for helping to close that deal.

See how it all went down:

As the celebrations continued, John Legend had a bitter pill to swallow, telling cameras:

The EGOT winner continued to pace the stage in the downtime between auditions, musing regretfully to the crowd chanting Adam’s name:

Come on, John, you’ve got four kids — you know better than to ask questions you don’t want the honest answers to!

While the “Glory” singer’s faux pas had no direct bearing on the other two Triple Turns of the episode, his luck didn’t get any better. Kelly Clarkson (who was done dirty herself by her own ex-mother-in-law Reba McEntire) won Abigayle Oakley from the other Voice coaches, and Adam Levine also procured Jeremy Keith, putting him in the lead of the side competition after one night.

Will John Legend be able to rally? Only time will tell, but I bet he’ll think twice before inviting more family members on stage. The Voice Season 29 Blind Auditions continue at 9 p.m. ET Monday, March 2, on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice is shaking things up for its 29^th season on the 2026 TV schedule, and the coaches are really looking to step it up. In the new season, dubbed Battle of Champions, veteran coaches Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Adam Levine will be duking it out to see who's the best of the best among them. That (friendly) fight is already getting humorously brutal, as Clarkson is trolling her fellow co-mentors over how amount wins they currently have.

A recently posted Instagram reel from Billboard shows a behind-the-scenes peek at some promo for Season 29. The actual promo is meant to show Clarkson introducing a choir and joining them to sing “We Are the Champions.” Not surprisingly, in the BTS clip, the songstress made sure to say that some of the judges have been champions more often than others. Levine, in the background, was definitely not having it, and I just love this funny exchange between co-stars:

The Voice coaches have been on a roller coaster throughout the show’s run in terms of wins and, between the three for Season 29, they have a combined eight wins, including the very first win of the entire series. While it may not seem like much, out of 28 seasons and the occasional rotation of judges, that's pretty impressive. So, of course, Clarkson felt the need to brag that she has the most wins with four. That’s just one more than Levine, and I can only imagine how many times the famous famous American Idol alum has brought that up.

Arguably one of the best parts of The Voice, aside from the singers, is seeing the coaches trolling and shading one another. To be clear, it’s all in good fun, but it’s always hilarious seeing the kinds of quips the coaches will come up with to get under each other's skin. Bringing up how many wins they have and don’t have is certainly par for the course. And, since this is the Battle of Champions, it's easy to imagine that Clarkson will bring up her win tally more than once as she seeks to add to it.

On that note, Clarkson does have a slight advantage over her peers. While Levine won the first season of The Voice, Clarkson won the first season of American Idol and, whenever she’s on The Voice and trying to nab a singer, she makes sure to reiterate that she’s done a singing competition before and understands how to evaluate talent. Whether or not that success will continue into Season 29 is unclear.

The judge trolling will most certainly continue as Season 29 progresses, and I cannot wait to see what happens and who eventually comes out on top at the end of Battle of Champions. New episodes of The Voice air on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

Blake Shelton may no longer be on The Voice, but the trolling amongst his co-stars has never stopped. The country crooner’s final chair turn came back in 2023, but even after two years, we're still getting gems aimed right at the country singer. The Voice coaches are known for getting under each other’s skins, but I did not see Gwen Stefani taking some side shrapnel when Daly took it upon himself to humorously throw shade Shelton's Sexiest Man Alive title.

Ahead of The Voice Season 29’s premiere on the 2026 TV schedule, the cast gathered at a The Voice Karaoke Night in New York City. While there, Carson Daly had reminded fans that three former coaches have been crowned Sexiest Man Alive, including Shelton, who took the title in 2017. To this day, Daly joked with People he’s still unclear how that even happened:

To be fair, Shelton’s Sexiest Man Alive title definitely shocked a lot of people, not just Daly, but it came at a pretty fitting time in his life. The Voice was at its peak, and Shelton would go on to win his sixth season just a month after his new title was announced. Plus, he was doing well on the country charts. Even so, Daly still doesn’t understand why he was given the title, and he had my smiling with that sly Stefani crack.

I would love to know what Shelton’s response would be to this accusation, because he has trolling down to a science at this point. All joking aside, it is nice to know that everyone on The Voice gets along well enough to kid like this. t just shows how close everyone who has been on the show is. It's also nice to know that joking and trolling extends outside the competition series, such as when Kelly Clarkson even hilariously shaded Shelton during an impromptu vow renewal at one of her concerts.

As noted above, Daly is not the first person to troll Shelton, and he won’t be the last. When his new title was announced, Miley Cyrus also couldn't resist a Sexiest Man Alive dig in a video, saying no one knows sexy better than her, while Shelton was sitting next to her and drinking with his pinky out. We may be far off from 2017 at this point, but the title never dies, and neither do the jokes.

It’s unknown if Blake Shelton will ever return to The Voice, but if he does, I think we already know what the tone will be. At the very least, we can probably look forward to many more hilarious moments between the coaches and Daly, whether during The Voice or not.

The Voice: Battle of Champions is underway on the 2026 TV schedule, with Season 29 featuring just three coaches. Kelly Clarkson may have thought she was only going up against Adam Levine and John Legend, but she got quite the shock when Reba McEntire made a surprise appearance in the premiere. The queen of country popped in with an interesting message for this season’s contestants, and I can’t even believe she did her former daughter-in-law so dirty.

With no country music coach like Blake Shelton or Reba McEntire on this season’s panel, Kelly Clarkson admitted that she felt entitled to country artists like 19-year-old Julia Golden, who impressed both Clarkson and John Legend with her rendition of “Strawberry Wine.” Legend may not be as closely associated with the genre as his Texas-native colleague, but he sure did have a secret weapon. None other than McEntire herself popped up on the screen to deliver the following video message:

The disrespect is astonishing. Not only are Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire longtime friends who have performed together multiple times, they are family, with Clarkson having been married to McEntire’s stepson Brandon Blackstock.

The American Idol champion seemed to have the same thoughts, as upon seeing her former mother-in-law on the screen, she stood up and shouted:

No offense to John Legend at all, because of course the EGOT winner could do extremely well with a country music artist, but I’m just not buying the fact that Reba McEntire would go against Kelly Clarkson like that. Even host Carson Daly seemed to be in disbelief, saying:

Believe me, I watched the video back a few times to see if it was, in fact, a deepfake, and I'm still not fully convinced. Speaking to its validity, though, was Kelly Clarkson then getting Reba McEntire on the phone. The “Fancy” singer answered, though she kept her video turned off as Clarkson literally screamed:

Reba McEntire can be heard over the speakerphone telling The Voice coach to “Calm down, girl!” and ultimately agreed that, yes, Kelly Clarkson would also be an excellent coach for a country music artist. They ended the call by exchanging “I love you”s, with Clarkson saying:

In the end, the big swing by John Legend and Reba McEntire didn’t pay off, as Julia Golden decided to go with Kelly Clarkson anyway. The artist was in tears for pretty much the entire ordeal, in tearful disbelief as she asked, “Is Reba on the phone?” You can see it all play out below:

Even if Kelly Clarkson wasn’t more than qualified to coach a country artist, I think having Reba McEntire on speed-dial was enough to win Julia over.

With no Blocks available to the coaches — and therefore no way to keep Kelly Clarkson from raking in country artists — I don’t blame John Legend for calling in a pro, and I can’t wait to see what other twists are to come in The Voice’s revamped 29th season. Tune in for new episodes at 9 p.m. ET Mondays on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The Voice’s revamped 29th season is finally upon us, and some big changes are coming with the return of NBC’s singing competition to the 2026 TV schedule. One of the biggest twists of the new season will be obvious from the start — for the first time in The Voice’s history, there are only three coaches instead of four. This major switchup confused me at first, but there’s a good reason for it, according to the showrunner.

Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine and John Legend will be Season 29’s coaching trio, making up The Voice’s first-ever all-champion panel. However, it’s not like those are the only three coaches to ever win the show (nobody’s forgetting Blake Shelton’s nine victories), so why the reduction? According to EP Audrey Morrissey, it has to do with NBC adding NBA games to its primetime lineup, which resulted in fewer episodes and therefore smaller teams.

In fact, the teams are so small, there aren’t really enough contestants to justify a fourth coach, the EP told Gold Derby:

That's not even to mention how this all affects Brilliant Minds.

The Voice Season 29 will feature 30 singers vying for The Voice glory, with John Legend, Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine each leading a team of 10. Assuming that was the largest number of contestants the show could accommodate with its reduced episode count, that means adding a fourth coach would have led to teams of around 7, which I agree would be “ridiculous.”

As it is, 30 is already such a lower number than we’re used to. In Season 28, which saw Niall Horan’s team member Aiden Ross crowned the champion (leaving the One Directioner’s record on the show unblemished), there were 48 contestants chosen in Blind Auditions — 12 per team.

Season 27 also had 48, while Season 26 had a whopping 56-artist cast in 2024 — nearly double what we’re about to see this season.

There could be other factors at play in this “Battle of Champions,” as Ceelo Green will judge an "In-Season All-Star Competition," with each coach bringing back two fan-favorite team members. They will compete in head-to-head battles themselves, in hopes of earning their coach an extra artist in the finale. Those artists are:

Team Kelly

• Jake Hoot
• Girl Named Tom

Team Adam

• Javier Colon
• Jordan Smith

Team Legend

• Maelyn Jarmon
• Renzo

I’m not sure how many times the veteran artists will perform, but clearly this side contest also takes away time that would have otherwise been used by the singers in the main competition.

These aren’t the only big twists in store for The Voice Season 29. One change I’m super pumped for is no Blocks in the Blind Auditions, but I’m actually really disappointed that they’re also doing away with live episodes. Finale voting instead will fall to an in-studio audience of past contestants and superfans.

I'm interested in seeing how going from four coaches to three affects their strategies and, thankfully, we don’t have to wait any longer. The Voice Season 29 kicks off at 9 p.m. ET Monday, February 23, on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.