Season 21 of The Voice has finally gotten underway, and viewers have already been treated to a lot of what we love most in the show. Not only did this week's dual episodes give us some great blind auditions, but we also got several moments where the very competitive coaches traded some playful barbs with one another in the hopes of nabbing the best talent for their teams. This included Blake Shelton going after Kelly Clarkson for supposedly not being a real country music connoisseur, but Clarkson is already fed up and not holding back in her blunt critiques of Shelton this season.
Blake Shelton has become very well known and even more beloved by fans because of his long tenure as a coach on The Voice. He's the only coach who's been on every season, and has led several artists to win during his time there. Seeing as how contestants know of his track record, and that he's a popular country music artist in his own right, he tends to land many country singers for his team. But, he's already gone too far in trying to get one such act over Kelly Clarkson, who had this to say on Instagram after he went for her as they competed for a singer:
So, this season Blake [Shelton] has decided to really lean in hard on me about how I know nothing about country music. I’m close to just being done fighting about it. You don’t own it. I’m allowed to love, appreciate and grown up on -- by the way. I grew up three hours south of Blake Shelton. South, so I’m like more southern. I grew up with trucks and driving trucks and being at tailgates...I did not limit myself as an individual at a young age; I love all kinds of music. But I grew up on Trisha and Reba and Patty and Terri--all those ladies, and men! Travis, Alan, Randy, George. I like Garth. Look, I’m telling you right now: I know country music.
You go, Kelly! Stand up for yourself, girl! Now, as you might imagine, all of this back and forth between Shelton and Clarkson (who are buddies in real life and have been for a while) is actually quite playful, but that doesn't mean that everyone's favorite non-Oprah talk show host (yup, I said it) has to sit back and take the newlywed's abuse. Anyone who's watched even just a few episodes of The Voice will know that Shelton loves nothing better than cracking wise and poking his fellow coaches, but Season 21 already has Kelly Clarkson mad as hell, and she's not gonna take it anymore!
You can take a look at the exchange on The Voice that likely led to this spirited response, below:
As Clarkson pointed out, she knows the work of many of country music's greats, and name-checked artists like Trisha Yearwood, Terri Clark, Travis Tritt, Garth Brooks (whom she told that his music was helping her through her divorce), and Reba McEntire (her soon-to-be ex-mother-in-law and good friend). Anyone who follows Clarkson understands that she does, in fact, have a great appreciation for country music and always has, even though she's spent most of her career singing and writing R&B tinged pop songs, and it's hard not to love her assertion that she's "more southern" than Shelton because of growing up in a town three hours south of him.
Clarkson added:
I’m never gonna win the fight if he’s like ‘I know it better than you…’ And he lies! He’ll sit there and he’ll say, ‘I’m all country music. I don’t dabble. I’m straight up. Why even look at another genre?’ And then another artist will come in -- every season it happens -- and most times he wins them. If you’re wanting to be on a liar’s team, well, pick him.
Well, them's fightin' words if I've ever heard any! You can see how the competition between Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton goes down when The Voice Season 21 continues to air, Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EST, on NBC.
