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:
I’m willing to give my weave away. If it’ll get me people on my team, I don’t care.
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:
Adam’s nickname is actually Little City.
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.
