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:
Man, don't take any crap from the other coaches. Don't try to be nice, don't try to get along with them. They don't care about you. I promise you, they don't care about you. You need to get that in your head right now, and play to win. You hear me, Riley? You're playing to win, not make friends, OK?
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:
Well, he's country, personality, and good looks, so he's like the triple threat. No one's ever gonna say no to Riley Green when he turns around.
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.
