The Voice has returned to NBC with great vocals from singers and lots of laughs from the superstar-coaches, especially the uncontainable and loquacious Kelly Clarkson.
Kelly Clarkson and Chris Blue being interviewed at TCA for “The Voice” (Photo:EvansVestalWard/NBC)
Of course, The Voice features a new crop of great singers ready to knock your socks off with great performances. And the ultra-likable Carson Daly is back as host for Season 14 of the Emmy-winning talent competition. But this season seems to be more wildly hilarious with the continued verbal sparring from coaches Alicia Keys and the boys– Adam Levin and Blake Shelton (both anointed Sexiest Man by People Magazine, as they will continue to tell you). And the addition of ultra-chatty coach Kelly Clarkson, who just will not be denied her right to ramble on and on.
Clarkson is a fun gal, who kept an audience of critics laughing during the interview session for The Voice at the Television Critics Association’s January press tour. “Y’all are as quiet as hell,” Clarkson cracked to a roomful of journalists when there was a lull in the questioning.
Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton, and Alicia Keys coach contestants on The Voice, Season 14. (Photo: ArtStreiber/NBC)
The NBC panel presented Paul Telegdy, President, Alternative and Reality Group, NBC Entertainment; Audrey Morrissey, executive producer of The Voice; Chris Blue, Season 12 Winner (mentored by Alicia Keys); and the enthusiastic new Voice coach Kelly Clarkson.
A music industry superstar and the first American Idol winner, Clarkson noted that she has turned down numerous offers to join other shows, insisting The Voice was the best fit for her because it focused on raw talent. She said, “I love this show, and I’ve been trying to be a part of it.” But she hadn’t had the chance to join The Voice team because of her difficult pregnancies.
Clarkson explained, “I was knocked up for, like, three years. I couldn’t work because my pregnancies are horrible. I literally have been trying to work with these people since [the beginning]. I’ve been a fan since then.” She added that she’s “super stoked that it finally worked out. It was great timing for me, because it’s like ‘mommy off-time’ now.”
She loves that the initial Voice auditions are done behind a screen so that only the quality of a person’s voice, not “aesthetics,” influence the selection of contestants. She said, “It means something to me, because I don’t fit the pop star image that maybe people expect. But I am a pop star, and this is the image that I exude. That’s why this show really does complement my desires for this industry.”
For Clarkson, her desire was to be a coach not a judge. “I’ve been asked to be a judge on things, and I don’t want to be a judge. I get judged all the time. I love that the people are chosen to be on this show because they’re talented and they deserve it.”
Clarkson said she’s known her fellow coaches Adam Levine, Alicia Keyes, and Blake Shelton for a long time, but when asked if they’ve been helpful as she settled into her red chair, she snapped, “Hell no, they’re a competitive bunch. They’re not helping me at all.”
What’s the best advice and career guidance that Chris Blue received from his coach Alicia Keyes during Season 12 on The Voice? Blue referred to Keyes as an incredible life coach who told him to, “Be present. She said, ‘The only thing that matters in life is where you are right now.’ We are human beings, right? So be in the moment. Don’t try to do anything, ‘Be it,’ because you’re human beings, not human doings. That’s something that I’ll keep with me forever. That’s the best advice I’ve gotten.”
For Season 14, the four-time Emmy Award-winning series will continue its innovative format featuring five stages of competition: the first begins with the blind auditions, then the battle rounds, knockouts, playoffs and, finally, the live performance shows.
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.
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