People (Sept. 17th 2015)

The Voice Coaches Open Up On What Really Goes on Behind-the-Scenes of the Singing Competition

From kicking back with a couple cocktails in their trailer compound to ribbing each other about their musical tastes, the coaches of The Voice have become one tight-knit family.

“My favorite part of being on this show is those friendships that I’ve made,” says Blake Shelton, who spends his downtime on set “just talking” with Adam Levine or hanging out with executive producer and host Carson Daly as they sip on the latter’s signature Bloody Marys.

“A lot of these coaches may have met in the past, but it’s funny because everybody doesn’t really know everybody,” says Shelton. “We create our own bonds.”

On a typical day, Gwen Stefani is the first to show up (two hours before the guys!) to head straight into glam.

“I actually love doing glam, so I’m lucky,” says the singer. “But I do love sleeping even more, so that kind of sucks.” When she needs to catch up on sleep, “I just go, ‘Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll be over here,’ ” jokes Stefani.

But according to Shelton, the No Doubt singer isn’t the only one who takes a little extra bit of primping. Asked who takes the longest to get ready out of the guys, the country star doesn’t miss a beat.

“Adam because the collar’s gotta be stretched out just right,” he says. “He definitely does a lot of changes before he settles on what he’s wearing that day.”

As for himself, “[I only need] probably 10 minutes,” says Shelton. “My hair is absolutely uncontrollable. It looks like a Brillo pad.”

Says Levine: “Blake doesn’t take the longest because he’s never worn anything other than three or four pieces of clothing his whole life. It’s easy to get ready when you have one pair of jeans, one shirt and one bottle of hair jelly!”

Though all four are superstars in Hollywood, on set, “we’re like regular people,” says Pharrell Williams. “They’re loads of fun, but what I think is so cool about them is they’re not as Hollywood as you would expect. They’re the most down-to-earth people that I know.”