Yahoo Music (Feb. 26th 2017)
‘The Voice’ Q&A: If the Coaches Were Contestants
The Voice is returning for a 12th season, and that means the return of lovebirds Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton, who met on the show during Season 7, became a couple during Season 9, and have continued their romance offscreen during the past year. Yahoo Music’s Reality Rocks sat down with Gwen, Blake, returning coach Alicia Keys, and original coach Adam Levine to get their take on the new season — and put them in the (red, spinning) hot seat about the choices they’d make if they were contestants themselves. And of course, hilarity ensued. Enjoy more of their banter when The VoiceSeason 12 premieres this Monday.
YAHOO MUSIC: OK, if you were an unknown artist and you tried out for The Voiceand got a four-chair turn — so you could join any team — who would you choose as your coach?
GWEN: Blake! That was easy. I love Adam — but I would want Blake. And by that, I mean, I want him.
ADAM: You are obviously biased. I don’t know who I’d choose. I’d choose me.
GWEN: You wouldn’t choose me?
ADAM: Well, you didn’t f***kin’ choose me!
GWEN: But I chose Blake because I want to make out with him…
ADAM: So choose Blake to make out with — and choose me as your coach. And then I’ll choose you. Deal?
GWEN: OK. Actually, honestly, I would probably choose Alicia at this point. Both you and Blake are so burned out.
ALICIA: I would definitely pick Team Alicia! You can ask all the coaches: Everyone picks Team Alicia.
BLAKE: Wow. She’s very cocky. I just think people love an underdog. They look at Alicia and think, “Well, she’s never gonna win this thing! Let’s just give her a chance.” That’s what it is.
ALICIA: Actually, I might pick Gwen, because I feel like we would have an interesting combination. I love her quirky side. She’s very opposite of me as a woman, in her style and approach. So I think together, it would be a very cool mix. That would be fun.
BLAKE: I feel like this question has really got me backed against the wall. C’mon, I have to say Gwen!
Are you excited to be working together again? And are there any drawbacks or challenges to being a couple on the set?
BLAKE: You know, because that’s how we met, I think we just kind of fell right back into our routine. All it really does is bring the banter to a new level, because we know each other well enough. Now I really know how to push her buttons! Now I can really get her fired up. So that actually makes it a lot of fun, I think.
GWEN: I was nervous to come back and be on the show with Blake now.
ADAM: It’s so weird! It’s so f***in’ bizarre that this is a thing now!
GWEN: I actually love thinking about it. I think about before the first season, when I didn’t even know him, and now I see him at my house at, like, a Super Bowl party. Like, “How did that guy end up at my house right now? Like, this is so weird!” I wouldn’t think we’d be friends, or even anything! So it is fun being on the show with him again.
ADAM: She’s changed a lot. He changed her a lot, too. Now I go to her house and there’s, like, chickens running around. He basically turned it into a farm. There’s like a rifle and a guitar leaning up against the counter.
GWEN: He has changed things a lot, that is for sure. In good ways. Growing up in L.A. and Orange County, our nature was the beach. We never went fishing; we never spent time just doing nothing in nature. So just being able to explore Oklahoma has been really fun — not just for me, but for my kids. It’s a different perspective, growing up in middle of America. It’s a different culture.
So if all of you were auditioning for The Voice, what song would you sing?
ALICIA: I might sing a Michael Jackson song. Or there’s a song Anita Baker sang a long time ago called “You Bring Me Joy”; every time I sing that song, it kind of makes people feel really good, so I might do that one. I might do a Donny Hathaway song…
BLAKE: C’mon, Alicia, you gotta pick one. What are you doing here?
ALICIA: One of my favorite Donny Hathaway songs is “Someday We’ll All Be Free.” That’s really beautiful, especially with piano. I would definitely play on piano if I was auditioning.
BLAKE: “Cool Night,” by Paul Davis. That’s what I’d do. “It’s gonna be a cool night, just let me hold you by the firelight…” Eh, I don’t know. I’m just giving you an answer.
GWEN: Song choice takes forever. I don’t really know what I’d sing. I’d probably have to do a song that would be more just full of personality, because I feel my voice is not like a technically great voice.
ADAM: Mine’s not that great, either.
GWEN: No, you actually are an incredible singer, Adam.
ADAM: I can’t do a lot of the crazy stuff. You and I are actually very similar, and Blake’s like that too: We’re good singers, but we don’t have that thing, like [mimics a belting, Celine Dion-esque diva], “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!” But it doesn’t have to be that.
GWEN: I honestly haven’t even done that many covers in my entire life. The one cover I do is [Talk Talk’s] “It’s My Life.” So let’s just say that.
ADAM: I know what I would do. I would do an acoustic guitar solo of “Ignition (Remix)” by R. Kelly. I’ve done it before and I’d just kill it. The song is weird for me to do, and on acoustic I’d get away with it. I’d get at least two or three chairs.
What song of your own would you recommend a contestant sing?
BLAKE: I’d have to say “Goodbye Time” would be a good one for somebody to do, because I covered it anyway — it was a Conway Twitty song. It’s just so range-y, it’d be interesting to hear someone else’s take on it. Because mine was basically a copy of what Conway did.
GWEN: My songs are too weird to do. “Just a Girl” would be weird; it doesn’t have that much melody to it. A lot of my songs are chant-y. “Don’t Speak” is too hard. When you hear people sing it who sing really good, it just sounds weird. [Opera voice] “Donnnnn’t speeaaaaaak!!!”
ADAM: What we’re basically saying is no one can replicate what we do properly.
ALICIA: Well, Sundance Head sang “No One” last season, and that was pretty crazy. I was really taken by his version of that. But I think the thing that I’m learning is, even if you do somebody’s song, especially by one of the coaches, you really do have to take it out of their land and bring it into your land and really show what makes you so special. I think that’s what Sundance did. I’m pretty sure that’s why he won the season — because he sang my song, you know what I mean? [laughs]
BLAKE: Definitely. Your fans stopped voting for you, Alicia, and started voting for Sundance. That’s totally what happened.