People Magazine (Oct. 8th 2018)

The Voice Returns

As season 15 kicks off, the coaches of the NBC series talk about their friendly rivalries

Do you guys ever do much together away from the camera?

CLARKSON We all have children, so that’s hard. If I'm not here, I'm trying to catch my children.

Does anyone have a little personal habit that annoys everyone else?

CLARKSON I like talking.

HUDSON She likes talking!

SHELTON J. Hud is a low talker. I agree to a lot of things that I'm not even sure of.

HUDSON I mumble?

SHELTON When we're in the chairs, she talks to me, and I'm going, “Oh yeah, yeah." Finally yesterday she goes, “S—, you can't hear!"

LEVINE That explains a lot.

If you competed in the blind auditions, what song other than one of your own would you want to perform?

SHELTON “Cheeseburger in Paradise" by Jimmy Buffett.

LEVINE “Honey Bee" by Blake Shelton.

CLARKSON “Songbird" by Eva Cassidy.

HUDSON I'd pick a song that I felt showcased my voice.

Whom would you want as a coach?

LEVINE Either Jennifer or Kelly because they are talented.

HUDSON Because Blake's not?

SHELTON I would want CeeLo.

LEVINE I'm joking. No, you know what? I might go with Blake because he'd be a really great coach.

CLARKSON I would pick Blake because I'd want to sing country and soul, and he's won with both. And I like Gwen [Stefani, his girlfriend].

Do you have any technique for psyching your people up to perform?

SHELTON I stopped doing that [in] season 1. I was so wrapped up in the competition that I ran up on the stage when [second-place finalist] Dia Frampton was about to do her finale. And I said, “Hey, sis! I want you to know this is yours to lose." She goes, “What does that mean, mine to lose?"

LEVINE Does that crush you to know that potentially that little piece of bad coaching is what did her in?

CLARKSON If I'm Dia Frampton, my brain went, “Did you just say, If you lose, it's all on you”?

HUDSON The biggest thing is to make sure they don't get inside their own heads and overthink things.

What have you learned from the people whom you’ve coached?

LEVINE [When I started] I was like this single dude who never thought about helping anybody with their career because I was too hyper-focused on my own. I kind of had to grow up a little bit.

SHELTON Can I put the emphasis on ’grow up’?