Wowzers, wowzers, wowzers. After 16 years as one of the two permanent coaches of NBC's The Voice, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine has apparently quit the show, and will not be returning for Season 17. This, despite the fact that he was already announced to be one of the returning coaches.
News of Adam Levine's The Voice departure was announced by the show's host, Carson Daly, who gave the shocking news on NBC's Today. Here's how he put it.
After 16 seasons, Adam Levine, our beloved coach and friend, has decided to leave The Voice. Adam was one of the original coaches who launched the show, winning the competition three times and inspiring many of the artists that he worked so closely with over the years… He’ll always be a cherished member of the Voice family… and we wish him nothing but the best.
It does appear that Adam Levine at least told each of his Voice compadres that he was making the decision to leave the show. Not long after the announcement went public, Blake Shelton shared his thoughts on social media.
At this point, The Voice's plan for Season 17 is to have former coach Gwen Stefani taking Adam Levine's place. Stefani, who is famously the wife of Blake Shelton, was a coach during Season 7 and Season 12, so she's more than familiar with how things go. And now, she won't have to deal with Levine taking potshots at her hubby every episode.
The Voice Probably Needs To Vote Adam Levine Off: Here's Who Should Replace Him
Gwen Stefani will be joining Blake Shelton, John Legend and Kelly Clarkson, who were all previously announced to be returning for Season 17. Had Levine not chosen to quit the show, it would have been a relatively rare instance where two successive seasons shared the same four coaches.
Throughout each of the 16 seasons of The Voice, Adam Levine and country megastar Blake Shelton were the go-to coaches that were expected to come back each and every cycle for more "innocent" feuding. But while their personal relationship may have been hunky dory, Levine started getting fan backlash this season in particular for making overly harsh comments about Shelton.
Once Adam Levine's entire team was eliminated on The Voice weeks ahead of the finale, his presence on the show felt even more strained as he mostly just sat quietly through the other performances and judgments. (Not completely quiet, of course, considering this is The Voice.) Throughout it all, viewers all over the place questioned whether or not it was time for the NBC hit to find a new replacement for Levine.
Let's not forget about last season, either, when Adam Levine basically threw his team member DeAndre Nico to the wolves in order to boost up younger contestant Reagan Strange, who inevitably got left out of the Final Four. Viewers went berserk over Levine's choices at the time, especially when it was all for naught. (Chevel Shepherd ended up winning that season.)
Though the most recent season of The Voice is finished, fans will be able to watch the next cycle of the singing competition when it hits NBC this September. But first, find out what the lastest champ Maelyn Jarmon had to say about beating out Team Blake.
