The Voice’s 26th season has hit a fever pitch as it prepares to name its winner next week, and Season 27 is just around the corner on the 2025 TV schedule. OG coach Adam Levine will make his return then, but with no permanent fixture on the coaching panel anymore, it’s a complete mystery what will happen after that. If the show chooses from its long roster of former The Voice coaches, Ariana Grande would be a great option, coming off the success of Wicked. However, she said she has no plans to ever return to The Voice, and her reason is not what I would have expected.
Ariana Grande made her Voice debut on Season 21 but failed to bring a single artist to the finale. That season coincided with the announcement that she and Cynthia Erivo would star in Wicked, and the adaptation’s filming schedule appeared to conflict with The Voice. That might not have been the only reason she walked away from the NBC competition show, though, as she told Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers on their Las Culturistas podcast:
I got so emotionally attached to everyone. That's my problem. I can't really do that because I really get in. I really get in there with everyone. I love everyone so much. I love meeting people, and I've felt so invested.
It was obvious to anyone who watched The Voice that season how much Ariana Grande loved her team, so it’s surprising that that’s exactly what would keep her from wanting to return. Blake Shelton needed a break after 23 seasons, and Kelly Clarkson was struggling and wanted out of Los Angeles. As much as I didn’t want to lose those coaches, I understood their reasoning.
What I don’t get is not coming back because you got TOO invested? I’d think that the fact she cared so much would make her want to keep helping more people. I guess it was all just too much to handle, though, and I have to respect her setting those boundaries.
Ariana Grande told the podcast hosts that she’s no longer texting her team every day — something she got in trouble for on the show — but she still keeps up with what they’re doing. She said:
I love them and I'm in touch with them on Instagram. I like their posts, I see their things, I see what they're up to.
Looking back to Season 21, Ariana Grande really did bond with her singers, providing them care packages to keep up their vocal health and — as established above — DMing them despite the terms of her contract.
If you thought Snoop Dogg struggled to eliminate artists this season, you should have seen the “we can’t be friends” singer on her first night of Battles. Ariana Grande cried so hard that Kelly Clarkson couldn’t keep it together, and Blake Shelton said he had to remind Grande after every episode that “they didn’t send [eliminated contestants] to, like, the alligator pit or something, Ariana.” (That’s not to say Snoop Dogg hasn’t broken down in tears, though, because he has. A lot.)
I’ll be excited to see which four superstars are chosen next to coach on The Voice, assuming there will be a 28th season, but anyone hoping for a sophomore appearance from Ariana Grande is likely out of luck.
For now, though, tune in to see how Season 26 wraps up, with the Top 5 artists being announced at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday, December 3, on NBC and the two-night live finale next Monday and Tuesday. All Season 26 episodes can be streamed the next day with a Peacock subscription.
