Gwen Stefani Admits To Being ‘Jealous’ Of Kelly Clarkson And Reveals How The Voice Coach Inspired Her To Start Writing Again

The Voice’s 27th season is set to premiere on the 2025 TV schedule in a few days, and while it will be fun to see Adam Levine return to the singing competition, long gone are the days of his rivalry with Blake Shelton — and the cowboy’s rivalry with Kelly Clarkson as well. The longtime friends — and winningest coaches on The Voice — are long gone from the show now, but Gwen Stefani revealed she was once jealous of Clarkson, and she explained how that jealousy led her to start writing music again.

Now let’s not get the wrong impression: Gwen Stefani was not jealous of Kelly Clarkson’s longtime friendship with her husband. The American Idol OG champ and the No Doubt frontwoman became friends because Clarkson and Blake Shelton were close, and, of course from their time on The Voice together. And when everyone was trying to figure out how to do life in 2020, Stefani didn’t understand how Clarkson was finding time to still be creative. Stefani said in an interview on Today with Hoda and Jenna:

With hindsight being 20/20 (how’s that for a pandemic pun?), we know now that Kelly Clarkson was pouring a lot of pain into her writing around that time, as she filed for divorce from Brandon Blackstock in June of that year. Also, she was sacrificing sleep in order to write music and still do all of the things Gwen Stefani was doing, like raising her kids. (The status of Clarkson’s sourdough starter is unknown.)

But you’ve got to take inspiration where you can get it, and if that was the kick in the pants Gwen Stefani needed, I’m glad it worked. While the three sons Stefani shares with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale were always her priority, it made a difference to remember to do something for herself, she said:

Gwen Stefani released her fifth solo studio album Bouquet in November 2024 — her first since 2017 — and while we most assuredly have Blake Shelton to thank for inspiring some of the music, it sounds like their friend Kelly Clarkson deserves her flowers too.

These three former coaches won’t be on The Voice this season (or possibly ever again, when it comes to Blake Shelton and Kelly Clarkson), but you can still tune in for the Season 27 premiere at 8 p.m. ET Monday, February 3, on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.