Despite the undeniable talent of The Voice artists competing in the Season 26 Playoffs on the 2024 TV schedule right now, it can be argued how successful the show has been in launching the careers of its contestants. One thing is for sure, though — it’s responsible for a pretty successful love story between two of its coaches. Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton have been married for over three years, after first meeting on set of the NBC singing competition in 2014, but the No Doubt singer apparently once told the country star the workplace romance was “not happening.”
Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton’s relationship is something of a romantic comedy, as neither knew who the other was when they met as coaches on The Voice in Season 7. He only knew her as “the girl that holds up the orange” on the Tragic Kingdom album cover, and she thought his country twang was “so fake.” Both were going through divorces at the time — Stefani with Bush rocker Gavin Rossdale and Shelton with his own very high-profile split from Miranda Lambert, and the No Doubt singer didn’t want more drama. She told People:
We had just met, and it was chaos. Both of our lives were in complete turmoil, all over the ground. Nothing could save us at that point. There was a point where I was like, 'I can't even talk to you. This is insane. I already have enough problems. This is not happening anymore. We're not going to text or nothing.'
I can definitely understand, with everything Gwen Stefani was going through, her not wanting to deal with the media frenzy that was guaranteed to accompany the unlikely relationship between her and her colleague.
If we know anything, though, it’s that Blake Shelton can lay on the charm, and it turns out he knew exactly the right move to win Gwen Stefani over — through songwriting. She said the country star knew how fulfilling that process was for her, so he sent her the beginnings of what would be their first duet, “Go Ahead and Break My Heart.” She continued:
He sent it to me, and it was a half-written song. He was like, 'Help me finish this.' So I wrote him the verse back — the second verse on the song — and it's just over text. That was our first song that we ever wrote together. We were never even in the same room, but we were writing a song to each other.
The couple went public in November 2015, and “Go Ahead and Break My Heart” may have been their first collaboration, but it was far from their last. Most recently Blake Shelton can be heard on “Purple Irises,” a song off of Gwen Stefani’s new album Bouquet, and I’m glad these two fought through their chaotic early meeting to be together.
Today, Blake Shelton is very mindful about his career decisions after leaving The Voice in 2023 after 23 seasons. Gwen Stefani, meanwhile, can be seen on Season 26, with new episodes airing at 8 p.m. ET Mondays and 9 p.m. ET Tuesdays on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.
