The Voice has gone through some pretty big changes over the past couple of years. After taking the spring season off for the first time since its 2010 debut, Season 22 premiered in 2022 without eight-time coach Kelly Clarkson. While she’s set to return for Season 23, this will presumably be the last time Blake Shelton sits in the Big Red Chairs. What’s more, the Blind Auditions will kick off without John Legend, a mainstay on the panel for the past seven seasons. The EGOT winner is going through changes of his own, and Legend explained why now is the right time for him to take a break from the NBC competition.
Obviously the biggest addition to John Legend’s life is his new rainbow baby with wife Chrissy Teigen. Esti Maxine Stephens was born January 13, and John Legend said that was a big reason he needed to step away from The Voice, as well as needing time to promote his new music. He told ET:
My family's growing, I have a new album out, I'm gonna do a little bit of touring, and so it's probably better that I take a break. We took a break last season because we had another show in our slot that the network tried -- and I thought that was gonna happen this season, but it ended up that they wanted us back...but I'll be back on The Voice, just not this coming season.
It sounds like John Legend’s hiatus from the singing competition is only temporary, and he confirms that he’ll be back sometime in the future. In addition to the new baby and the album Legend, which was released in September 2022, the musician has also debuted a unisex skincare brand, Loved01, which he told E! News was created with people of color in mind. In Legend’s words:
Not only are we formulating our products with melanin-rich skin in mind, not only are we creating products that are beautiful, that will help you deeply care for yourself, but we wanna make it affordable so you can buy it at your local CVS or Walmart for 10 or 15 dollars. And so that's what we created with Loved One and I'm really excited.
A skincare line has apparently been a dream for John Legend, and NBC’s ability to swap out all of The Voice coaches is part of what makes that possible. In fact, it’s something that host Carson Daly has said might be the big secret to the show’s success — that the superstar coaches have the flexibility to duck out to work on other projects and then come back for a later season.
Season 23 of The Voice will feature two rookie coaches — Niall Horan and Chance the Rapper — and they’ll be going up against the two winningest coaches in the show’s history, Blake Shelton and Kelly Clarkson. The Big Red Chairs will be back in motion at 8 p.m. ET on Monday, March 6 on NBC. Be sure to also check out our 2023 TV schedule to see what other premieres are coming soon.
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