Fans of “The Voice” were equally elated and confused on July 22, 2025, when NBC announced the judging panel for season 29 and some major changes to the show’s format.
Season 29, slated to air in the spring of 2026, will be called “The Voice: Battle of Champions.” For the first time in the show’s history, contestants will compete for spots on the teams of just three coaches — Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, and Adam Levine. All three coaches have won multiple seasons of “The Voice,” qualifying them for the special season.
‘The Voice’ Fans Thrilled About Season 29 Coaches, But Wishing for a 4th: Blake Shelton
NBC surprised fans with social media announcements about the “Battle of Champions” experiment on July 22, with all three returning coaches seen in their red chairs on-set. One post was captioned, “Three Coaches, one incredible season. Adam Levine, John Legend and Kelly Clarkson go head-to-head in our Battle of Champions Spring 2026. 🏆”
Fans were thrilled to see the trio of coaches named, especially since Clarkson left the show when she moved to New York in 2023. But many expressed confusion about what qualified those three for the “Battle of Champions,” which seems to be connected to their longevity as coaches rather than wins.
Legend has only won one of the 10 seasons he coached, according to NBC Insider. Season 29 will mark Clarkson’s 10th season coaching, and she has won four seasons, per NBC. Levine, the network said, has coached on 17 seasons and won three.
Many fans have also wondered why a fourth coach wasn’t part of the lineup, with countless viewers wishing Blake Shelton — who was a coach for 23 seasons and won nine times — would return. That isn’t likely, given that he’s launching his own music competition show in the fall on CBS, “The Road.”
One fan wrote on Instagram, “So excited for this 🔥😍 Just wish Blake Shelton would join the gang 😍 Adam – Blake – Kelly trio will elevate the show like fireworks 🔥😍😂”
“I mean if we are talking about champions Blake should be there,” another person commented, which received over 450 likes in just a few hours.
Echoing many others’ comments, someone else wrote, “👀 Wait who’s the 4th coach?”
New Rules & Addition of CeeLo Green Are Throwing ‘The Voice’ Fans For a Loop
Although he’s not joining the full coaching panel as a fourth coach, CeeLo Green — an original coach on “The Voice” — will return for season 29 during the knockouts round, according to Deadline.
In a new twist, each coach gets to bring back two fan-favorite artists from their teams in previous seasons. Those artists will compete in an “In-Season All-Star Competition,” with Green helping to determine a winner. The coach “with the most sing-off wins is guaranteed a second finalist in the finale,” Deadline reported.
That’s just one of the major changes coming to season 29. According to NBC Insider, each coach will end their Blind Auditions with a team of 10 singers. While they will go through familiar rounds — Blinds, Battles, Knockouts, Semi-Finals, and the Finale — there will be multiple curveballs.
For instance, Deadline reported that for the first time, there will be a voting block of “The Voice” super fans and past contestants.
In a Reddit forum of “The Voice” fans, the majority were skeptical of many published changes, with the person who started the thread calling it “very very weird” and joking, “CeeLo Green being involved isn’t even the weirdest thing about the new format.”
Another person wrote, “Really amazes me that they somehow made the format even worse.”
“What a mess honestly,” someone else wrote, while another person chimed in, “There are a million ways you could improve the Voice format to make it more dynamic and beneficial to the contestants and its crazy this is what they are going with.”
Fans will have some time to get used to the idea of a “Battle of Champions.” Before season 29 airs in the spring, season 28 will premiere in September with four returning coaches — Reba McEntire, Snoop Dogg, Niall Horan, and Michael Bublé.
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‘The Voice’ Fans React to Huge Changes Coming to Show