There's a new coach on the block for The Voice. EGOT winner John Legend is getting his own red spinny chair, filling out the lineup for The Voice's Season 16 coaches. Legend, who is familiar with the show from his advisor role in Season 12, joins Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton in finding the latest crop of undiscovered talent.
Legend is replacing Jennifer Hudson who is busy coaching on The Voice UK at the moment. Levine and Shelton have been there for all 16 seasons and Clarkson has coached for the last two (she won both times), making Legend the rookie on deck. But even though he's new to coaching, at least one coach on the team was really excited to have him there. "John's great. I've known John a long time and [his] mega talent [is] awesome," fellow coach Levine raved to Entertainment Tonight. "[He's the] easiest guy to get along with on the planet. Absolutely [the] greatest."
Levine added that fans would see a new side of Legend on the show because he came out of his shell. "John is a much more extroverted person than people realize 'cause he's so smooth and kind of mellow and serene in a lot of ways, but he went at it during the Blind Auditions," Levine told ET. "He's not that low-key, which I love... He's hysterical and I got to sit next to him, which was great."
Levine added that if he, himself, doesn't win Season 16, he hopes Legend takes it.
But even though Levine was excited that Legend was coming on board, Legend says it wasn't all smooth sailing. He joked to Jimmy Fallon that the other coaches "hazed" him when he started. He explained that every coach gets the opportunity to block another coach one time from taking a singer — and they all used it on Legend. "They say it's because they're threatened by me and it's a compliment," Legend told Fallon.
The show also had some fun with Legend's first day by making a short video with Legend and his wife Chrissy Teigen about her sending him off to start work on the show. In the sketch, she packs his lunch in a backpack along with "a book of country sayings" so Legend can understand Shelton. She also packs her husband a practice button for spinning his chair around, ear plugs because "Kelly talks a lot," and tattoos so he "could look cool" like Levine. Then Legend gets on the bus to take him to the studio lot, and host Carson Daly gives him a pep talk beforehand.
You can watch the full charming video here:
But backpack or not, Legend isn't here to play. He told People magazine that he's on the show to win. "I’m very competitive and everybody’s been very competitive with me too," he told the outlet. "They’re not having any mercy on me just 'cause I'm new."
New coaches have won before — just look at Clarkson. So there's definitely a good chance that Legend will pick a winner and go all the way to the finale. Fans can watch his real first day when The Voice Season 16 premieres on NBC at 8 p.m. ET on Feb. 25.
