It’s time to seat dance and swivel with our favorite judges in those big red chairs once again! As of March 2021, Season 20 of The Voice is here and with it, comes coaches Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Nick Jonas.
Of course, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the series looks a bit different. There’s now a virtual audience, and most of the contestants’ families have to watch auditions virtually as well. Not to mention, the coaches need to keep their distance from the performers. That said, The Voice is still as entertaining as ever. COVID-19 provisions started in 2020 for seasons 18 and 19 — and the coaches made it work!
For example, Blake had life-size cardboard cutouts of himself for his team members to take home, Kelly had her signature Team Kelly coats on standby in a closet, former judge Gwen Stefani had a Team Gwen T-shirt cannon and John had a fake hand on a stick to “shake” hands with his contestants.
Blake is the longest-standing coach and has been around since the beginning. He’s the only judge to appear on every single season of the show. As for John, he’s back for his fifth time while Kelly returned for her seventh stint as a coach. Gwen appeared periodically over the years: seasons 7, 9, 12 17 and 19, to be exact, and Nick is back for his second.
While The Voice has come a long way since the beginning of the pandemic, it was difficult to wrap up season 18. The finale was live streamed from the homes of the coaches and performers. However, host Carson Daly noted the talent of the finalists superseded the confetti and buzz that a typical finale would bring.
“I think it doesn’t really matter, like, how much stuff we blow up,” the former TRL host explained in May 2020. “We have five great finalists, and winning the show really is life-changing, so I think watching the excitement of one of these five finalists and their families, you know, jump up and down and be excited is really the only winning moment that matters. We’ll have the heart of it, for sure.”
That’s not to say the typical format wasn’t missed. Kelly confessed that first-time coach Nick missed a bit of the team bonding due to social distancing measures. “The one thing I will say that has been a bummer, especially for Nick, this being his first season, is there’s a lot of fun in the lives when the energy in there, you’re all in the room together,” the American Idol alum explained. “That kind of camaraderie comes across not only on camera, but with us, and it helps us have a good time … I’m a little bummed for him that he didn’t get to feel that, you know, with us, but that’s not to say he won’t.”
All in all, the past two seasons have been fantastic, but there has been a long line of seriously talented artists who have won throughout the years.
Scroll through the gallery below to see the winners from all 19 seasons The Voice.