Christina Aguilera Back To ‘The Voice,’ Shakira Out
Christina Aguilera will return to The Voice, replacing Shakira after just one season, according to a report from Deadline.
The website only named “sources,” but, according to a past quote from producer Mark Burnett, this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
“Everybody can’t coach for life because when you have people with current recording in the game, this is not their job. Their job is their fans and making music and being live, and so we knew from the beginning that this would happen, and we’ve had six coaches. They all have another life and their schedules,” Burnett said.
When Christina Aguilera left to promote her new album Lotus, she was not the only original judge for The Voice to do so. Cee Lo Green took a break to work on his music as well, leaving Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and Blake Shelton to guide the show into its fourth season.
Shakira and Usher stepped in to help, but The Wrap has noted that Usher, too, could be on the way out. Green is in “advanced negotiations” to return, the website stated, citing “an NBC executive with knowledge of the situation.”
And why wouldn’t Mr. “F*** You!” return? The Wrap pointed out that his former co-host is getting anywhere from $12.5 million to $17 million to return for the fifth season, two unnamed sources told the website.
American Idol, once the darling of reality singing competition programming, had to watch last year as The Voice overtook it in the nominee category of Outstanding Reality Competition at the Emmy Awards.
Since Aguilera and Green left, the ratings haven’t missed a beat as they continue to do well in the coveted 18 to 49 demographic.
Ratings for American Idol, in contrast, have been largely disappointing, losing out in a big way to cable phenom Duck Dynasty. Rumors began circulating a few days ago that Fox would fire all four judges. Randy Jackson announced his impending departure before the network could make it official.
With Jackson gone, none of the original American Idol judges will remain.
How do you feel about Christina Aguilera taking over for Shakira on the next season of The Voice — improvement or disappointment?
[Image via Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com]
