Blake Shelton opened up about his girlfriend Gwen Stefani replacing his longtime co-coach Adam Levine on The Voice for the currently airing Season 17. In a new interview, the country star shared how things have changed on the NBC singing show since Adam left earlier this year and why he thinks it’s “not the same show” in the wake of his departure.
Blake got candid during a recent appearance at his Ole Red restaurant and entertainment complex in Nashville , Tennessee, where he joked about his infamous on-screen bromance with Adam.
“It’s not over, just not on camera,” he said of their infamous frenemy relationship that fans have seen on the series over the past eight years, per Forbes .
The “God’s Country” singer then got more candid about his thoughts on Gwen — who he’s been dating for the past four years — taking over Adam’s seat, as he confessed that he was initially a little bit worried about how fans would react to the big change.
“I didn’t know how people were going to react, and no, it’s not the same show, it’s a different dynamic,” he said of how things are different on the show since Gwen joined himself and fellow coaches Kelly Clarkson and John Legend.
But while Blake admitted that things aren’t exactly the same without Adam, the country star — who’s now the only coach to appear on every single season of the reality show since it first began — added that the current coaching line-up is “such a fun group” who give viewers “a good feeling when you watch the show.”
He then joked, “And trust me, Kelly and I butt heads just as much as Adam and I did.”
Notably, Gwen will be leaving the show at the end of Season 17 as Jonas Brothers singer Nick Jonas is set to replace her as a coach on Season 18. Blake admitted that he’s made it known to the show’s producers that he didn’t want to see his girlfriend go, as the rest of the panel will remain the same.
“I’ve made it known I don’t ever want her to leave, but I also know, at the same time, the show needs to keep reinventing itself,” he said, “and the only way to do that is to change coaches out every season a little bit. As long as it’s not me!”
The star’s latest confessions came as he recently admitted that he thinks there’s a very good chance both Gwen and Adam will one day return to their red spinning chairs on The Voice .
As The Inquisitr reported last week, Blake made it particularly clear that the “What You Waiting For” singer will be back. He said that fans have not seen the last of the mom-of-three as a coach.