It has only been three weeks into season three of “ The Voice “, but NBC has already announced big changes for the fourth season.
According to Today , Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera, who have been with the show since it started, will be sitting out next season. In their place, NBC has announced that Usher and Shakira will join the cast of coaches for season four.
“We are thrilled to welcome Usher and Shakira to ‘The Voice,’ ” Robert Greenblatt, the chairman of NBC Entertainment, said in statement. “The addition of these popular iconic artists continues the tradition established by Christina, Cee Lo, Adam and Blake. Doing two back-to-back cycles of this show requires a tremendous amount of time, and we are happy to accommodate the commitments made by Christina and Cee Lo.”
Blake Shelton and Adam Levine will stay on through season four.
Aguilera and Green have their own reasons of sitting out next season.
Aguilera will be going on tour to promote and support her new album “Lotus”. Green, on the other hand, will be taking time off to work on new music and a scripted comedy about his life.
“ ‘The Voice’ has always been known for pairing incredible up-and-coming talent with superstar coaches who are top-level current artists,” executive producer Mark Burnett added. “Having award-winning artists as coaches means they need to be able to tour. … This is exactly why, after three seasons, we needed to allow them to rotate out so they can get on the road amongst their fans.”
Both Aguilera and Green have promised to return to the show after next season.
“By pursuing my first passion of music during the break, I am also able to come back and offer even more to my team on ‘The Voice’ in the future,” Aguilera said in a statement.
“Thank you, NBC, for supporting my decision to take this season four hiatus!” said Green. “I will return for season five and will be watching season four.”
Even though Shelton will be staying on through season four, he might be the next “The Voice” coach to take a break from the show. Shelton recently had an interview with Access Hollywood in which he explains that he doesn’t know how much longer he can do the show.
“It’s their decision (for us to leave), in that they’re the ones choosing to do back-to-back seasons,” he explained to Access. “They really leave us no other option … if we want to tour, there’s not a chance of that doing back-to-back seasons. That’s not acceptable to me.”
