THE VOICE Judges Talk Season 5

By: Lynn Barker

For season five, Carson Daily will still be the host of “The Voice” on NBC while Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green and Blake Shelton return! Shakira and Usher exit. Here is what the stars said recently in L.A. about the new season (Blake was doing a concert so was absent).  

Q: Blake’s picks keep winning. What are you guys going to do to push your picks this new season?

• Christina:  Well, I understand that I am coming back to the "Blake Shelton Show" at this point. It’s hilarious but we laugh all day. We want to pull for our teams and want them to win. Obviously you get close to them in relationships. I think we can all agree it's the contestants that do win at the end of the day, and not us. 

Q: But do you have any strategies?

• Adam: it's great to work with these guys and try to get them to win the show, which is obviously the end goal when you're on "The Voice." But it's kind of more amazing just to work with these people and help them get to wherever they're going to get, whatever stage in the competition they get to.  And whenever they go home, they go home with all these amazing experiences but winning is great and, trust me, I hate the fact that Blake won three in a row but winning isn't always the point.

• I think that as long as we do our jobs and teach them what we know and help them along, honestly, we win.  We've been very lucky in our careers. There's nothing else that we can really ask for. I think it's more about preparing our people on our teams to either win or lose, but to have a great experience.

• CeeLo and Christina: That’s right. Well said.          

Q: Has being a judge and teacher affected you as artists?

• Adam: It's opened up my mind a lot, I think, to the potential to do different things.

• Christina:   Yeah, absolutely. I went in holding hands with these guys and didn't know what really to expect. I don't think a show like this was even on our radar. We all as artists know what it feels like to be up there and to be in that position, the make-it-or-break-it hot seat. 

Q: Do you personally get excited about the show as a viewer?

• Adam: You get sucked into it, yeah. We love this show.  We're huge fans of this show.  All of us.  We wouldn't do it if we weren't.

• Christina: I was like “who’s going to push a button? Who’s going to save that person”?

• But to see it from the outside, to hear some of the stories that sometimes we don't get to see because we're living in the moment, it’s nice to see that the show has stayed true to talent and made sure their stories are heard. It’s like a great school for them. For me it’s like the training I had on “Mickey Mouse Club”. I think it's affected me more on a personal level than it has even on a musical level.  You know, I'm there to be a coach and to share my experiences. We’re rooting for (our picks) to win.

Q:  CeeLo and Christina, how did it feel to have somebody else (Usher and Shakira) sitting in your chair?

• Christina: Well, it’s not our chair. We’ll share it. I was happy that someone filled the spot for a second, because I had to step away. Thank God for Shakira. She did a beautiful job.  You know, just a sweet, lovely energy and great for the show and she stepped up with a lot of creative stuff. 

• CeeLo: I think it was awkward and intriguing at the same time. It was just like a bit of an out-of-body experience, if you will.  And I think I experienced a lot of what Christina went through as well, just becoming a fan of the show.

Q: Are you disappointed that the show hasn’t launched a huge star?

• Adam: Well, you know what, I think that it would be really nice if we were to launch a huge star.  A lot of things have to happen in order for that to take place.  I think the goal of the show is to do what we can do for these amazing singers while they're on the show. I think we all know that the lightning in a bottle you have to capture in order to be successful in this business is extraordinarily difficult. We’re trying to prepare these guys.

• Christina: I think it’s more about giving an opportunity and it’s a huge platform for that.

• Adam: This is only one piece of the puzzle. There's a million examples of people who walked away disappointed from one of these shows.

• Christina: Myself on “Star Search”.

• Adam: Yeah, there's been millions of us that have gone on to huge careers. The immediacy of winning and becoming a huge star is a fairy tale that we would love to see take place, but it's still a fairy tale. There’s a lot you have to do first; go on tour and stay in crappy hotels.

• Christina: It’s not like everything needs to be like boom, boom, boom, then record deal, then No. 1 success.  It doesn't happen like that. I didn’t rocket to success right after The “Mickey Mouse Club” show (that also had Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling and Britney Spears on it). It takes time. You absorb like a sponge in this business every single opportunity and every single piece of advice that you have around you, and it's up to you to sort of use that opportunity and take it to the next level.

• Adam: And the show also is always endorsed like the second, third, and fourth and fifth chance for a lot of people who have had record deals that have fallen through, or people who have almost made it but not quite.  You know, I think that the show is all about kind of just promoting talent.

Q: Christina and CeeLo, what brought you back to the show?

• Christina: It actually is like a family.  And, being able to coach fresh talent, having a laugh with these guys.  I sit next to Blake, and he keeps me laughing all day long.

• We just have a good time. For now, it's the right fit for me, and it felt good coming back this season.

• CeeLo: The show is just a lot of positive energy to be a part of, and you're right, Christina, when you say that it's such a genuine family atmosphere, so organic and honest and open, and I really appreciate it.  And I really missed the company a lot.  So, yeah, that's definitely what brought me back and, of course, a cordial invite.

Q: Carson, why did you add “the steal” to the show?

• Carson: There were two things happening with that.  We saw great talent.  Every season we get better people coming to the show.  So if we start with 12 each, we have 48 great singers, we have to obviously whittle it down in that process.  But we saw great people walking out of the door. So we thought the steal was a fun way to kind of recapture some of the excitement that America loves.

Q: CeeLo, will you have a new pet with you for the new season? 

• CeeLo: At any given moment, I can bring one of my pets there whether it's Purrfect or Lady or I brought my pet boa constrictor up there with everybody. 

• Adam:  Yeah, that's a no-go.

• Christina: I never got to see the boa!

Q: Christina, what were you doing while you were off the show?

• Christina: I do this between albums too.  I'm the type of person that I cannot live in front of a camera 24 hours a day.  I have to take breaks and stay connected with myself, and I think it's important so that you can then be your best on camera and find your own happiness with it.  I'm a mom now. I go home and I put on sweats and a T‑shirt, and the red lips come off, everything. I've been on a really incredible journey the past six months, and I just feel revived and renewed, and I'm very thankful.  I'm very thankful for the experience that I've had.  I did a lot of traveling and did a lot of really amazing things, and I've learned a lot. 

Q: How disappointed are you when your pick doesn’t win the show?

• Adam: I think that when someone wins "The Voice," they managed to capture the attention of the country.  It's beyond our control. We might not be excited if they weren't on our team but we always wind up being happy for whoever wins, for achieving something pretty amazing.

• CeeLo: To be totally honest, on two occasions, I was very disappointed.  I wanted my Nicholas David to win, and I wanted my Juliet Simms to win. 

• Adam: Great talent.

Q: How important are the singers’ backstories to picking them for the show?

• Carson: They're very important for two reasons.  Our coaches don't know anything about the people that come out.  So it's always fun TV when they believe in somebody just because of their voice and they've got goose bumps.  Then we turn around and say, "Hey, man, what's your name?"  And a 22‑year old kid named Jamie Lono said, "Hey, I'm Jamie."  "What do you do?"  "I make sandwiches” and now this sandwich maker, this kid from Chicago, is talking to three of the best people in music.

Q: Is there any possibility of the four judges doing a number together at some point in the season?

• Adam: Yes.

• Carson: Yes

• Christina: Ding, ding!

"The Voice" Season 5 will premiere September 23^rd, 2013!