Christina Aguilera Will Return to ‘The Voice’
The Voice‘s fourth season has scored impressive ratings – even beating out American Idol – but newbie coach Shakira will be replaced by returning coach Christina Aguilera after this season.
“I’m not going to be able to do next season because I have to get back to my motherhood and also get back to the studio, the recording studio, to finish my album, the one that I started working on before I had to deliver a baby and before I took this gig with The Voice,” Shakira told Us Weekly. But she also left the door open for a possible return to the NBC singing competition. “So yeah, I have to take a little break. But you never know, I might come back!” she added.
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First-time coaches Shakira and Usher stepped in for original coaches Aguilera and Cee-Lo Green this season, and The Voice‘s ratings have grown as American Idol has struggled. Both Aguilera and Cee-Lo took a break from The Voice to focus on new albums, and rumors suggested the pair would soon return. Host Carson Daly confirmed that Aguilera would definitely be coming back, though he was unsure of Cee-Lo’s status.
“I think they are working on a deal, to be honest with you, and I don’t think it has been finalized,” Daly told Us Weekly. “I don’t know the answer to that. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was, sooner or later. It sounded like today it was like, ‘Yeah, they are working on it,’ which, usually those things work out, but I don’t know.”
Even with the changes, The Voice‘s judging panel is more stable than American Idol‘s current situation: original judge Randy Jackson is leaving the FOX series after this season, and reports indicate none of the show’s current judges – Jackson, Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey and Keith Urban – will return for next season.