Less than an hour before filming THE VOICE’s battle rounds, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, singer Kelly Clarkson, Grammy-winning rapper and actress Queen Latifah and country singer-songwriter Riley Green were laughing like old friends during a PEOPLE cover shoot.
“Watching people be brave is inspiring,” Clarkson told PEOPLE in a new interview about the singing competition’s 30th season.
That simple idea may explain why Clarkson and Levine keep returning to the red chairs. THE VOICE’s playful rivalries still matter, but both veterans said the chance to give aspiring artists the guidance they once needed has become the bigger draw.
“I think it’s a really beautiful thing to be able to look someone in the face and go, ‘You can make something from this. You can make a living doing what you love, but it’s hard work,’” Clarkson said. She called the experience “full-circle,” especially because she remembers entering the music business after winning AMERICAN IDOL without a mentor waiting to help her.
Clarkson has four victories across 10 previous seasons, and NBC says Season 30 will be her 11th. Levine, also a four-time winner, will begin his 19th season as a coach.
“It was the first time in my career that I felt, ‘Oh, wow, I actually have something to give back,’” Levine said. Years of trying to build his own career eventually gave him something useful to pass along, he explained.
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Queen Latifah and Green will make their coaching debuts, bringing a different kind of mileage to the panel. Queen Latifah released her first album as a teenager and later won a Grammy Award for “U.N.I.T.Y.”; Green joins the show after a busy year on the road.
“I bring a lot of life experience to this moment, and there are things that need to be shared with these artists,” Queen Latifah said. She added that coaching is not about displaying her own résumé but seeing each singer clearly and giving that person a shot.
Green said the contestants’ hunger has already corrected his perspective when touring and career demands start to feel routine. He previously performed “Jesus Saves” on THE VOICE, a song he said asks listeners to practice empathy before judging someone whose struggles they do not know.
“Do it because you enjoy doing it, not with a business model in mind, and that’s what’s always going to make it more original,” Green said when the coaches considered what they would tell their younger selves.
The season will not stay serious for long. Green has stepped into Blake Shelton’s old role as the country singer needling Levine, while longtime host and producer Carson Daly said their brotherly bickering recalls the show’s early years.
“Don’t let them get in your head,” Queen Latifah advised. “Just be brave, just keep going for it.”
The coaches’ emphasis on courage, honest work and helping someone else grow gives THE VOICE a hopeful foundation before the first chair turns. The red-chair competition may provide the fun, but the mentoring could give Season 30 its heart.
THE VOICE Season 30 premieres Monday, Sept. 21, at 8/7c on NBC with a two-hour episode. New episodes will continue Tuesday and Wednesday during premiere week and stream the next day on Peacock.
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