The Voice will return for its 22nd season this fall and after an eight-season run, Kelly Clarkson will not be returning to the coaches’ panel.
The news was revealed over the weekend when the popular singing competition unveiled the coaches for the upcoming season.
Joining coaches Blake Shelton and John Legend will be Camila Cabello, who is replacing Clarkson, while Gwen Stefani will make her return to The Voice in place of Ariana Grande.
Ahead of the announcement, Clarkson hosted a live Q&A via The Kelly Clarkson Show’s account where she hinted that a few changes would be coming to her life and career.
“I’ve decided this year there’s just [going to] be a couple changes for me that I can’t say here,” Clarson told viewers. “But there are a couple things happening. I’ve been able to make more time just for me and my kiddos and still be able to work. Just where we can get away on weekends and really do some fun stuff with my kids.”
Clarkson continued: “’Cause they only want to hang out with you for so long and that’s now so I gotta take advantage of that … I’m excited to have more time with them. I mean I have a ton of time in the morning but I don’t know, I’m selfish. They’re fun.”
Following the major The Voice shakeup, fans took to social media to express their thoughts on Clarkson’s exit from the show. Some social media users even vowed to boycott the show now that Clarkson isn’t on it.
“Guess I’ll be skipping a season. No Kelly, No Voice for me. I do need to catch up on reading,” wrote one Twitter user, while another said, “No offense to the other coaches and producers, but Kelly Clarkson was the sole reason I watched The Voice.”
Other Tweets read, “Sorry guys I’m not watching til Kelly comes back:/ good luck on this season,” and “I started watching The Voice when Kelly started. Time for a pause.”
There were dozens of other Tweets and social media comments with fans expressing their disappointment over Clarkson’s absence. Others also agreed that she deserves to take a break.
“I heard that Kelly won’t be returning to The Voice, the reason would be: she wants to take a vacation and spend more time with her kids, which is fair, since she’s worked a lot the last few years,” one fan pointed out.
Another wrote, They’ll see some major ratings drop for sure then they’ll realized that Kelly is the heart of the show. I respect & love Kelly for taking well deserved time off.The woman has been busting her ass off. I’ll watch her somewhere else just not the voice. It’s no for me dowg.”
Kelly Clarkson appeared on eight consecutive seasons of The Voice and Team Kelly won four seasons of the show.
On top of hosting The Kelly Clarkson Show, the Texas native is also the host of NBC’s American Song Contest.
