Neal McCoy Reacts To Reba McEntire Joining ‘The Voice’
“No wonder they weren’t interested in me,” he quipped.
Neal McCoy; Photo Provided, Reba McEntire; Photo by Tyler Golden, NBC
Reba McEntire will be officially be filling Blake Shelton’s chair as he steps down from his coaching duties on The Voice. The response to this news has been overwhelmingly positive from both fans and one country icon in particular, Neal McCoy, who also previously expressed an interest in taking over Shelton’s role on the singing competition show.
Once McEntire broke the news on social media, McCoy took to Facebook to share his excitement for her new gig.
“Reba replacing Blake!!!! On The Voice,” he wrote before adding, “Great Choice!!!!! No wonder they weren’t interested in me!!!!!!”
When rumors began to circulate as to who would replace the “No Body” singer, McCoy was quick to add his name to the pool.
He previously started a rumor that said, “News Alert: Rumor has it that Blake Shelton has reached out to Neal McCoy about filling the empty Judge’s chair on the Voice when he steps down!!!”
However, McCoy then added a disclaimer and revealed, “So far it is only a rumor,,,,,,(started by me)”
Despite this being a clever joke, Shelton seemed to support McCoy’s idea of wanting to join the team. Before McEntire was announced as the upcoming replacement, Shelton decided to “throw Neal McCoy’s hat in the ring.”
The comment section of the Twitter post was flooded with words of support for this suggestion. McCoy also responded, “Thanks buddy, could you send that comment to the @NBCTheVoice also?”
While McCoy was not chosen in the end, his most recent post reveals that he is just as excited for the “Fancy” singer to fill the role.
This will not be McEntire’s first experience with The Voice. In fact, she appeared on the latest season of the show, when she served as a Mega Mentor. Her support and advice was offered to the fresh crop of contestants who made it through the Season 23 battle rounds. She also previously made an appearance as a Battle Advisor to Team Blake during the show’s inaugural season.
Along with all that, McEntire was originally supposed to be cast in the Emmy Award-winning musical competition series, but ended up turning down the opportunity before it first premiered in 2011. Shelton shared this fun fact in 2019 when he said, “For whatever reason, she couldn’t do it, or they just decided it wasn’t the thing for her at the time.”
Now that she has finally come around to the idea of serving as a coach on The Voice, the Country Music Hall of Famer is expected to make a great impact on the show and all the rising contestants she will encounter along the way.
“There’s a new Coach in town! See you all this Fall! #TheVoice,” she wrote in the announcement on Instagram.
The current set of judges, Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton, Chance The Rapper and Niall Horan, recently indicated great enthusiasm towards having her briefly join the team as a Mega Mentor.
“So the mega mentor this season is Reba McEntire. This is the raddest mega mentor we’ve ever had,” Clarkson shared. “So I love working with Reba. I love doing it in this capacity because she’s helped me tons musically as an artist. So it’s cool to watch her be able to do that for other people as well.”
“Having Reba here… It’s just familiar territory for me because we’ve worked together a lot over the years…. Malibu Country, at least two ACM awards, maybe three,” Shelton said. “That was fun. Oh my God. And not to mention, you were my first mentor ever here on this show. Right? And you’re going to be my last mentor.”
“I’m having a great time. She’s so fun. Lovely lady. And obviously clearly knows her stuff,” Horan added.
Despite being in a completely different genre, even Chance found that he took away something from his time spent getting to know McEntire hE said, “She’s given me amazing advice and helped my team so much in a short period of time.”
Blake Shelton’s time on The Voice will come to an end with a two-night finale on May 22 and May 23. The country superstar has served the longest run with 23 seasons and nine wins under his belt.
Up next, he will continue working on the second season of the new celebrity game show, Barmageddon, which he both stars in and co-produced. While the show has been preparing for its return and was seen filming in Shelton’s Nashville bar and restaurant, Ole Red, a premiere date has not been set for Season 2. The complete first season is now available for streaming on Peacock.
Blake Shelton is also currently scheduled to appear at several festivals throughout the year including Barefoot Country Fest, Country Jam 2023, Sunset Country Music Festival, and more.
Madeleine O’Connell graduated from North Central College with a bachelors degree in Journalism and Broadcast Communications before deciding to pursue her studies further at DePaul University. There, she earned her masters degree in Digital Communication & Media Arts. O’Connell served as a freelance writer for over two years while also interning with the Academy of Country Music, SiriusXM and Circle Media and assisting with Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly podcast. In addition to Country Now, she has been published in American Songwriter, Music Mayhem, and Holler.Country. Madeleine O’Connell is a member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.
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