Following Blake Shelton’s departure, John Legend is now the OG coach on The Voice!
John is the most-seasoned coach on season 25 of the NBC singing competition, where he sits alongside Reba McEntire and Chance the Rapper — both back for their second season — and first-timers Dan + Shay.
“I’m excited to be here,” the EGOT winner told ET’s Cassie DiLaura while filming the current season — which kicks off Battle Rounds on Monday night. “I love coaching on The Voice. I love working with our artists, just seeing people’s dreams come true through this show, giving them all the advice I’ve gotten over the years, helping them learn from all the experiences that I’ve had over the years. It’s a lot of fun for me.”
And while he’s the only coach this season with a win under his belt, John knows the competition is strong.
“[Reba’s] obviously very seasoned in her career, she’s done everything from television to many, many, many, many, many hit songs over her career and performing on every stage you can imagine,” he raved. “She just brings such a wealth of experience and expertise to our show. We’re so lucky to have her.”
As for Dan + Shay, John says the duo has the “new coach fire,” adding, “They’re trying to win. We definitely battled back and forth when it came to the blind auditions and yeah, they’ve got the fire. They want to win.”
When it comes to past coaches returning, The Voice door seems to always be open. But does John think Blake would ever come back after saying an epic farewell to the competition?
“I feel like Gwen is the only chance we have. I don’t think Blake is coming back,” John admitted with a laugh. “He is staying on the farm, he’s enjoying himself. I’ve talked to him and he’s, like, picking corn. He sent us some fresh corn from the farm, he sent us some fresh peaches from the farm, we made peach cobbler. I don’t think he has any desire to come back to Hollywood and film The Voice.
However, John says that he’s stayed in touch with the country star in various group chats.
“We have different group chats for each combo of coaches and then Chrissy, Gwen, and Blake and I have a group chat where we’re just couples talking,” he shared. “We usually stay in touch with each other and we’re friends — it’s just a good vibe with all the other coaches.”
It’s an even better vibe at home for John and wife Chrissy Teigen, who welcomed a daughter, Esti, and a son, Wren, last year, bringing their brood up to four kids along with 7-year-old daughter Luna and 5-year-old son Miles.
While it may be too early for the younger two, John shared that his older children are both in piano lessons, and could possibly follow in their famous father’s footsteps one day.
“Luna is just very creative in many aspects. She’s really good at visual art, she’s, like, painting and drawing all the time, she’s dancing, she’s doing figure skating, she just loves to create,” he noted. “And then Miles is my biggest fan. He literally sits and listens to my music all the time. It’s the only music he wants to listen to. He learns all the words, sings along, and he’s taking piano lessons too, so, who knows?”
However, John isn’t putting any pressure on his son to join him onstage too soon, adding, “He’s got a long way to go before he’s ready.”
“Blue Ivy’s putting the pressure on all the kids, now,” he joked, referring to Beyonce and JAY-Z’s daughter. “She’s up there dancing with her mom, she’s getting GRAMMYs and whatnot. All the other kids got to step their game up.”
