The Voice kicks off on Monday, February 26, with Dan + Shay, Reba McEntire, John Legend and Chance the Rapper serving as this season’s coaches. To celebrate the Season 25 premiere, all five singers combined their talents for a joint rendition of “Put A Little Love In Your Heart,” a song written and originally recorded by Jackie DeShannon in 1969.
The collaboration marks the first, hopefully of many, times all of the coaches combined their talents for one performance.
Season 25 is a new chapter for The Voice, marking the first time the show uses a double chair, to accommodate Dan + Shay, an adjustment the duo says isn’t necessarily an advantage.
“I will say, I think it puts us at a little bit of a disadvantage,” Dan Smyers admitted on the Today Show. “I gotta put that out into the atmosphere, in case John turns around faster and uses it against us. ‘Cause we’re sitting there, trying to give each other [signs], like, ‘You digging this?’”
In June it was announced that Dan + Shay were joining The Voice, also revealing that McEntire would return for another season.
“It is a different part of me coming out because it’s non-scripted,” McEntire shared with Everything Nash and other outlets during a virtual media event. “It is. You just go have fun, which I like to do that. And cutting up with Niall and Gwen and John, and jabbing them and doing that competitive thing, it is just hysterical.
“And they come up with some of the funniest skits for us to get to do,” she added. “So it just brought out my personality that a lot of people haven’t seen. If you see a concert, you’ll see a little bit of it. It’s just me being a me.”
One of those skits teasing the upcoming season involved the coaches, along with host Carson Daly, being part of the fictitious The Voice Shopping Network, showing the comedic side of all five coaches.
“Are you a first-ever double coach on The Voice, but not sure how you’re both going to fit in the coach’s chair?” McEntire asksed in the skit.
“Well, we’ve got just the thing,” continued Chance the Rapper, as Legend shows off the Double Chair S25, with Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney rushing to their phones from their own home, securing the only double chair in stock.
With Dan + Shay’s already busy schedule, including their upcoming Heartbreak On the Map Tour, both Smyers and Mooney are eager to become part of the history of The Voice, a history that began with Blake Shelton, who served as a coach for the first 23 seasons.
“At the core of it, it’s a lot of fun to be able to represent country music in that space, and Blake had always done that so well,” Smyers told Variety. “We felt like we were well equipped to really help people on that show, helping new artists along, and making them better — better people and better artists.
“We’ve made a lot of mistakes in our life, and have a lot of wisdom to share through those mistakes that we’re gonna be able to share with those artists. and everybody on that team is just so incredible,” he continued. “Reba’s an absolute legend and it’s awesome that they have two country acts on there.”
Season 25 of The Voice premieres on Monday, February 26, at 8:00 PM ET on NBC.
