Television September 19, 2019
John Legend on ‘The Voice’ and Prison Reform, Plus: Gwen Talks Blake without Adam
“Extra's” Renee Bargh caught up with John Legend and Gwen Stefani ahead of an all-new season of “The Voice.”
The coaches opened up about the show, but Legend also shared his feelings on prison reform just days after Felicity Huffman was sentenced in the college admissions scandal.
“We just lock too many people up and we spend a lot of money doing it,” he said, opposing Felicity's 14-day sentence. “I want people to realize that prison doesn't have to be the answer to everything. We kind of program ourselves that that's the way things should be.”
As for Season 17 of “The Voice,” Gwen and John are happy to be back. Gwen said, “I'm back and I'm with John, which is so exciting and awesome.” John added, “We never worked together before, and here we are.”
The pair talked about being competitive with the other coaches. Gwen said, “I'm actually not a very competitive person… This show, you get competitive because you want to work with these people and they're so talented.” She said, smiling, “The pull that John Legend has with these contestants, he was the threat this season.”
John replied, “Last year, they were blocking me all the time.”
Gwen said she would of course want to beat her boyfriend Blake Shelton, admitting, “It always feels good to beat Blake — he's the O.G.”
Blake Shelton Talks Life on ‘The Voice’ without Adam Levine
View StoryGwen dished on not having Adam on the show, saying, “It was funny to watch Blake without Adam; he was definitely off at first, he was off, like, 'What's happening? Nobody's really messing with me much…' Kelly [Clarkson] definitely messes with him.”
Gwen said, “I like to mess with him, too, 'cause it's fun.” She said the couple isn't competitive at home, though. “It's fun to talk at home and talk about it because the talent is so unbelievable.”
“The Voice” kicks off September 23 at 8 p.m. on NBC.