Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani seem to have enjoyed their time off together during the coronavirus pandemic, but now it's time to get back to work on Season 19 of The Voice … and Shelton means business.
He really wants to win, even if it means beating his girlfriend of five years.
"Gwen (Stefani’s) back, which makes me very happy," Shelton says in a new interview with ET Canada.
"And it really gives us a chance to go for our throats at an entirely new level," he adds. "I think you will see once you see the first episode that all the coaches came to win this season."
Shelton says that just having Stefani sitting next to him again in the show's iconic red chairs brings him a sense of peace.
"Having Gwen (Stefani) back is literally very comforting I think to all the coaches because we just kind of feel like we are all able to just go back to the game that we already know," he says. Stefani and Shelton recently released a new duet, "Happy Anywhere," that landed them at the top of the charts over the summer. "We knew how to play each other at this thing. It just felt like the old gang got back together again."
The couple will reunite with fellow judges John Legend and Kelly Clarkson on the singing competition show, which, for the first time ever, will not be able to hold auditions in front of a studio audience due to social distancing restrictions.
"That interesting in itself," explains Shelton, who reveals that he will be utilizing a cardboard cutout of himself to bond with the contestants, since he won't be able to go up and hug them during the course of the show. "I think it actually opens up a whole new dynamic with the coaches."
The Voice Season 19 premieres Oct. 19 on NBC.