With 17 seasons under his belt on The Voice, Blake Shelton has seen a lot of contestants over the years. The Oklahoma native has several he has stayed in touch with and continued to support, but there is one contestant that remains his favorite – Danielle Bradbery. Shelton chose Bradbery as much for her bravery in competing, without any experience, when she was only 16 years old, as her powerful voice.
“It just kind of fell in her life, and she found it out — and in front of the nation — that she was this incredible vocalist,” Shelton recalled (via PEOPLE). In fact, Shelton invited Bradbery and her parents to his own house before the Season 4 finale in 2013, to gauge how interested the then-teenager was before her career went any further.
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“Is this even what you want to do with your life?” he asked, which Bradbery admitted at the time she wasn’t sure. Since then, the now-23-year-old decided to pursue music full-time.
“Thank God she did,” Shelton gushed.
Shelton also has a few regrets about people who competed but didn’t make it into the finale, including recent CMA Awards nominee, Morgan Wallen, who was up for New Artist of the Year.
“What the hell?” Shelton said of Wallen being eliminated. “The whole thing just seems screwed up. Here he is having these gigantic, huge No. 1 hits in country music, and I can’t take any of the credit. It pisses me off, you know. Man, I had him right there and he got away.”
There is a lot that Shelton loves about The Voice, but saying goodbye to aspiring singers is the one thing he dislikes.
“Eliminating people from the show. … I literally despise it,” said Shelton. “I don’t want it to be in my hands. And so when we finally get to the [live shows], it still hurts as bad to see somebody go home, but at least you don’t feel directly responsible for it.”
Shelton’s girlfriend, Gwen Stefani, is serving as a coach for Season 17, but will be replaced by Nick Jonas next season, although Shelton has a feeling Stefani will be back.
“We’ll get Nick in there, and I’ll kick his a––, and then hopefully at some point we’ll bring Gwen back — or whoever it is — but I definitely don’t think we’ve seen the last of her on the show,” Shelton hinted.
The Voice airs on Monday and Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
Photo Credit: Trae Patton / NBC
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