The Voice has revealed its Season 21 “Mega Mentor,” and he’s a huge multi-Grammy-winning pop star. On Tuesday, NBC announced that Ed Sheeran will join the hit singing competition series as a mentor to all the contestants, helping out coaches Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande, John Legend and Blake Shelton. Past Mega Mentors have included stars like Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. Sheeran will provide his musical wisdom and expertise through the Knockout Rounds, which come before the live shows, where fans begin voting for their favorite performances.
While Sheeran will help coach each of the teams equally, the coaches will also have their Battle Round advisors, who are specific to the individual teams. Kristin Chenoweth is helping Team Ariana, Camila Cabello joins Team Legend, Dierks Bentley will mentor Team Blake, and Jason Aldean will be working with Team Kelly. Entertainment Tonight recently spoke with Clarkson and Aldean, ahead of the new season, and the pair opened up about advising her “eclectic” team.
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“I like soulful, so it doesn’t matter what genre, I have to have somebody that is soulful,” Clarkson said of her team. “I think that is a common thread for all of my team.” Aldean then chimed in, “Everybody is really different, and really great in their own way.”
He continued, “I think as young artists, it’s one of those things where there’s a lot of stuff they’re kind of doing for the first time, there’s a lot of things that they are not sure of.” Aldean finally added, “You can have all the talent in the world, but having that sort of confidence and things like that to go out and know how to use that talent, I think is the tricky part.”
In a previous Tonight Show interview, Clarkson gushed about The Voice’s newest coach, Grande, who she called “very witty” and “hysterical.” The “Since U Been Gone” singer also revealed that Grande puts a huge emphasis on keeping her team healthy. “In all my seasons, I’ve never heard a coach talk about vocal health as much, and I’m like, ‘I guess we should have mentioned that,’” she said with a laugh. “We’re all vocalists. No one’s ever mentioned it, and she’s really into it, so it’s cool.” The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. PT/ET, on NBC.