‘The Voice’ Kelly Clarkson Knew Her Winners Since Blind Auditions
Kelly Clarkson returned to The Voice for Season 29 after several years away. Her team has won the competition four times. Can she win the Battle of the Champions? She thinks she can with a talented team of performers. Now that the semi-finalists are locked in, she opened up about when she knew she had a winning team.
Kelly Clarkson Knew Her Season 29 Winners Since Blind Auditions
After weeks of auditions to choose contestants for their teams, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, and Adam Levine chose their semi-finalists. The nine contestants include JW Griffin, Liv Ciara and Mikenley Brown for Team Kelly, Team Adam’s Alexia Jayy, Jared Shoemaker and Jeremy Keith. Team Legend includes KJ Willis, Lucas West and Syd Millevoi.
Kelly Clarkson spoke to PEOPLE magazine after the April 6 episode to talk about her choices. She admitted that it was a “weird” season for her due to family trauma. “I had a weird season. I did the blinds and then I wasn’t able to be there for the rehearsal of the Battles,” she said. The American Idol winner missed taping several episodes after her ex-husband’s death in the summer of 2025.
But she didn’t miss a beat upon her return to filming. She told the outlet that she knew from the beginning which contestants would be her semi-finalists. “These were the three from the blinds that definitely stood out for me. All three, the commonalities, they’re very different artists,” she said.
Compares One Contestant To Mariah Carey
During the Battle rounds, Kelly Clarkson pitted Liv Ciara and Mikenley Brown against each other. She chose Mikenley Brown as the winner, but quickly used her save to keep Liv Ciara on Team Kelly.
Kelly Clarkson gushed about Liv Ciara, a 16-year-old from St. Peters, Missouri. “I had to use my Super Steal on Liv. Liv reminds me of a young Mariah. At 16 years old to be able to float like that with all that range and confidence as a performer, it’s really rare. I was never letting her go.”
The Voice Fans Debate Cause Of Ratings Decline
The Voice filmed Seasons 28 and 29 around the same time. The reality show often airs two seasons per year. But the ratings have declined a lot. One viewer took to Reddit to get some thoughts on why.
- “Its too long, way too much about the judges, the amount of commercials vs singing is bad. They montage singers to have more judge banter.”
- “Cut all the BS get back to its roots of performance and audience participation.”
- “I think it has to do with new format! Feels so rushed!”
- “There is too much talking and ridiculous banter between the judges. Also, the set looks dated.”
- “Time change. Needs an 8pm start time.”
- “The format gets worse every season. You can tell NBC is investing a lot less money in the show. Only three judges this season, and the song selections have all been terrible because they probably don’t want to spend as much money on the rights”
- “I think when Blake Shelton left the show it went downhill from there and lost a lot of viewers.”
It’s funny that one fan said Blake Shelton’s departure hurt the show. Kelly Clarkson joked on Season 29 that she was “so happy” he didn’t return so she could nab the country artists. Tell us in the comments if you think one of the three contestants from Team Kelly will win the season.
