NBC’s ‘The Voice’ season 9: Talking the Justin Bieber judging ‘rumors’

While we know that “The Voice” will return for a ninth season this September, what comes as somewhat of a surprise for now is the simple fact that, at least for the time being, the NBC series has not announced their roster of coaches. Then again, we do not necessarily expect a whole lot of change. Adam Levine and Blake Shelton have not hinted that they are departing, and we feel like they would announce a decision to leave months in advance, maybe even before the end of a previous season to get a proper send-off.

Meanwhile, both Christina Aguilera and Gwen Stefani seem to be at least intrigued with the idea of coming back, and both Usher and Pharrell Williams are also options. Justin Bieber? We’d be shocked if that actually happens. The rumor across the internet today is mostly the byproduct of a HollywoodLife story via an anonymous source, who claims that executive producer Mark Burnett has big plans for the show moving forward:

“This last season of The Voice had its finale be the least rated ever and Mark Burnett has taken notice … He wants to mix it up to get ratings up and get younger viewers to watch the show … [and] one of the seats the show wants to fill is [with] Justin Bieber.”

Is there any way that this would actually work? First of all, we’re not sure that Bieber really would bring in a ton of young viewers; sure he has diehard fans, but then there are plenty of other people who seem to run away at the very notion of him. He’s extremely polarizing, more so than any coach on the roster. Also, the source makes no mention of whether or not he would actually do it.

All this really tells us is that Bieber’s name has been potentially discussed … and there have probably been many others. We don’t think “The Voice” needs to do anything drastic. Maybe we get one new coach this fall, but it’s likely to be someone who is generally well-liked across the board.

We’ll have more news on “The Voice” as it comes out over at the link here. Also, you can sign up here to get some further TV news worth a song or two, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)