NBC’s ‘The Voice’ season 4: Shakira, Usher, and Adam Levine speak out

We still have over two months to wait until “The Voice” comes back on the air for what should be a thoroughly exciting season 4, at least based on some of the reports that are coming out already. While Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera each brought their own brand of fun / crazy to the show, you are replacing them with a pair of artists who may actually be even more intense in such ways from a mentoring aspect: Usher and Shakira. These two have had an opportunity to watch from the outside for a couple of years now, and now they are able to dive into this experience head-first and show something different that we have not quite seen before.

So what are some of the new coaches saying? The whole panel spoke with Rolling Stone while taping some new episodes, and Shakira started things off be saying that she wants to establish herself almost from the get-go as someone who you have to take seriously thanks to her attention to detail:

“Besides being a singer, I’m also a producer and writer. Once I’m in the recording studio, I am so hands-on,” she said. “While I’m coaching my team I tend to focus on the detail. I don’t know if it’s maybe because of the female condition, but men are more focused on the general aspects, and women tend to sort of focus on details a lot. And so when I’m giving directions to my contestants I’m particularly focused on details.”

Meanwhile, it sounds like Usher will just a perfectionist in general, which is good in that this hard work is what made him a superstar to begin with:

“You can’t really compare my style to anybody … My style is more military than anything, because I’m all about the preparation and have always been. I rehearse a million times to be prepared. My style is to make them understand the seriousness of the craft and that they have the very best opportunity to be the greatest or the worst, depending on how you take it.”

Our favorite quote of this whole story comes from Adam Levine, who acknowledges that the show has yet to be able to launch a star, whereas one of these mentors already has some experience doing that in the real world:

“As much as I hate to say this about another coach in the beginning, Usher has done what this show has yet to do. You have launched a superstar, and that’s our goal. That’s the show’s goal. That’s something we want to do as an institution.”

Do you think that the potential for “The Voice” to launch a star will be higher with Usher and Shakira, or is it still going to be more about what happens after the show to you? If you have not heard season 3 champ Cassadee Pope’s performance on NBC’s New Year’s Eve special, you can check it out here.

Photo: NBC