When “The Voice” returns Monday with two new “voices” — Shakira and Usher — the best surprise won’t be in front of those spinning barber chairs, but will be sitting in them.
Judging from a sneak-peek at the first episode, the new judges not only fit right in with “Voice” vets Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, but are so entertaining I didn’t want the show to end.
And it was two hours long — or maybe it was only two minutes. Who knew that Shakira was laugh-out-loud clever, or that the coolest man on the planet, Usher, could lose his cool so completely? Yes, he does. In the heat of the moment, Usher, who is trying to win over a country music contestant says, “Nashville is just a state (!), but I’ll give you the world!” Shelton is quick to point out that A.) Nashville is a city, and B.) Usher is from Tennessee. Hilarious. Hey, these things happen.
Anyway, the show opens with all four judges playing a pickup version of The Beatles “Come Together.” They play as though they’d been together for years — and they judge together with the same ease.
Unlike “American Idol” — which is getting so long-in-the- tooth they may need to call in an orthodontist, or “America’s Got Talent,” where the judge in-fighting gag is more used up than the Kardashian sisters — and especially the forgettable format of “The
X Factor” — “The Voice” judges aren’t there to focus on themselves. Well, maybe they are, but they aren’t so blatant about it.
You always got the idea with judges Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera (both on leave to tour) that all four judges really liked one another and were there to develop talent rather than to get their flagging careers some needed exposure.
Ditto for Shakira and Usher. You will see on Monday’s premiere that they’re having the time of their lives, laughing, easily joking and giving well-thought-out critiques.
Shakira has a razor-sharp wit that matches and bests the boys. When trying to convince one contestant to pick her, she apes the mens’s body language, and warns the singer to not pay attention to the boys’ tricks. “[Levine] will show off his tattoos and Usher will even put his other leg up [on the chair],” she jokes.
Although we’re not supposed to talk about which judges picked which talent, I can only say these are the best voices with the best deliveries I’ve seen since Season One of “Idol.”
Even the ones who don’t get even one spinning chair to spin their way are exceptionally good. There’s not a weak voice in the pack — and I don’t just mean the contestants.