BATTLE READY

Three proven champion coaches return to guide top talent through new challenges as The Voice returns!

- BY EMILY ASLANIAN

When it comes to pitch-perfect performances, no show belts truer than NBC's four-time Emmy-winning singing competition The Voice.

But the best never rest on their laurels. And for Season 29, the producers have emptied out those iconic 755-pound rotating red chairs (and even removed one!), reducing the coach's crew to a trio and welcoming back three of the show's most celebrated celebs for a brand-new Battle of Champions competition. Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine and John Legend are winners, veterans who have paid their dues in titles and longevity. This is Clarkson's 10th season—a milestone reached by Legend in Season 27. And Levine, who happily served 16 seasons (winning three times, including Season 1 in 2011) before a five-year hiatus, is back again.

You can bet these champions will keep on fighting gleefully till the end, executive producer Audrey Morrissey says. “They all want to prove something: John’s got the least wins, Kelly wants to come back in full force and Adam, he had a lot of success in the early seasons but then didn’t in his later season,” she points out. “They all really want to win, and it is like a knockdown, drag-out battle.”

Fresh Starts

Those knocks and drags begin in the Blind Auditions, which fans will now see for the first three episodes (