There have been lots of rumors that at least one coach was leaving The Voice before Season 22.
Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, and John Legend have all had rumors rise that they might be on their way out.
However, the one person that hasn’t come up in as many rumors might be the one leaving.
With Ariana Grande signing up for a movie adaptation of Wicked, she might not be available for The Voice when it returns in the fall 2022 season and one major pop diva might be stepping in to replace her.
Jennifer Lopez rumored to be joining The Voice
Radar reports that Jennifer Lopez is in talks to join The Voice next season.
“Everyone was excited when Jennifer Lopez was at the show. There have been a lot of big stars performing on The Voice, but there was something different about Jennifer’s visit,” a source told the site.
“All the top execs and producers were on-set that day and after she finished filming there was a lot of closed-door meetings trying to convince her to join the show full-time.”
The insider also told the site that it was Ariana Grande that the producers wanted to replace.
While Ariana has a massive fan following, with over 292 million followers on Instagram, she didn’t bring in the new viewers The Voice hoped.
“At the end of the day, Ariana Grande didn’t bring in the ratings. She has more social media followers than all the other stars combined, yet her fans didn’t tune in,” the insider added.
That wouldn’t be as much of a problem for Jennifer Lopez.
She is older than Ariana and has fans in the age group that watches The Voice. Plus, she has a healthy 193 million Instagram followers herself.
“It is safe to say that Ariana won’t be back,” The source added. “Plus, Blake has indicated that it might be time for him to take a break as the show’s only original mentor left. The show needs some major excitement. It needs to be shaken up, which no one does better than JLO.”
The Voice struggling to gain younger fans
NBC renewed The Voice for its 22nd season, but with declining ratings, the network chose to reduce the show to once a year rather than twice a year like it had been.
The network hoped Ariana would raise the ratings and bring in more of the 18 to 45 audience, but that didn’t happen.
Ariana was also chosen after other younger stars shot NBC down. Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo, and The Weeknd were all artists NBC considered, all of whom reportedly rejected the offer.
The Voice is on hiatus. The singing reality competition series will return in the fall of 2022.