Adam Levine Says ‘It’s About Time’ Blake Shelton Leaves ‘The Voice’

Blake Shelton is saying goodbye to The Voice after the current 23rd season, but his former fellow coach Adam Levine seems to be the only one who isn’t sad about it.

“It’s about time,” Levine joked to Entertainment Tonight at the Vanity Fair Oscars After-Party on Sunday night (March 12). The musicians’ sat together in The Voice‘s spinning red chairs as coaches for 16 seasons before the Maroon 5 frontman left the show in 2019.

Shelton announced his departure from The Voice back in October. “This show has changed my life in every way for the better and it will always feel like home to me,” he wrote in a statement posted to social media. “It’s been a hell of a ride over these 12 years of chair turns and I want to thank everyone at The Voice from NBC, every producer, the writers, musicians, crew and catering people, you are the best. It takes a lot of work, passion, and adult beverages (Ha!) to pull off a live show twice a week.”

As coach, Shelton remains the statistically best coach in terms of winning seasons — having crowned a champ from his team in nine of the show’s 22 completed seasons.

The country superstar, who has been on The Voice since it premiered in 2011, recently sat down with his fellow season 23 coaches Kelly Clarkson, Niall Horan and Chance the Rapper to reflect on why he has decided to leave the show. “I think I was close to calling it a day right when COVID hit and then, because of COVID, I didn’t want to walk away from the show and leave everybody in a bind,” Shelton revealed. “I mean, this show changed my life. I’ll stay until the world kind of gets back to normal.”