What year was Ariana Grande on The Voice? Singer has admitted that being a coach was harder than it looks 

Ariana Grande has been singing since she was a teenager. However, her first opportunity to mentor other budding singers came in 2021 during the 21st season of NBC's reality TV series, The Voice.

Ariana Grande debuted as a coach/judge on the music competition show in 2021, alongside John Legend, Blake Shelton, and Kelly Clarkson.

Grande was the only first-timer among the four judges on the show, having replaced Nick Jonas, who coached in the show's 20th running. The singer-songwriter admitted on E! News' Daily Pop in September 2021 that being The Voice coach was "harder than it looked."

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Ariana Grande opened up about her coaching experience on The Voice

Talking about her experience on The Voice, Ariana Grande confessed on E! News' Daily Pop that:

"It's just been exciting to be so moved in the moment that you turn your chair. Maybe you went into it thinking, 'Oh, I know what kind of voices I'm going to turn for,' and then someone's performance completely surprises you, and you're like, 'Wow.'"

Describing the job of the coach as harder than it appeared, Grande added:

"You watch it on TV and you think you know, 'OK, I'm going get in there and it's going to be easy whatever. But it's so hard. [The other coaches] are so seasoned and so great at it."

Despite her efforts, all of Grande's team members were eliminated before the semi-finals.

A year after the 21st season concluded, ScreenRant reported that Ari had hoped to be the third coach to win The Voice, which didn't happen. This led to speculations about whether the Positions singer would return for the 22nd season.

As reported by ScreenRant, Grande's first run on The Voice was an emotional rollercoaster. She struggled to follow the rules several times and formed a special bond with her team members. By the time the show ended, her fans were convinced that Ariana Grande would offer her team members help jump-starting their music careers off the show.

Newsweek revealed in September 2022 that Grande did not return to The Voice for a sophomore season due to her involvement in the movie adaptation of the musical Wicked, in which she was cast as Glinda, the good witch. The Jon M. Chu-directed movie concluded production earlier in 2024 and is set to hit theaters on November 22, 2024.

Meanwhile, Camila Cabello replaced Grande as a coach in the 22nd season of The Voice.

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Ariana Grande wasn't the only coach who left The Voice in 2021

Besides Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson also bid farewell to The Voice after its 21st season. Unlike Ari, Clarkson had been a coach on the NBC show for eight seasons and ended up winning four of them, with her final victory coming in 2021.

According to Newsweek, Clarkson had hinted at leaving the music competition show in early 2022 in an Instagram Q&A with her fans. Clarkson wrote:

"I've decided this year there's just [going to] be a couple of changes for me that I can't say here. There's a couple things happening. I've been able to make more time just for me and my kiddos and still be able to work. Just where we can get away on weekends and really do some fun stuff with my kids."

The American Idol alum further added:

"They only want to hang out with you for so long and that's now so I got to take advantage of that. I'm excited to have more time with them. I mean I have a ton of time in the morning but I don't know, I'm selfish. They're fun."

Besides being a coach on The Voice, Clarkson hosts her own talk show on NBC, The Kelly Clarkson Show, where she is also an executive producer.

In March 2022, the singer-songwriter co-hosted a new reality TV series on NBC, American Song Contest, which is largely based on the older Eurovision Song Contest.

Clarkson hosted the show alongside Snoop Dogg for the first season. Whether she will return for a second season remains to be seen.