Adam Levine reveals the biggest surprise he got when he returned to The Voice for season 27

The day many fans of The Voice have been waiting for is finally upon us! Adam Levine is set to make his return to the Big Red Chairs when Season 27 premieres on the 2025 TV schedule February 3. It will be the first time the Maroon 5 singer coaches a team of singers since Season 16, when he left the show after being involved in some of The Voice’s wildest (and even controversial) moments. Levine has talked a lot about his impending comeback, and he admitted one thing happened that he didn’t see coming.

It was 2019 the last time Adam Levine took a spin on The Voice chairs. Blake Shelton and Kelly Clarkson have left the show, likely permanently, and with John Legend being the only familiar face on the panel (the EGOT winner was making his debut in Levine’s final season), one can’t help but wonder why the Maroon 5 singer chose to return now. Levine told:

I just felt like it was time. I had some time to reflect and do my thing and be with my family. I was ready to do it, then the stars aligned and here I am.

With The Voice filming two seasons a year, there’s no question the NBC singing competition took up quite a bit of space in the coaches’ calendars (especially in earlier seasons, which included more live episodes). That was one reason Blake Shelton ultimately walked away from the show.

But in addition to getting some much-needed time away, it sounds like Adam Levine might also be referencing his 2022 cheating scandal when talking about taking time with his family to reflect. Whatever number of reasons he had or stars that needed to align, the rocker made one thing clear: He didn’t choose to come back because he missed the show. That’s why he was so surprised by the wave of emotions that hit him when he returned to the set. He said:

It’s funny, I actually didn’t miss it while I was gone. But I became more nostalgic about it once I came back.

Despite Adam Levine officially being gone for six years, he did return a couple of times in other capacities. Maroon 5 performed during the Season 20 finale in 2021 (coincidentally, his fellow Season 27 coach Kelsea Ballerini also performed on that episode), and Levine returned for Blake Shelton’s final episode in 2023.

It’s not surprising to hear that Adam Levine was flooded with emotional memories upon returning to The Voice set. I’m sure it’s strange to not have Blake Shelton around, and he made sure to troll the cowboy when talking about his return. (Shelton, for his part, also continued to shade Levine for years after Levine left, even slamming his tattoo artist.)

It wasn’t all fun times on The Voice for the Maroon 5 frontman, either. In addition to the aforementioned controversial moments — which included a feud with Christina Aguilera over ex-Mickey Mouse Club performer Tony Lucca singing “99 Problems” and later when he threw a Team Adam singer under the bus — Adam Levine also experienced devastation when his former team member 22-year-old Christina Grimmie was murdered during a fan meet-and-greet.

Adam Levine definitely went through some stuff in the first 16 seasons of The Voice, so even if the nostalgia was surprising to him, it’s not hard to see why returning to a show he didn’t think he’d missed was actually pretty emotional.

Hopefully Season 27 holds more fun and less controversy. Tune in to find out when it premieres at 8 p.m. ET Monday, February 3, and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.