THE VOICE: Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams on Coaching Season 7

September 22, 2014 by Marisa Roffman

THE VOICE returns tonight for its seventh season, and for the first time Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams will have seats on the coaching panel.

“For me it’s been surreal and magical,” Stefani told reporters at a press conference earlier this summer. “I never thought that when I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s work with [Williams’ group] The Neptunes. That would be really weird, right? Working with a hip hop guy?’ — like that would be something cool that we would have this relationship after all this time…So it’s been explosive and magical.”

“Being around someone like Pharrell is like a gift,” she added. “The guy is…he just has such a big heart. He gives away so much of himself. He’s perfect for the show, and he’s perfect for these kids because he’s very nurturing, and he’s very, very generous with himself, and I just like being around that energy. It’s been magic for me being here.”

Williams, for his part, echoed Stefani’s praise and warm words.

“Well, I have to say it’s been amazing to work with Gwen, and she’s completely right,” Williams said. “I mean, we had that first opportunity to work with [No Doubt] back with ‘Hella Good.’ That was an amazing song to do with them. And if you would have tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Okay. So, you know, like 10, 12 years from now you’re going to do…a TV show with Gwen,’ [I’d have thought,] on what? And with Gwen? Wow. And I just can’t believe that our journey has had so many incredible, great…touch points. You know, it’s just like these great just moments where we’re like, ‘Wow. Wow. Okay. Wow.’ And here we are today like talking to you guys, and I still can’t believe it, and I really appreciate the opportunity because this is great.”

“I knew Adam [Levine] before [this],” he added. “We knew each other, and we talked, but like I didn’t know him in this way that I know him. And like I knew he was a good person, but an amazing person is how I would define him now, and Blake [Shelton] the same way. This has just been great…Listen, Blake lets me play bad songs and — it’s been awesome. You can’t ask for a better — I don’t want to call it a ‘job.’ You just can’t ask for a better opportunity, seriously.”

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THE VOICE airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 PM on NBC.

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