INDIANAPOLIS — Two new judges are sitting in the coaching chairs for the 26th season of "The Voice" on NBC.
Michael Bublé and Snoop Dogg are joining reigning champ Reba McEntire and Season 19-winning coach Gwen Stefani.
"It's truly awesome. Best job ever — and one of the last jobs I had was working at Chuck E. Cheese, so it's a tall order to be better than that," Bublé said.
Bublé had nothing but positive remarks for his fellow coaches:
- "Reba is the queen, and she is so cool, so funny, so beautiful and rich."
- "Gwen is this incredible, sophisticated, intelligent woman who pretends she doesn't know what she's doing, but she is way too smart and way too intuitive and understands music in such a deep way."
- "Snoop is just a really kind, beautiful soul who is monstrously talented. I think he's one of the most important figures of music, to be honest. He has literally changed a genre of music.
An important thing for audiences to remember about "The Voice" is that these coaches are not trying to be overly critical like Simon Cowell during his "American Idol" days.
"We're in this position where we're not judges, we're mentors. We're coaches that hopefully can impart our experiences and passion and help them reach their goal," Bublé said. "There's nothing as fulfilling at this point in all our careers as the ability to advocate for somebody else."
The five-time Grammy-winning singer said outside of "The Voice," he likely wouldn't and couldn't have done another singing competition program.
"When we break it down, I'm not being falsely modest: they are almost all better singers than I am. I don't want to speak for the other coaches," Bublé said. "If I could, I would just lip sync to them in my concert tours. They are awesome. I love it."
And the work doesn't stop for the coaches when the artists are eliminated. During the season premiere, none of the artists pressed their buttons for 23-year-old Ben Fagerstedt; however, Bublé joined the self-proclaimed fan onstage to help him grow and find his voice.
"What happened that day was me loving that kid," Bublé said. "When I see somebody that loves the Great American Songbook or jazz, I feel like they're my partner, and I feel like I get to help advocate with them and introduce this to generations to come. I think it's the greatest gift America gave to the arts."
Along with "The Voice," Bublé recently released a 21-track "The Best of Bublé" album, also featuring two new songs.
"It's emotional. It's sentimental," Bublé said. "Each of those songs means something. They all matter to me. That's why I didn't do a 'greatest hits' — I did a 'best of.'"
New episodes of "The Voice" air Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.