"American Idol" may have brought in Harry Connick Jr. and recast Jennifer Lopez at the judges table, but "The Voice" has further established its dominance for bringing in established music talent to work hosting and mentoring new talent. Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine of Maroon 5 will all be returning to their seats, but Yahoo Music revealed the new musical mentors, and who will be teaming with whom.
Levine's pairing is fairly boring; the pop-rocker will be teamed with OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder. Cee Lo Green's team will work with Miguel, and Aguilera's team will be paired with Ed Sheeran (the latter of which is the most exciting pairing we've announced thus far). But none of these teams live up to Shelton's team.
The country star will be starring with one of the least country musicians imaginable: Cher. And that's not a bad thing. Viewers will recall that the pop star made a musical appearance on the finale of "The Voice" last season. Shelton, despite the genre that he's staked his career in, was plenty excited he later revealed.
"I lost my dad a year and a half ago. And my dad's favorite artist on earth, bar none, no question, was Cher," he said. "My dad worshipped Cher. I wish he could have seen tonight's episode, because I would've been texting him saying, 'Hey, I met Cher! I took a picture with Cher!'...She has no idea about any of that, but it was a real big deal to meet her...she's just as viable and important to music today as she ever was."
Whether Cher will perform with Shelton (or her former "Burlesque" co-star Aguilera)(or with Cee Lo Green, because that would just be too perfect) remains to be seen. But "The Voice" may have just attracted Cher's cult fan base.
