Why Did Adam Levine Leave ‘The Voice’? Inside His Exit & Decision to Return

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He’s back! After nearly six years, Adam Levine is making his comeback to The Voice for Season 27. He’ll sit next to John Legend, Kelsea Ballerini, and Michael Bublé on the coaches’ panel when he returns for the first time in ten seasons.

Levine’s return was announced in June 2024. He filmed the pre-taped episodes that fall and they’re finally airing with the February 3 premiere of Season 27. His decision to come back came as quite a shock to many viewers, as Levine was previously pretty adamant that his time on the show was done.

Scroll down for everything we know about why the Maroon 5 singer left The Voice, and, more importantly, why he decided to return.

Why did Adam Levine leave The Voice?

Levine left The Voice after the conclusion of Season 16 in May 2019. At the time, he had already signed on to coach for Season 17 but was replaced by Gwen Stefani after his exit. Levine was one of the original Voice coaches and had been with the program since Season 1 in 2011.

“We had no idea what we were doing or where it was going,” he wrote on Instagram after his departure. “After the first day of shooting, I sat there, stunned. I said to myself ‘theres some magic here. Something is definitely happening.’ It went on to be a life shaping experience that will be close to my heart forever.”

In the rest of his post, he went on to thank NBC, his fellow coaches and colleagues, and the fans for his eight years on the show.

It wasn’t until several months later that Levine finally addressed his shocking exit. “I was ready to not be doing it anymore, I think for a little bit,” Levine admitted on Howard Stern’s radio show in October 2019. “I think that when it all kind of naturally happened, I was like, ‘Okay, it feels right.’ For better or worse, the moment in which we decided to walk away felt really good. It was the right time for me to go.”

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The singer said that being a coach on The Voice was a “life-altering” experience, but pointed out that he was married with two young kids who he wanted to spend time with. “They were really little,” Levine explained. He went Behati Prinsloo in 2014. They now have three children, the third born in January 2023.

He also said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, “I do miss it, but I also don’t miss how much I had to work. I was just constantly working for many years. Very lucky, very fortunate, very blessed and all that, but just to be able to stop in this moment to spend time with my new young family and just have the greatest time ever…”

Despite Levine’s diplomatic responses, there were rumors that more was going on behind the scenes. Levine had a rough run on Seasons 14, 15, and 16 of the singing competition show, with none of his artists making it to the finals three seasons in a row.

He also faced backlash from viewers after making a controversial move in Season 15: With just 10 singers left in the competition, Levine’s final two artists, Reagan Strange and DeAndre Nico, were in danger of going home due to being in the bottom three. The three singers with the lowest amount of votes had to sing for the Instant Save, with only one moving on. Strange was sick and could not perform, but was still able to receive votes. Levine gave a passionate speech in her favor, urging voters to help her stick around another week. It rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way when he didn’t advocate as hard for Nico, who actually did perform.

In May 2019, TVLine reported that Levine had become hard to work with on the show. A source claimed that Levine didn’t want to attend a pre-taping for Season 16’s semifinals since he had no artists left in the competition. He was reportedly “difficult” at the taping, which “might have stemmed” from a recent rule change that allowed so many of his team members to be eliminated at once (as opposed to coaches having an equal amount of artists in the finals), according to the site.

He was also reportedly unenthusiastic in front of network bigwigs while attending the NBC Upfronts in 2019. “Adam had been checked out for a while,” the site’s source claimed. “But this was a new low. It was essentially the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Adam Levine’s guest spots on The Voice

In 2020, Levine did an Instagram Q&A, where one follower wrote in, “Come back to The Voice?” and he responded, “No thank you?”

Despite his apparent lack of interest, he did come back for the Season 20 finale in May 2021, where he performed with Maroon 5. In May 2023, he was onscreen during the Season 23 finale, which was a goodbye tribute to Blake Shelton in his final season. Levine also popped up to celebrate The Voice’s milestone 25th season in May 2024, just weeks before his return was announced.

Why did Adam Levine return to The Voice?

“I just felt like it was time,” Adam told E! News. “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.”

Trae Patton/NBC

The show’s executive producer Audrey Morrissey pinpointed the moment she felt Levine’s desire to return started taking place. The two ran into each other at Shelton’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in May 2023, she told TV Insider. “I cornered him and asked, ‘When are you gonna come back?’ she recalled. “I think that was the one that really started him thinking, ‘Maybe I will.’ It still took two years!”

While Levine admitted to E! that he “didn’t miss” the show during his hiatus, he said he “became more nostalgic about it once [he] came back.”

The Voice, Season 27 Premiere, Monday, February 3, 8/7c, NBC

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