‘The Voice’: Dan + Shay Explain How Shared Choice Button Will Work in Season 25
Preview
Turn Your Red Chair
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The blind auditions will be even more fun to watch during The Voice’s 25th season, when country chart-toppers Dan + Shay join John Legend, Reba McEntire, and Chance the Rapper as the U.S. contest’s first-ever coaching duo.
Sharing one button, Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney (above, from left) have to agree on which singers are worth turning their double-wide chair for — or go rogue.
“We’ve got enough history that we’re usually pretty aligned,” Dan says, “but there are moments where you’re like,‘I guess I’m along for the ride.’’’ The Grammy winners dish.
What are your negotiations like?
Dan Smyers: We’re doing this secret whisper, look over, tap on the knee sort of thing. It’s going to be good for TV, but it might put us at a bit of a disadvantage. [The other coaches would tell contestants,] “I turned around first.” I was like, “Well, your chair turns around faster because it’s smaller.”
Shay Mooney: Dan and I did figure out a way to alert each other that I’m all-in on this person. I can’t say what the signal was. [Laughs]
Is Reba your biggest rival, as fans would expect?
Shay: We have a healthy amount of competition with everybody. Me and John really get after it, mainly because my half of the chair is closest to John when we turn around.
Dan: We get crazy, don’t we, Shay?
Shay: Well, you offered somebody your house, which I thought was super generous.
Dan: One girl was like, “I used your song [‘From the Ground Up’] in my wedding.” We grabbed the guitar and sang it with her.
How did you decide what coach’s gift to give your team?
Dan: We weren’t going to out-edible Reba. [The country legend serves chicken fingers this season.] We did custom jerseys, like the NFL Draft, where they press the person’s last name on the back in real time. This is like a sport to us: We want to win.
The Voice, Season 25 Premieres Monday, February 26, 8/7c, NBC
