‘The Voice’ Preview: Patti LaBelle Makes Debut as Queen Latifah’s Battle Round Advisor

Alyssa Norwin October 5, 2026, 12:00 pm

What To Know

The Voice Season 30 Battle Rounds begin on October 12 on NBC.
In an exclusive clip, TV Insider can reveal that Patti LaBelle will be Queen Latifah’s team’s advisor for the Battles.
LaBelle was Latifah’s own mentor when she was coming up in the industry.

Queen Latifah is bringing in someone very special to mentor her team members during the Battle Rounds on Season 30 of The Voice. TV Insider can exclusively reveal that Patti LaBelle will be Latifah’s advisor when the Battles begin on October 12.

In the sneak peek clip above, Latifah tells two of her artists, “This is even for me with acting or creating a project, we don’t go all the way there. We go past the line.” This prompts LaBelle to advise, “Give birth,” with Latifah explaining, “Exactly. Go on and give birth. Let it be all the things it has to be.”

LaBelle then offers more wisdom, telling the contestants, “Sometimes people say, ‘That’s an ugly baby,’ but it’s OK, it’s mine. I swear to you girls. I’m 82 years young. I’m not gonna hold in because I’m afraid of insulting someone. What I feel in my heart that is necessary to talk about, I talk about it, and I get in trouble, but I don’t care.”

NBC

When we spoke to executive producer Audrey Morrissey ahead of the Season 30 premiere, she revealed how special it was for Latifah to get LaBelle on board as her advisor. “It was a really big deal for her to get Patti because Patti was her mentor,” Morrissey explained. “So she wanted to give her mentor to her team.”

This is Latifah’s first season as a coach on The Voice, alongside fellow newbie Riley Green and vets Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine. She has already signed on to coach Season 31, as well, with Green and Joe Jonas.

“Queen Latifah is someone we have wanted for so long,” Morrissey admitted. “We wanted her to be a mentor, and we weren’t able to get the planets to align for that. So we were incredibly pleased when she signed up for not one, but two seasons with us.”

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She continued, “She’s one of those rare people, I’d say. She has this internal light switch. She literally radiates. It’s like something … there’s this internal light force she just beams, and all the artists loved her. She was one of those coaches that had to be really careful about when she turned her chair because she was likely going to get that person.”

Before the Battles, the Blind Auditions will conclude during the two-hour October 5 episode.

The Voice, Season 30, Mondays, 8/7c, NBC and Streaming Next Day on Peacock