Things are looking a little different on 2021's The Voice. Instead of Kelly Clarkson taking her usual seat for the battle rounds, fans saw country music singer Kelsea Ballerini taking over. The host, Carson Daly, explained on the March 22, 2021 episode: "Unfortunately, our own Kelly Clarkson was not feeling well this week. Kelly's staying at home and she's watching the battles remotely," per Newsweek.
Ballerini spoke about the temporary changes in a tweet: "[W]hen [Kelly Clarkson] calls and asks you to keep her seat warm, you put all those years of being her super fan to work. Thank you [John Legend] [Nick Jonas] and ole pops [Blake Shelton] for making me feel like part of the [NBC The Voice] family."
Fans were confused because Clarkson was present on her talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, so people wanted to know why she could appear on that show but not on The Voice. There's a reason for this, as Newsweek explained. The Voice actually pre-records its episodes and filming for the season actually began in October 2020, so Clarkson would have been sick in late 2020. Meanwhile, The Kelly Clarkson Show is filmed daily.
So don't worry, friends. This is a temporary change and Clarkson will be back later in the season.
