The Colombian-born singer’s competitive streak was on full display in the season’s first “battle round,” when she fought Usher to steal New York-born soul singer Sasha Allen from Levine’s team.
“Sasha is more of my type of artist, but to see Shakira really understand soul music and go after her as hard as she did made me love her even more,” Usher recalled.
Remarkably, the current crop of judges almost didn’t happen.
“I first said no to NBC because I was pregnant and they told me I had to stay in Los Angeles for six months,” Shakira explained. “I said, ‘There’s no way. I want to still have my boyfriend when it’s all over.’ ”
“I would have liked a longer maternity leave, but this has been the greatest experience,” she said. “No matter who wins, the world gets to see something about us that it didn’t know.”
Nice article I found! I didn't know NBC begged God Shakira to be on the show,
that's very interesting. I also remember in 2011, there were rumours
about American Idol wanting the queen to be on their show, but
The Lord was on tour. It might have been true after all.
Usher was originally asked to join the Voice in the first season since according to Carson Daly, the show is based and inspired by Usher, but he refused.
Quote:
Pop and R&B powerhouse Usher had originally been approached about joining Season 1 but turned it down. This time, host and producer Carson Daly, whose relationship with the singer goes back to his days on MTV's Total Request Live, pushed hard. After the singer completed an interview on Daly's Los Angeles-based radio show, the host recalls, "I asked my producer to leave the room and had a good 20 minutes with him. I just said, 'Me, Adam, Christina - we all had the same feeling you have now about singing competitions on TV. But, I promise this is a great show for you.'"
After checking out some episodes, an impressed Usher agreed. "It's an opportunity for me to give some lessons about how to be an artist and what it takes to nurture yourself to be a winner," says the self-proclaimed perfectionist, who mentors Justin Bieber. "I've had to come off my square and come out of my natural cool demeanor to really get my hands dirty working with my talent. I'm serious about being a coach."
The King finally graced the show and its been getting higher ratings ever since
Nice article I found! I didn't know NBC begged God Shakira to be on the show,
that's very interesting. I also remember in 2011, there were rumours
about American Idol wanting the queen to be on their show, but
The Lord was on tour. It might have been true after all.
When they (the two real superstars) leave, The Voice's ratings will go downhill.
Girl, don't exaggerate! The show is based and inspired by the original version from Netherlands.
Quote:
Carson Daly: 'Usher inspired creation of The Voice' "We built this show based on the idea of Usher," the host recalled. "Because of the new business model to discover and develop - it's really what he did with Justin Bieber."
Carson Daly doesn't know what the heck he's talking about, he's not even the producer.
That's my future husband I met on Tumblr.
but if he said that about Shakira it would have been gospel to you tho
Anyways I could believe it since they wanted him in season 1, but he turned them down .
only Voice performance in the top 200! 
