Major Shake-up for ‘The Voice’ Season 29: One Key Element Removed.

‘The Voice’ Gets Rid of One Major Thing for Season 29

The NBC reality series is eliminating one big component for its upcoming ‘Battle of the Champions’ Season 29.

Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend

Adam Levine, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend

Photo by: Trae Patton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

The Voice recently revealed exciting news for its 29th season. It is returning with a new format, and the season will be labeled The Voice: Battle of Champions. As part of the new format, it will only feature three fan-favorite coaches, rather than the usual four: Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Adam Levine, all of whom have at least one win to their name.

Buried in the release was the announcement that the semi-finals, which include the Top 9, and the finale, featuring the Top 4, will be voted on by a new voting block. The group will be comprised of super fans, including former Voice artists, who will be in the audience and also get to vote for their favorite as part of the in-studio audience voting. But bottom line, what that means is that there will be no live shows and no voting by America.

Here are some other changes you can expect for the season.

Blind Auditions

Coaches compete against each other in the “Triple Turn Competition” (vying for the most three-chair turns), with the winner gaining a special advantage in the next round.  The difference for this season is that the teams will be comprised of only 10 artists, rather than 14, making it necessary for the coaches to be pickier in their selections.

Battles

The coach with the most three-chair turns automatically earns a “Super Steal” for the Battles. This coveted prize can only be used once and trumps any other coach’s attempt to steal, guaranteeing a win.

Knockouts

Each coach brings back two fan-favorite artists from their teams in previous seasons to compete in an “In-Season All-Star Competition.” All-stars represent their former coaches as they battle in head-to-head sing-offs. The coach with the most sing-off wins is guaranteed a second finalist in the finale. For this special episode, coaches call upon original Voice coach CeeLo Green to sit in on the competition and determine the winner of each All-Star Showdown.

The concept of superfans voting is not new to NBC. It was employed by another competition show, America’s Got Talent: The Champions. It remains to be seen how it works for The Voice.

The return of Clarkson in one of the red swivel chairs is a plus. She brought a lot of joy to her seasons as a coach, which came to an end when The Kelly Clarkson Show was moved from Los Angeles to filming in New York City. Possibly because of the new format, it became workable for her to juggle her schedule to film both shows concurrently.

Season 29 of The Voice is set to premiere on Feb. 23, 2026.