Photo: NBC/Getty Images

Kelly Clarkson called country legend Reba McEntire while she and John Legend competed for a Voice contestant.

Clarkson, Legend and Adam Levine returned to The Voice for The Voice: Battle of Champions, which NBC describes as “a whole new game. …These champion coaches come back to their chairs once again to discover incredible talent in a season full of thrilling twists, fan-favorite guests and spectacular performances.” The blind auditions premiered on Monday (February 23). Clarkson and Legend turned their chairs for Julia Golden, 19, a singer from Carthage, North Carolina, after her stunning rendition of Deana Carter’s “Strawberry Wine.”

Legend pointed out that he turned his chair for Golden first; however, Clarkson said she didn’t turn sooner because she was too busy singing along. The Kelly Clarkson Show host added, “I don’t know if you like Lee Ann Womack either, but I could hear a little bit of that in your voice, too. That’s my Texas queen. I love her.

“You have to be believable. You have to be authentic. And that’s what you were for me,” Clarkson told Golden of her performance.

Legend said McEntire, who has coached four seasons of The Voice, is “fantastic” on the competition show. He went on to pay a pre-recorded message from McEntire — “the Queen, you might say, of Country Music” — who said: “People have asked me, ‘can John Legend coach a country artist?’ Heck yeah! I wish he’d coach me. He’s absolutely fantastic. He’s a genius. He can do anything. He plays, he sings, he mentors. I know. I’m the Queen of Country Music. And I endorse John Legend. I endorse this message.”

Clarkson’s jaw dropped.

“I need just a minute,” she said as she pulled up her phone. “She better answer.”

“Calm down, girl,” McEntire said as Clarkson asked her about the video she’d recorded for Legend. Clarkson said she just needed Golden to know, “I make an excellent coach for country artists, as well!” McEntire agreed, and Clarkson told her, “I love you so much, but I hate that video!”

Watch that full moment — and find out which team Golden chose — here: