BILLBOARD.COM — James Taylor Is ‘The Voice’ Season 18’s Mega Mentor: Exclusive
By Rania Aniftos
Award-winning music icon James Taylor will serve as the mega mentor on Season 18 of The Voice, Billboard can exclusively confirm.
Taylor will join the coaches to mentor the artists remaining from the Battle Rounds, and prepare each team for the Knockout Rounds, which will begin on Monday (April 13) at 8 p.m. EST/PST.
The Knockout Rounds will have the contestants paired against a teammate once more, but unlike the Battle Rounds, they will each select their own song to perform individually while their competitor watches and waits. The coaches will then choose the winner from their team to advance.
Additionally, Taylor will help coach and rehearse with the four artists that were saved by their individual coaches during the Battle Rounds for the first-ever Four-Way Knockout. Only one winner on each team will advance, chosen by America’s votes and revealed at the beginning of the first live show.
In a funny announcement video revealing Taylor’s participation on this season, coaches Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, Nick Jonas and Blake Shelton play a game of telephone to tell each other the news. As usual with a game of telephone, something got mixed up along the way, leading Shelton to believe that the mega mentor was Elizabeth Taylor, not James.