Reba McEntire recently appeared on The Jennifer Hudson Show to talk about her new role as “mega mentor” on The Voice. Prior to getting into the nitty-gritty of working with Blake Shelton, she took some time to talk about her experience meeting Aretha Franklin.
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“She scared me to death. I wouldn’t even go up and talk to her,” the country icon told Hudson.
Given their shared reverence for the Queen of Soul – Hudson having played Franklin in the 2021 biopic Respect – the pair took on the title song in an impromptu duet. Though the duo started off the performance seated and politely trading verses, they ended the number on their feet, singing along with the rest of the room. Check out the duet below.
McEntire then went into talking about her experience on The Voice. McEntire will appear alongside Shelton on his final season of the competition show. Shelton is set to depart from the show after 12 years and 23 seasons. She also appeared on the show back in season 8 to lend the coaches a helping hand.
“Blake is a character, as you know, you’ve had to deal with him,” McEntire said. “We’re both Oklahomans, both Okies, so I was one of the first mentors the first year when he was on The Voice. And so, since he’s leaving, and he’ll be sure to tell everybody about that, he wanted me to be a mega-mentor on his last season.”
This season’s line-up of coaches features returning coaches Kelly Clarkson and Shelton as well as newcomers Niall Horan and Chance the Rapper. McEntire will join the show to mentor contestants who make it through the Battle Rounds and head to Knockouts.
Shelton has noted, as far back as 2019, that McEntire was the show’s first choice when looking for a country artist coach when the show first started. “For whatever reason, she couldn’t do it, or they just decided it wasn’t the thing for her at the time.”
(Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
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