Blake Shelton, an American country singer and judge on the US reality show The Voice, is excited to work alongside Colombia pop star Shakira during the upcoming season.
“I’d heard of Shakira, [but] it wasn’t until one day, I think I Googled Shakira or Wikipedia’d or whatever, and I saw [that] she sold like over a hundred million [records],” Shelton said in an interview with Wetpaint.com.
Shelton, who has judged the show since its inception in in early 2011, went on to admit that initially he and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, the two remaining original judges, were worried about American rapper Usher stealing the show. Now, however, Shelton thinks he may have originally miscalculated.
“I think, even Adam, we were both like, oh my God. We were worried about the wrong person here. This is a girl that knows how to affect an audience, and she does it worldwide,” said the country music star.
Shelton admitted that, despite gaining fame after launching his TV career, he isn’t quite on Shakira’s level.
“I’m excited when I leave Oklahoma and somebody’s heard who I am,” joked the southern-born country singer. “Having somebody like her sitting there…she’s just the triple threat. She’s the quadruple threat. I mean she’s a writer. She’s a singer. She’s beautiful. She’s a producer. She’s smart,” said Shelton without a hint of irony. “I mean it’s all these things. And I’ve performed with her now. It’s like, all right. I give up. Maybe we’ve all been beaten already [and] don’t know it. We’ll see what happens.”
Shakira, who is expecting her first baby with Spanish soccer ace Gerard Pique, announced in late 2012 that she would take over for US pop star, Christina Aguilera as one of the four judges/coaches on the talent show.