John Legend Reveals How He Really Feels About Camila Cabello Joining ‘The Voice’

NBC

Longtime “The Voice” coach and R&B superstar John Legend opened up about his former team mentor pop star Camila Cabello joining the show for its upcoming 22nd season.

Here’s why Legend can’t believe they’re allowing her to join the show:

Legend Says if Cabello Beats Them, They Have No One to Blame But Themselves

In an interview with NBC Insider, Legend talked about Cabello replacing Kelly Clarkson, who is sitting season 22 out amidst her ongoing divorce settlement battle. Legend said the 25-year-old Cabello is not to be underestimated and they have definitely made things “harder” by “allowing her” to join the show.

“I’ve made it harder for myself by allowing her to be my competition,” Legend quipped. “And now, she’s coming for the crown. We all should look out.”

Legend is actually the one who told Cabello to pursue joining “The Voice,” telling NBC Insider that he knew instantly when she was mentoring his team in season 21 that she would make a great coach.

“She was on Team Legend as my celebrity guest mentor, and I could tell she was really good at it,” Legend said. “In fact, I told her, ‘If a coach opening ever comes up, you should do it because you’d be great at it.'”

Cabello Actually Chose ‘The X Factor’ Over ‘The Voice’ Back in the Day

Before striking out on her own to pursue a solo career, Cabello was one-fifth of the girl group Fifth Harmony that was formed on the second season of the U.S. version of “The X Factor” in 2012. In fact, she actually chose “The X Factor” over “The Voice” when she was deciding which reality singing competition to audition for and it was due to a really cute reason.

On an episode of “The Late Late Show” where Cabello joined host James Corden for some “Carpool Karaoke,” the host asked her what inspired her to audition for “The X Factor” and she admitted for the first time that it was actually because of Harry Styles.

“I was 15, I was a huge One Direction fan and I was like — ‘The Voice’ [or] ‘X Factor’? And I was like, ‘Well, One Direction will be at “X Factor,” I don’t know if they’ll be at “The Voice,” so let me audition for “X Factor”,’ said Cabello, adding. “This is really embarrassing and I can only say this because obviously that aws like 10 years ago, but I literally was like ‘I’m auditioning for “X Factor” because I will marry Harry Styles.’ … I was like, ‘I’m gonna audition for “X Factor,” we’re gonna meet, I’m gonna become a singer and we’ll probably fall in love.'”

She then added, “By the way, that’s the first time I’ve ever confessed the real intention behind me auditioning for ‘X Factor.'”

One Direction was the very successful boy band that was formed on the seven season of the U.K. “X Factor,” much the same way Fifth Harmony was on the U.S. version.

Cabello left Fifth Harmony in late 2016 and since then has released three studio albums and four Top 10 singles with “Bad Things,” “Havana,” “Never Be the Same,” and “Senorita.” When asked by Corden if she misses being in a band, she said she really doesn’t but not because of any bad feelings.

“Honestly, no, but there’s no like hard feelings about it because … we were so young, I’m such a different person than that time. There were some really fun times there too, for sure. And you know what, I do miss being in a band in the sense that when I am doing promo or whatever, I want to have other people next to me to like banter off of, but I don’t miss like splitting creative decisions five ways,” admitted the pop star.

“The Voice” returns in the fall of 2022 for its 22nd season on NBC.

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