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Blake Shelton — the resident cowboy on “The Voice” since the very first notes were sung back in 2011 — is about to have his last rodeo.
That’s right: The country superstar — who has presided in one of those ridiculous red chairs for every single season of NBC’s singing-competition juggernaut — has announced that he will be leaving the show after next spring’s season.
“I’ve been wrestling with this for a while and I’ve decided that it’s time for me to step away from ‘The Voice’ after Season 23,” Shelton, 46, announced in a statement posted on Instagram last night.
To say that it is the end of an era is putting it mildly. Shelton has been the honky-tonk heart of “The Voice” since it began. And it’s hard not to see his departure as the beginning of the end for the show.
Shelton’s consistent presence throughout the years provided a comforting stability as “The Voice” has had a revolving door of other judges — from Christina Aguilera and Miley Cyrus to Usher and Alicia Keys to Nick Jonas and Ariana Grande — sitting in the three chairs to his right.
