'He is my favorite coach!' Kelly Clarkson says of Chance the Rapper.
Kelly Clarkson is loving the new coaches on season 23 of The Voice -- but she definitely has a favorite!
The talk show host has returned to her usual seat on the coaches' panel this season, though she's got a new neighbor in first-time coach Chance the Rapper. The pair has already bonded over their love for Joni Mitchell, and on Tuesday, Chance had Kelly nearly falling out of her chair with laughter.
While his fellow coaches had nothing but praise for the Team Niall pairing of Laura Littleton and Ross Clayton -- who took the stage with a rocking performance of the Steve Nicks-Tom Petty duet "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" -- Chance said that while the "performance was awesome," he admittedly had never heard the song before.
"Honestly, I don't even think I've ever even been around while that song was playing," he added with a laugh. "I don't think anybody I know knows that song!"
"It's like one of the biggest duets!" Kelly tried to explain.
Chance just shrugged. "I think you guys did it justice?"
That really got Kelly, who cracked up so hard she practically fell out of her chair, laughing and saying of Chance, "He is my favorite coach!"
Eventually, the group calmed down enough to give Laura and Ross their praise.
Niall lamented shooting himself in the foot once again with the strong pairing, praising the duo as "two unbelievable singers, singing a great song and making it their own in some way."
"I kinda wish I didn't know you now," he added of the difficult choice, before declaring Ross the winner of the Battle by a nose. Watch the full Battle below:
ET spoke with the season 23 coaches ahead of the premiere, who all shared how excited they were to be on the show for Blake Shelton's last go-round.
"I texted him," Kelly shared. "If he was gonna do a last season, I wanted to make sure I was there."
However, the talk show host insisted that she won't be letting nostalgia affect her competitive nature.
"If [Blake] wins, I am very happy for him, because that is super cool to win on the last season and he's literally the show, from its conception," she conceded. "But, like, I'm not, like, rooting for him to win. I'll be happy for him if he does, but I'm obviously trying to win myself."
As for the show's new coaches, Niall and Chance said they were ready to put in the work against the Team Blake dynasty.
"It's been awesome," Chance said of joining the show. "Kelly's very, very sweet, very nice to me. And Blake is... here."
The Voice airs Mondays at 8 p.m. PT/ET and Tuesdays at 9 p.m. PT/ET on NBC.
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