Gwen Stefani is doing some hands-on coaching on this season of The Voice!
The Battle Rounds continued this week, and on Tuesday, Team Gwen’s Chechi Sarai and Calla Prejean took the stage with a performance of Lady Gaga’s “I’ll Never Love Again,” from A Star Is Born.
Prior to their performance, however, Gwen called out Chechi for being too “in her head” during rehearsals.
“I just don’t want to mess up,” Chechi admitted to her coach, who told her to try and shake off the feeling and focus on her obvious talent.
“I think you just need to let us in,” Gwen counseled. “Stop trying to be a singer and try to be a person that we want to get to know. I’m so interested in you, and so I want to hear it through the song.”
The advice seemed to pay off, with Reba McEntire praising the singer after her Battle saying, “Chechi, your voice is incredible.”
John Legend agreed. “You’re exceptionally gifted — your range is ridiculous,” he noted. “You gave a really great performance.”
And Gwen couldn’t have been prouder.
“You’re so amazing,” she marveled. “That was like a GRAMMYs first verse, for me. It was so good.”
However, Gwen told Chechi, “I could still see this little insecure version of you that doesn’t belong on that stage, or in your life.”
“You are just not that girl,” she added. “So, I am just gonna have to spank you, like, no!”
Gwen miming the spanking had Niall cracking up in his seat, but the threat might be a real one. Gwen declared Chechi the winner of the Battle, meaning she’ll be sticking around for more mentoring from the No Doubt frontwoman ahead of the upcoming Three-Way Knockouts.
ET spoke with Gwen ahead of this season’s Battles, where she opened up about how surreal it is to return to The Voice without hubby Blake Shelton by her side. The Cowboy departed the NBC singing competition earlier this year, after 23 seasons.
“It feels kind of like [my] first season, before I knew he existed,” she shared. “It’s kind of weird, but it’s also like, I’m having so much fun.”
“Like, I’m only here because it’s fun,” Gwen added. “The coaching and actually getting to know your team after the Blinds is my favorite thing, ’cause it’s like, the dream’s there.”
She admitted, however, that it is a little nerve-wracking to look to Blake’s chair and instead see The Voice’s newest coach — the Queen of Country herself.
Of how Reba’s handled her first season so far, Gwen recalled the Blind Auditions with a laugh.
“She did great. She didn’t have to do anything,” she remembered. “She’d be like, ‘I think you were great. I’d love to have you on my team,’ and then they’d be like, ‘I pick you!'”
The Voice airs Mondays at 8 p.m. PT and Tuesdays at 9 p.m. PT on NBC.