The voice season 4:welcome to Usher and Shakira

'The Voice' Season 4 Preview: Welcome to Usher and Shakira

The Voice season 3 only just ended, but fans can already start looking forward to season 4. The finale featured a special preview offering our first look at new coaches Usher and Shakira.

The R&B superstar who helped launch Justin Bieber's career and the Latina hip-shaking machine will join Adam Levine and Blake Shelton as the four coaches for The Voice season 4, which premieres Monday, March 25 at 8pm on NBC.

The video began with Blake and Adam picking up the new coaches (forced to sit in the back) and ended with them all singing along to the corny "Total Eclipse of the Heart," much to Carson Daly's amazement.

It's a great, hilarious way to set the stage for the fresh blood that promises to keep The Voice from seeming stale now that it's gone to two seasons per year instead of just one.

I'm particularly excited about the arrival of Usher, as he seems like a perfect fit for the show. He's a terrific singer and entertainer, but more importantly, he's a producer who knows how to foster talent. Following Cee Lo Green, who seemed more interested in creating spectacles than grooming talent, Usher is a welcome addition.

As for Shakira, the real mystery is how she'll handle the show and a new baby. The Columbian singer is pregnant and due in January, so she'll be fresh off maternity leave when the competition begins. Will Shakira be pumping breast milk in her big red chair? And how will the fact that she's going to be a new mom affect her coaching? It certainly adds an interesting new wrinkle to the whole process.

The Voice season 4 should be an exciting opportunity for the show to branch out and dominate the reality TV singing world.

www.buddytv.com