Published by Cel Manero from Global One Media Inc.
Levine and Shelton built a strong friendship during their time on The Voice, coaching side by side for 16 consecutive seasons.
Adam Levine and Blake Shelton have a brotherly friendship.
During a break from blind auditions on the Monday, Feb. 10 episode of The Voice, the Maroon 5 frontman sent the country star a witty text message in hopes of an answer. When he didn’t receive one, he sent him multiple follow-ups — and Shelton had a hilarious response.
“Hey I’m in your old stupid chair now… stupid,” Levine, 45, texted Shelton, 48.
“God I hate you,” he wrote in his second message.
After pausing for a moment, Levine sent two back-to-back texts that each read “Haha.”
“Miss you… just kidding I can’t stand you,” he wrote in another text, before asking, “Are you getting these?”
Frustrated, Levine threw up his hands and rolled his eyes while waiting for Shelton to respond to his text.
In one last attempt, the She Will Be Loved singer sent a final message: “Fine, whatever. You suck eggs.”
About 10 minutes later, Shelton finally replied—with a simple one-word response: “unsubscribe.”
This season marks Levine’s return to The Voice after stepping away in May 2019. He was part of the show from its debut, coaching for 16 seasons alongside Shelton. Now, following Shelton’s own departure in May 2023, Levine has taken a seat in the iconic red chair once again.
Ahead of his return, Levine joked with PEOPLE about how much he’s enjoying the show without his longtime rival.
“The best part about being back with The Voice family is that I don’t have to deal with Blake Shelton,” he quipped. “I just don’t like him. So, it’s been great not having to be around him. He’s a bad friend…”
After a pause, he quickly added, “I’m just kidding. Of course, I love Blake. And I had to open with a Blake joke because, even though he’s not on the show anymore, his presence somehow still lingers.”
Now, Levine is coaching alongside Kelsea Ballerini, Michael Bublé, and John Legend—though none of them quite fill the space left by his old friend.
“No, no, no—definitely not. There’s no replacing Blake,” Levine insisted. “What we had happened so naturally, and it was rooted in our friendship.”
He explained, “People don’t realize that we were thrown into something that wasn’t even a thing yet. Our bond formed out of not knowing what the hell was going on, just being goofy and messing around with each other.”
Levine continued, “That turned into something people loved watching. It was totally unplanned and spontaneous. Suddenly, we realized people enjoyed seeing us talk trash to each other. So we thought, ‘Why not lean into it?’ And I asked, ‘Is there such a thing as too far?’ Blake said, ‘No.’ And I figured, ‘Yeah, probably not. Let’s just go for it.’ And we had a blast with it.”