Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Adam Levine applauds a performance on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Gwen Stefani is taking his place this fall, returning to the panel for the first time since Season 12.

It’s all a rather head-spinning turn of events for a show that announced on March 10 that the entire coaching team would be returning for Season 17.

But lots of fans are happy about the news. Many have yet to forgive Adam for his Season 15 decision to urge fans to vote for Reagan Strange on a night she couldn’t perform over teammate DeAndre Nico, who could and did.

During his 16 seasons on the show, Adam coached three singers to victory, Javier Colon (Season 1), Tessanne Chin (Season 5) and Jordan Smith (Season 9).

And at one point, he was king of the four-chair turn, often luring the most sought-after contestants to his teams.

Those days, however, are long gone.

Adam hasn’t had a finalist in the last three seasons.

And consider all that went wrong in Season 16.

* His singers won only 2 of 8 cross battles and he managed to lose both of his four-chair turns during those cross battles.

* He didn’t have a single singer voted through on Top 24 night.

* All of his contestants were eliminated before the semifinals.

And at least part of that failure can be attributed to Adam’s waning popularity with fans of the show.

With that track record, just how was he going to convince Season 17 contestants to join his team?

So whether you’re a fan of Adam or not, it’s probably a move that’s best for the show.

Replacing him with Gwen? We’ll see. She’s winless in three season as coach.

Head here if you’d like to read Adam’s heartfelt message to his colleagues and fans.