Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Voice returns Sept. 23.

The art features coaches Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend.

Gwen, of course, is replacing Adam Levine, who announced he was leaving the show shortly after Season 16 ended.

Oh, and Voice fans can officially kiss the cross battles farewell.

In a disastrous format switch, the cross battles replaced the knockout round in Season 16.

The result: Team Blake wound up with eight singers in the Top 24; Team Adam wound up with just four.

And the show’s finals were shortened to just three weeks.

No word on how long the finals will be in Season 17, but the knockouts are definitely back.

The knockout round was filmed last week. In fact, Voice spoiler sites have already posted some of the results.

Typically, the first three rounds of The Voice are pre-taped. That includes the blind auditions, the battle round and the knockout round. Then the show goes live for the playoffs.

The Voice returns Monday, Sept. 23.