Gwen Stefani Not Done With ‘The Voice’

Gwen
Stefani is leaving “The Voice” this winter, when Christina Aguilera
returns, but she’s not done with the NBC show yet.

She
said in an interview Friday she’d love to return. Now about halfway through
Season 9, Stefani already misses her show family.

“They’re all so smart, they’re all lovely. They all got my
back. I love them,” she said.

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As for the rest of her life, she’s trying to live in the here and
now and enjoy a few “priceless surprises,” a hashtag she’s taken on
for a private concert Saturday night for MasterCard cardholders.

The California native and mom of three oozed joy backstage ahead
of the exclusive appearance, so what’s got Stefani so happy?

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“Everything. It’s exciting. I’m in New York. Just that alone.
… I mean, I never went anywhere when I was a little girl,” she smiled.

And there’s also the birth of her third child, Apollo, about 19
months ago, and the rest of this season on “The Voice.”

“I can’t wait to get back on set and do the lives. It’s so
fun. It’s the funnest thing I think I’ve ever done, and so inspiring,”
Stefani said.

She’s going through a phase, of sorts.

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“I don’t have any plans for the future. In fact, my whole
thing right now is not thinking about the past or the future and, like, being
right here, right this second, because it’s so great right now. It’s such a
great, amazing time,” Stefani explained.

So if she were a contestant rather than a judge on “The
Voice,” who would she pick as a mentor?

“Impossible to answer, and I will not,” she laughed.
“But I would say, I know that I’ve worked with Pharrell before and I know
what that feels like. I’ve worked with Adam and I know what that feels like.
I’ve never worked with Blake so I don’t know what that would be like, but I do
know that me and Blake have a lot of similar tastes in people, in voices, which
is a shock.”

Stefani’s band, No Doubt, last put out an album in 2012, but she’s
recorded solo, made music with Pharrell and joined Eminem on a rap-rock turn,
“Kings Never Die,” for the soundtrack of the film
“Southpaw.” She also has put in some writing and studio time on a new
solo album but hasn’t announced its timing.

“Kingston (her 9-year-old son) said, ‘Mom you better get a
hit,’ so I’m gonna try to do that for him,” she said.

Meantime, she’ll continue to juggle family and music and TV,
acknowledging that the latter as far as “The Voice” is concerned has
become less about finding the next superstar and more about helping out young
talent.

“How many Michael Jacksons are there in a lifetime, or in
generations? They come along when they come along,” Stefani said.
“It’s just a platform. There’s so many talented people but there has to be
magic and things, destiny and fate, and God, and all these things have to
happen for a superstar to emerge.”

Would she survive the grueling competition?

READ: Selena Gomez On Advising Gwen Stefani’s Team On ‘The Voice: ‘I’m Learning A Lot’

“I can’t imagine doing what they do. I couldn’t do it,”
she said. “I mean, the pressure, and then to be having us trying to tell
them, ‘OK and then you can do this and you can do that,’ taking in all that
information and trying to make it happen on a live TV show. It’s a lot. They do
really good.” 

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