Maelyn Jarmon, 26, was named winner of The Voice during the May 21 finale, giving John Legend his first win during his debut season on the show. Maelyn got all four chairs to turn during the blind auditions, but she chose John to be her coach over Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine. “I just love her work ethic and her attention to detail,” John told HollywoodLife and other media outlets after the finale. “She goes into every song with an actual strategy and plan to execute the song, and she has the wherewithal to do it. That makes it very, very easy for a coach. I can give a few notes, but she would be good no matter who her coach was because she has that level of excellence already in her!”
John added that he’s super confident that Maelyn will be a Grammy winner one day because of how “special” her voice is. “She was up there with me and Sarah McLachlan and you couldn’t tell who had Grammys and who didn’t,” John explained. “It sounded like all of us deserved to have Grammys. I feel like she can hang with us, so now, it’s just about finding the right material and making great records, then showing people what she can do. She has an extremely rare voice and I think she touched a lot of people’s hearts through the season.”
In the finale, Maelyn was up against three artists from Blake Shelton’s team: Gyth Rigdon (second place), Dexter Roberts (third place) and Andrew Sevener (fourth place). This, of course, has sparked up a bit of a new rivalry between Blake and John, but it’s all love between them. “You know, I really love Blake,” John gushed. “I really enjoyed getting to know him this years.” As a joke, he added, “But he’s an arrogant bastard!”
John will return to as a coach for season 17, alongside Blake, Kelly and Adam once again. However, he’s already learned a lot from the show that he’ll take with him throughout his career. “As an artist, I think it makes you think about song selection,” he admitted. “I mean, that is something we do for a living, but I feel like it gives you another perspective when you thing of writing and collaborating with other artists, and just thinking about all the songs that really have impact with people. I think it really helps you put that in perspective and see it from all different genres and approaches that might not be in your wheelhouse. So I think it’s an interesting and constructive experience in that way.”