Adam Levine showed up to the The Voice semi-final performances on April 13 with a bleached blonde buzz cut, another sharp turn in a career-long habit of changing his hair just when the show needs a jolt. The look landed with his fellow coaches, who immediately started debating what color it actually was.
Michael Bublé said backstage that there was “a debate” about the shade, while Kelsea Ballerini split the difference by saying it could be called blonde or silver. John Legend joked that the new look could help denote Levine’s “OG status,” a nod to how long he has been part of the show’s identity.
The style change mattered because it arrived one day before the The Voice Season 29 finale, scheduled for Tuesday, April 14 at 9/8c on NBC. That same season, billed as The Voice: Battle of Champions, marked the show’s first-ever three-Coach lineup, with Kelly Clarkson, Levine and Legend in the red chairs and new wrinkles such as the Triple Turn Competition and the Super Steal.
Levine has played with his hair on the show before, and often with a point to make. He once said that when he first went blonde, he wanted to do something crazy, adding that he did not have a logical reason for it and that the look had become such a headache he might want to shave his head. During Season 29, he lightened and buzzed it again, but the idea was hardly new for him. Around Season 6, he appeared to have discovered that maybe blondes do have more fun. In Season 10, he went through a pink phase, and later came back with two platinum-white eras. During the Season 27 playoffs, he showed up with icy silver hair and called it a “platinum-y, icy white color.”
There was even a small callback in the reactions to the new cut. Bublé described it as looking like “Dick Van Dyke and David Beckham had a baby...sexy,” which is about as close as a backstage beauty review gets to a verdict. Levine’s hair has long been part of his The Voice persona, from the effortlessly flipped style and stubble of Season 1 to the bleached buzz cut he wore on April 13. The answer to whether the new look was a one-night stunt or the start of another run is already clear enough: for Levine, the hair changes are part of the show, and this latest one was made to be noticed.
