Usher, Shakira to Replace Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera on 'The Voice' Next Season

Usher, Shakira (PacificCoastNews, Bauer Griffin)

Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera on 'The Voice' (NBC).

Is The Voice about the experience an American Idol style judging shake-up?

Us Weekly is reporting that Usher and Shakira will be replacing Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera on the NBC singing competition next season. The news comes via one of those trusty unnamed sources, so there's no way to gauge its veracity right now.

The Voice is NBC's most highly rated show other than NFL football, though, so you can bet that the Peacock network wouldn't be too keen on losing two of its biggest stars. The Voice is highly reliant on the chemistry between its panel of mentors, which also includes Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, so any changes would certainly be a blow.

Christina Aguilera recently told Ryan Seacrest during an interview that she views her gig on The Voice as "kind of like a side project." She's also not too keen on the limitations its put on her music career. "[I thought], 'It'll keep me close to my son [Max, 4] in L.A. I don't have to travel," she said. "Then it kind of took off, and there goes my free time!"

As for Cee Lo, Deadline recently reported that he's team! ing up with NBC to develop a sitcom. The project is said to be loosely based on Green's real-life relationship with his ex-wife and their children, and is being written by Ali Leroy (Everybody Hates Chris).

Update: Looks like the rumors are true. Usher and Shakira will step in for Green and Aguilera for the fourth cycle of the series, set the hit the small screen in January.

"Doing two back-to-back cycles of this show requires a tremendous amount of time, and we are happy to accommodate the commitments made by Christina and Cee Lo," chairman of NBC Entertainment Robert Greenblatt said in a statement obtained by E! News. "The participants on our show benefit from our coaches' expertise and their continued success in the music business allows for significant new contributions to the contestants when they return."

Green and Aguilera are expected to return for The Voice's fifth cycle, which will likely launch in Sept. 2013.

What do you think? Will you watch The Voice without Christina and Cee Lo? Are you excited to see Usher and Shakira take a ride around the red spinny chairs? Hit the comments with your thoughts!

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