Blake Shelton and Ariana Grande Joke About The Voice Replacing Him: 'Thanks a Lot Ari'
getty images (2) Blake Shelton; Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande may have just arrived at The Voice this season, but she and fellow judge Blake Shelton are joking she may oust him from his big red chair.
Grande, 28, included a screenshot of an exchange between herself and Shelton, 45, in her latest Instagram post, showing a text message in which Shelton sent her an article titled, in part, "Producers at The Voice May Replace Blake Shelton After Ariana Grande Brings Fresh Energy."
Shelton followed up his text with the message, "Thanks a lot, Ari… Thanks a f---ing lot…"
Grande simply replied by reacting to Shelton's message with a heart, but her followers were quick to share their own reactions to her post. Plenty of users chimed in from the comments section of her multi-slide Instagram to point specifically to the last photo, which included her text exchange with Shelton.
Even Katy Perry joined in, simply commenting, "Last slide," while Grande's brother Frankie wrote, "YOURE SO FUNNY!!!!"
Grande replaced Nick Jonas and joined The Voice as a coach for season 21. When Grande was announced as the newest judge on the singing competition series, joining Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend, Shelton joked that he was excited "because it's somebody new for me to beat."
RELATED: Ariana Grande Tells Kelly Clarkson She DMs Her Voice Artists: 'You're Not Supposed to Do That'
"I'm tired of beating John every season — and Nick," he said, who "is the easiest coach I have ever beat in 20 seasons of doing this show."
Shelton, who has won the show seven times, continued, "The easiest defeat of my career was Nick Jonas. So I'm looking for a challenge. I think Ariana could be a challenge. I'm looking forward to beating her though."
The country star previously told PEOPLE he has beef with Grande dating back to 2016, when she released her Dangerous Woman album the same day he released his album If I'm Honest, joking his "dreams were destroyed" by the pop star.
"I released the album, and I had some momentum going at that point musically," Shelton said. "I was excited thinking that this might be my chance to have the No. 1 album in the country."
But when his record label called, they told him it was "looking good" that he could lock in the No. 1 country album, before admitting he had no chance at topping the overall chart because "Ariana Grande has got her album," Shelton explained.
"Literally, I may as well have released a coaster of a CD," he said. "You trashed my album!"
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
