The Voice season 3 is in full swing, but it's never too early to look ahead to season 4. The news that Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera will be stepping down as coaches makes the next season of the show a big one. How will new coaches Usher and Shakira fit into the show and will they be able to keep up with returning winners Adam Levine and Blake Shelton?

Coaching The Voice is no easy feat, so to help them out, here are five pieces of useful advice for Usher and Shakira to heed if they want to succeed as coaches.

Prepare a List of Baby Jokes

Shakira's recent announcement that she's pregnant will certainly provide an interesting topic of discussion. Will mood swings affect her decisions? Will someone create a parody called "Birthing Hips Don't Lie"? Whatever the case, it's important to prepare some material for the occasion (see Heidi Klum on Project Runway).

Bring a Pet

Without Cee Lo Green, there will be a disappointing lack of animals in season 4. To solve this problem, Usher should definitely keep the tradition of Purrfect the Cat and Lady Bird the Pink Cockatoo alive. I suggest Harry the Tarantula or Ferret Bueller. The latter would offer an amusing video segment where the ferret gets lost in the studio and Usher has to call out "Bueller? Bueller?" while looking for his lost pet.

Choose a Bickering Partner

Adam Levine and Christine Aguilera's constant bickering/flirting has dominated the show. Without Xtina around to annoy him, someone will need to pick up the slack. Shakira is the obvious choice, but I'm not sure pregnancy will go well with flirting. I'd like to see Usher get into the boys' squabbles that Adam and Blake have. As for Shakira, I suggest the other coaches use the Modern Family approach by simply mocking her unintelligibility.

Don't Feel Compelled to Push the Button

Whenever new judges come into a reality show, they may feel obligated to be nice. My main advice to Usher and Shakira would be that they shouldn't feel like they have to push their buttons if it looks like no one is going to turn around. Don't just turn around for every single singer, be discerning.

Use Your Assets to Sway Singers

Adam and Blake will certainly be telling everyone they want that they have experience while Usher and Shakira are untested and don't fully understand the Voice process. To combat this, the new coaches need to make a list of selling points to sway singers. For Usher, he should definitely mention that he signed Justin Bieber as many times as possible, especially if there are any young women auditioning ("Join my team and I'll give you Justin's phone number" would certainly work). Shakira should stick to speaking Spanish. If Blake can constantly bring up his connections to country music, Shakira's Latin roots should sway singers by helping them with the Hispanic vote, something that Mitt Romney knows is crucial to success.


What advice would you offer Usher and Shakira when they join The Voice as coaches for season 4?


(Image courtesy of NBC)