By Mekeisha Madden Toby. It’s been a banner year for Missy Elliott. The Grammy winning performer and producer impressed fans and made new ones in February during the Super Bowl halftime show with Katy Perry, she danced, sang and thrilled music lovers in July at ESSENCE Fest and now she’s headed to NBC’s The Voice. Elliott, 44, will advise contestants on judge Pharrell Williams’.
“She is unbelievable,” Williams, 42, told reporters at a recent press event for The Voice. Both Elliott and Williams hail from Virginia and he’s currently working on her album. “Because of her, I feel like my artists will challenge themselves to be more open and less categorical,” he said. “They will be less classifiable, live in the moment and exercise creative license whenever they want. That’s what she is. That’s what Missy does. She liberates people.”
R&B diva Rihanna will also advise members of Williams’ team as well as judges Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine’s teams. “Rihanna is all vibe,” Williams said of the Grammy winning singer and native Bajan. “If she doesn’t feel it, she tells you in two seconds. She just knows.”