Riley Green Says Kelly Clarkson Has Been “Talking Trash” Ahead of The Voice Season 30 (original) (raw)

Riley Green said Kelly Clarkson has been “talking trash” in an exclusive interview with E! News at the 2026 American Music Awards as the two gear up to appear as judges on season 30 of The Voice.

ByMay 26, 2026 4:22 PM

| Updated May 26, 2026 6:18 PM

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Riley Green Says Kelly Clarkson Has Been “Talking Trash” Ahead of The Voice Season 30

There’s no changing **Kelly Clarkson**’s mind that Riley Green is going down during season 30 of The Voice.

Riley revealed that the “Since U Been Gone” hitmaker—who he’ll be joining on the competition series as a first-time judge—has already stirred up some friendly competition ahead of filming.

Noting that he’s “so brand new” he hasn’t had much face-to-face time with his fellow judges yet in an exclusive interview with E! News at the 2026 American Music Awards on May 25, the country music star revealed Kelly “sent me a message kind of talking trash about the show.”

And that’s precisely why he sees the American Idol alum as stiff competition.

“Kelly’s definitely talked the most trash,” he explained, “so she’ll probably be tough.”

But while Riley admitted he has yet to communicate with Adam Levine, he has had a chance to meet another one of his fellow judges. Indeed, he shared how crossing paths with fellow first-time judge Queen Latifah was a surreal experience.

“That was a big deal,” he said. “She’s like a larger than life figure for me growing up.”

But the 37-year-old knows he’ll get a better feel for the competition once the cameras start rolling.

“I love that we’re gonna all kind of meet each other and build that rapport in real time when we’re doing the show,” he explained. “It’ll be real when we start filming.”

Until then, Riley revealed who he was stoked to meet at the 52nd annual AMAs.

Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic,Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for SiriusXM

“I think Ludacris is sitting on my row,” he said. “That’s pretty cool”

And that’s not all. After all, the “My Way” singer revealed he also has his eye out for Mrs. Right.

One week before the annual award show, Riley admitted he didn’t bring a date to the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards May 17 in hopes his celeb crush Shania Twain would notice him.

“Well, I don’t know if Shania’s here now but there’s a lot of people here,” he said of the AMAs on May 25, “so I keep my options open when I go to an award show like this.”

And that news is music to fellow attendee Bebe Rexha’s ears. In fact, she exclusively told E! News at the event that she thinks Riley is “so f--king hot” before cheekily mouthing to the camera, “Call me.”

For every star on the 2026 AMAs red carpet, read on…

—Reporting by John Redmann

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KATSEYE

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Teyana Taylor, Iman "Junie" Tayla Shumpert Jr. & Rue Rose Shumpert

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Hilary Duff

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Chrissy Teigen & John Legend

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GloRilla

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Queen Latifah

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Lisa Rinna

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Tinashe

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Megan Stalter & Paul W. Downs

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Bebe Rexha

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EJAE

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Paula Abdul

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Ludacris

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Josh Dun & Tyler Joseph

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