LOS ANGELES — The plethora of new elements in this season of “The Voice” has upped the ante on this all stars-like iteration. But veteran coaches Adam Levine and John Legend feel like they’ve got more “chill” – and that can be attributed to being working parents.

Sitting down with USA TODAY on “The Voice” set in September as they filmed this first-ever fully pre-recorded season, Season 29 (premiering Feb. 23 at 9 p.m. ET) marked the first time they were reuniting with third coach Kelly Clarkson since Season 16 in 2019.

(Levine and Legend were coaches on Season 27, and this is Clarkson’s first time back since Season 23).

“I feel like we’re all cooler. We’ve become dads and moms,” says Legend, whose four children range from 2 to 9 years old. “Parenting and growing up, we’re at a really nice place in our lives, and I think it helps us be better as coaches. We’re more rounded-out human beings.”

“Our chill is more. When I left [after Season 16], I was a little nutty, and when I came back I felt like it was some calm energy,” says Levine, who has three kids in the same age range as Legend’s.

Adam Levine is John Legend’s ‘free babysitter’

“The Voice” set, located in a massive soundstage on Universal Studios’ famous backlot, has a family-friendly atmosphere for the coaches, who are all parents. (Clarkson has an 11-year-old daughter, River Rose, and a 9-year-old son, Remington “Remy” Alexander.)

“We both have brought our kids to the set this season. Luna [9] and Miles [7] have been here a lot. They like to bother Adam, so I’m sorry,” Legend says. “I’m getting free babysitting from Adam Levine.”

Levine jokes, “I do some nanny work in my free time. We’re super tight now.”

Levine’s children with Behati Prinsloo, 9-year-old Dusty Rose and 7-year-old Gio Grace (and a 3-year-old son whose name has not been shared publicly), are pretty big fans of “The Voice,” to Levine’s chagrin.

“They love to watch it. That’s a new thing for me, because I usually can’t watch it. I don’t like to watch myself at all,” he says. “And now they watch it, and I’m like, ‘Don’t watch it.’ Now I watch ‘The Voice’ more than I ever have in my entire life.”

But Legend is convincing his fellow coach that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“The good thing about watching it is they edit us so well. They make us so funny and clever,” Legend says.

Levine agrees: “They make us seem so cool, right?”

‘The best coaches in ‘Voice’ history’ lead an all-star season

But when the cameras are rolling, the competitive spirit among the coaches that “The Voice” fans love is front and center.

This season’s higher stakes are intentional — and a synergistic move timed to NBA games returning to NBC’s broadcast, according to Executive Producer Audrey Morrissey, who calls this “Battle of Champions” season “an all-star season.”

Legend agrees: “We’re the best coaches in voice history, the three of us.”

The three-coach panel is a first in the show’s nearly 15-year history. As is the “triple-turn competition,” a fight for the most three-chair turns during the auditions inspired by the NBA, per Morrissey, which earns the winner a “super steal” during the Battle rounds.

For Legend, the Blind Auditions were a true test of grit. “The competition feels more intense for me because I always felt like I was fighting with Adam or Kelly for an artist anyway” in past seasons, he says.

“Obviously, the blind [auditions are] different because we’re going at each other, but in general I feel we focus on our teams and how we can make them the best so that they can win,” Levine says. “We get fired up but in all of the right ways and not the petty, weird ways.”