Christina Aguilera on Leaving The Voice: "I'm Going to Miss" Adam Levine

USMagazine, Saturday, September 22, 2012, 8:30am (PDT)

Adam Levine is Christina Aguilera's Scarecrow: She's going to miss him most of all.

Opening up about her recently announced departure from The Voice -- along with Cee-Lo Green, she'll temporarily step down as mentor following season 3, with a potential return in later seasons -- the singer tells E! News "it's bittersweet."

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Aguilera, 31, and Green, 38, will be replaced by Shakira and Usher. But "Your Body" crooner Aguilera says it will be hard to recreate the camaraderie she had with Green, Blake Shelton, and even Levine, with whom she famously butted heads, particularly in season 2.

"I so enjoy being a coach to my team on The Voice [and] and at this point in season three, all of us coaches have truly bonded," Aguilera says.

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"When me and Adam are on breaks backstage, you know, we're writing profanity with my red lipstick all over Blake's trailer while he's napping inside," she said. "It's like we have definitely become like brother and sister. We goof around and play around. I'm going to miss it."

But she hinted that it's only goodbye for now -- not forever.

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"In order to be the best coach I can be on that show is to go out and be able to have the experience as an artist…create new experiences for myself so that I can then come back to the show and share that much more," says the Grammy winner, whose new album, Lotus, drops in November.

"We're artists first," she explains. "In order to remain great coaches and to stay relevant, we have to go out and we have to still tour, see our fans one-on-one. I have to feel creatively fulfilled in order for me to then do my job as a coach and be on that show."

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Christina Aguilera on Leaving The Voice: "I'm Going to Miss" Adam Levine