'Saturday Night Live' Season 40 Taps Blake Shelton for Double Duty, Sia as Musical Guest for January

Saturday Night Live will return from its holiday break and come into 2015 in a big way with musical guests. After booking acts like Iggy Azalea, Ariana Grande, One Direction and Nicki Minaj for the first half of season 40, today (Jan. 6), the NBC sketch show announced its next round of musical guests, including one set to pull double duty.

SNL announced last month that the Jan. 17 episode will be hosted by Kevin Hart and now, the Ride Along actor has a musical accompaniment: Sia, according to the show's Twitter.

But that's not the only announcement the show made today. The Jan. 24 episode will be hosted and musically guested by none other than country crooner Blake Shelton.

The announcements of Sia and Shelton will be both singers' first appearances on SNL.

Sia's performance on Saturday Night Live follow a breakthrough year for the pop singer and songwriter. Sia finally broke into the mainstream as a solo artist, with her album 1000 Forms of Fear debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and her single "Chandelier" being a mainstay in the Hot 100's top 10.

And Sia should be familiar to viewers of SNL, despite not yet having appeared on the show. Jim Carrey and Kate McKinnon famously spoofed her gritty "Chandelier" music video in an episode earlier this year.

As for Shelton, his stint as a longtime coach on The Voice likely brings him to the SNL stage - with the eighth season of the singing competition set to premiere on Feb. 23. Shelton will also be on hand to promote his latest album, Bringing Back the Sunshine. Released in September 2014, Bringing Back the Sunshine has spawned singles "Neon Light" and "Lonely Tonight."

Tags
Blake Shelton, Sia
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