After rewatching the 2010 clip, the country legend joked, “I don’t think you can act like that on TV anymore.”

What’s a girl to do when the one and only Blake Shelton sings to her? Back in 2010, Hoda Kotb got to experience just that, and her smile says it all.

During an August 2010 appearance on TODAY, The Voice OG Coach pulled out his guitar to perform one his new songs, looking directly into Kotb’s eyes as he sang. And the former TODAY co-anchor remembers feeling like the only girl in the room.

“I do remember, Blake, the time we were sitting on set together and you started singing,” Kotb told Shelton during a January 2025 chat ahead of her last day on TODAY. “I think it was the first time I felt like someone was singing to me.”

In an old clip from 2010, Shelton and Kotb’s eyes were locked in on each other as the country star sang. “You’re gonna make me cry,” Shelton told Kotb said mid-performance.

Present day, after rewatching the clip, Shelton joked, “I don’t think you can act like that on TV anymore.” Kotb laughed in agreement, saying, “Those days are gone!” Read on to relive one of the earliest moments of their sweet friendship.

Blake Shelton’s acoustic performance of his song “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” made Hoda Kotb blush on TODAY

Singing an unplugged, acoustic version of “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” from his Red River Blue album, Shelton strummed on his guitar as he sang the song’s romantic lyrics. And more than a decade after that memorable visit to the TODAY set, Jenna Bush Hager and Kotb looked back at the moment.

“If somebody serenaded you, who would make you smile like that and kind of blush?” Bush Hager asked Kotb during an October 2022 episode of Hoda & Jenna.

Hoda Kotb and Blake Shelton appear on NBC News’ “Today” show.

Photo: Peter Kramer/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

“Blake Shelton was filling in to guest host and he said he had a song,” Kotb answered as a clip from his 2010 TODAY appearance played.

“My oh my, you’re so good-looking … I’ve not tasted all your cooking. Who are you when I’m not looking?” Shelton sang, coyly raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, look at your face!” Bush Hager said as Kotb began to giggle.

“Wow, were there other people in that studio?” Bush Hager teased her co-host before jokingly saying to the camera, “Y’all, we might have to cut that out for the west coast feed so that Gwen doesn’t see it.”

This moment, of course, happened years before Shelton and Gwen Stefani began dating in 2015, eventually tying the knot in 2021 at the country star’s Oklahoma ranch. And once The Voice Coaches became an item, Stefani and Kotb have bonded over their shared love of the country legend. “I feel like you’re my best friend because we have so much in common!” the No Doubt frontwoman told Kotb in a 2017 TODAY interview after the co-anchor dressed up as Shelton for Halloween.