Queen Latifah is bringing a legendary voice and a deeply personal connection to The Voice when the Season 30 Battles begin.

The first-time coach has chosen music icon Patti LaBelle as her team advisor, and the pairing is especially meaningful because LaBelle once served as a mentor to Latifah herself. LaBelle will join Latifah during the Battle Rounds, which begin October 12.

In an exclusive sneak peek, Latifah encourages two of her artists to push beyond their comfort zones and give everything they have to their performances.

“This is even for me with acting or creating a project, we don’t go all the way there. We go past the line,” Latifah tells them.

LaBelle has an even more memorable way of putting that advice.

“Give birth,” she tells the artists.

“Exactly. Go on and give birth. Let it be all the things it has to be,” Latifah responds.

LaBelle then delivers some brutally honest advice of her own, reminding the contestants that they cannot be afraid to fully express themselves.

“Sometimes people say, ‘That’s an ugly baby,’ but it’s OK, it’s mine,” the 82-year-old singer says. “What I feel in my heart that is necessary to talk about, I talk about it.”

Her appearance carries extra meaning for Latifah. The Voice executive producer Audrey Morrissey previously revealed that getting LaBelle as an advisor was a major moment for the new coach because of their history.

“It was a really big deal for her to get Patti because Patti was her mentor,” Morrissey explained. “So she wanted to give her mentor to her team.”

Latifah is making her coaching debut in Season 30 alongside returning coaches Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine and fellow newcomer Riley Green. She has already committed to return for Season 31, where she will be joined by Green and new coach Joe Jonas.

Morrissey also praised Latifah as one of the rare coaches who immediately connected with the artists.

“She literally radiates,” she said, describing an “internal light force” that Latifah brings into the room.

Before fans see Latifah and LaBelle work together in the Battles, Season 30 will first wrap up its Blind Auditions during the two-hour October 5 episode.