“We’re turning it over to America,” McEntire tells PEOPLE ahead of the NBC singing competition series’ two-part live finale on May 20 and 21

Reba McEntire at The Voice. Photo:  

As season 25 of The Voice nears its end, Reba McEntire is feeling sentimental.

The hit NBC singing competition series will crown its latest winner on this season’s two-part live finale on May 20 and 21, and the country icon — who’s a coach on the show alongside Chance the Rapper, Dan + Shay and John Legend — has two contestants left in the game.

“I’m a little emotional,” McEntire, 69, tells PEOPLE as Team Reba’s Asher HaVon and Josh Sanders compete for the general public’s votes to win The Voice. “It’s a little nerve-wracking because we’re turning it over to America — America votes now.”

Reba McEntire on The Voice. 

“It’s not us selecting who gets to move forward, so we’re very protective of our contestants, of our artists,” adds the Grammy winner, “and we’ll be there for them whether they move forward or not.”

This season marks McEntire’s second as a coach on The Voice, and she was recently announced to return to her red chair for season 26 alongside Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg and Michael Bublé.

Working on the music-centric show has influenced how the “Fancy” singer approaches her own material, including her latest single “I Can’t,” which precedes a forthcoming new album from the Reba star.

Reba McEntire performs on the ACM Awards on May 16, 2024. 

“We’ve been working on it for a while now, getting the songs ready, recording with Dave Cobb. Not sure when it’s going to come out yet. We’re waiting to see when the climate’s right, when the timing’s right,” she teases of the project.

When it comes to writing or choosing new tracks to record, McEntire says she looks “for a song that just touches my heart.”

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Reba McEntire onstage at the ACM Awards rehearsals on May 15, 2024. 

“If it gives me an emotion of happy, sad, remembering a situation in my life or a good memory, it’s got to spark an emotion. That’s what I tell the kids on The Voice — pick a song that makes people feel something,” she explains.

“If I’m at a concert and I’m singing songs, nobody’s feeling anything, I’ve missed it. I have just not done my job,” says the seasoned performer. “That’s what music is about, emotion, feeling something.”