Watch Jordan Rainer Strike ‘Voice’ Coaches’ ‘Fancy’ With Bold Reba McEntire Cover
Written by djfrosty on September 25, 2023
Just call her The Woman in Black.
In this blind audition from Monday’s night’s (Sept. 25) season 24 premiere of The Voice, debuting exclusively on Billboard, aspiring country singer Jordan Rainer makes the bold choice to cover the signature song of brand-new coach Reba McEntire to make her first impression.
Rainer is a woman of mystery in the shadowy audition video, shrouded in darkness and wearing a black fedora, black sunglasses and all-black clothes topped with a black leather jacket. The other coaches look to McEntire for a cue on what to do as Rainer nails her vocals, and when the country superstar presses her button, Niall Horan and Gwen Stefani quickly follow suit. John Legend isn’t too far behind when he hears a vocal run he likes.
After the audition, we learn that the 33-year-old singer is from Atoka, Oklahoma, and lives in Nashville. When Legend asks why she chose to perform “Fancy,” Rainer says of the Bobbie Gentry-written song famously covered by McEntire in 1991, “It was written by a strong woman, it was made famous by a strong woman, and it represents lyrically what women do to survive. And I’m a woman who has done what I’ve had to do to survive, so I feel that song in every bone in my body.”
“I heard an exceptional vocalist on this stage,” Legend says, kicking off a string of praise from all four coaches. “Any of us would be lucky to work with you.”
Gentry took “Fancy” to to the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970, and McEntire made it a top 10 Hot Country Songs hit two decades later.
Watch Rainer’s full performance below and see who she picks as her coach when season 24 of The Voice premieres Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock.