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When Parijita Bastola stepped onto the stage Monday night (Nov. 14) for NBC’s The Voice, the teenage hopeful leaned on Mother Monster.
For her appearance in the Top 16 Live Playoffs, the Severna Park, MD native went with Lady Gaga’s “I’ll Never Love Again,” a number many observers will see as a sign.

“I’ll Never Love Again” is, of course, a Grammy Award winner and the emotional cannonball that appears in the finale of A Star Is Born.

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The aspiring Nepalese-American singer is just 17, but she delivered “I’ll Never Love Again” with all the power and emotion of a love-weary veteran.

The Team Legend contestant had all four coaches on their feet, and no doubt made new fans across the country.

“That was so emotionally beautiful and honest and it just pulled at everyone’s heartstrings,” Legend later enthused. “You set a spell on all of us and it was magical.”

Camila Cabello said what the rest of us were thinking. “You draw from such a well of emotion and you’re only 17,” she gushed. The performance was “masterful.”

Legend will be thankful for his quick thinking. Earlier in the competition, for her blind audition, she sang “Jealous” by Labrinth. Legend turned first and fast. Indeed, all four judges spun, but it was Legend who got the pick.

Before Bastola made her selection, she brought out presents for all of them: Rudraksha beads from Nepal, which she places around each of the panelists’ necks.

Then, in the Knockout Round, she knocked everyone out with her rendition of Etta James’ “I’d Rather Go Blind.”

Going by the chatter online, Bastola could go far in this 22nds season of The Voice.

Gwen Stefani has made some solid choices in season 22 of NBC’s The Voice, and on Monday night (Nov. 7), she had some tough choices to make.
One of those solid choices is Justin Aaron, who impressed with a performance of “Glory” by Common and John Legend. Aaron, a paraeducator from Junction City, Kansas, lifted the spirts once again during the Battles, when he faced off against Destiny Leigh with a rendition of Mary J. Blige’s “No More Drama.”

The competitors are now at the Knockouts stage. As the name suggests, there are no second chances.

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Aaron went up against fellow Team Gwen performers Cara Brindisi and Kayla von der Heide, for what panned out to be an impressive round. And a tough choice for Gwen.

“I’m so emotional right now, we had so much fun together,” she explained, stifling tears. “Just to be able to share and to, like, watch you grow, is just so unbelievably fulfilling to me,” she added. “I’m just proud, can you tell I’m proud right now.”

There could be only one, and it was Aaron who progressed to the Live rounds.

When Aaron performed for Stefani during rehearsals, she explained, “I was like, ‘there was no swag. And it was, like, 10 times flirtier on this stage right now. It was so good.”

What he’s got, it’s a “gift,” she remarked, and he took it to “another level.”

There’s so much more to come, the former No Doubt singer reckons. “He doesn’t fully realize how gifted he is. He’s so coachable. There’s no way that America’s not going to fall in love with him. We’re just getting started.”

Watch below.

No one but OutKast could make us shake it like a Polaroid picture. Kique, however, shakes it with his very own style.
Robert “Kique” Gomez, a Miami-based Cuban singer, stepped into the Knockout Round of NBC’s The Voice on Monday night (Oct. 31), for a reboot of OutKast’s classic 2003 single and nine-week leader on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The teen did it his own way, inserting a new groove, style and some low, low notes.

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Just 18 years of age, Kique opened Team Gwen’s three-way knockout, going up against Destiny Leigh (performing Christina Aguilera’s “Impossible”) and Rowan Grace (Billy Joel’s “Vienna”).

“One of my favorite things to do is change songs,” Kique remarks. “I really want Gwen to see that I’m not just a singer. I’m also a musician. I like to create compositions and make music and change things and make them my own.”

With his switcheroo, he got the place jumping and created for himself a good chance of staying the distance in this competition.

John Legend enjoyed what he heard. “For you to take that song and do what you did with it was so audacious,” the EGOT star says. “Truly one of the most compelling performances we’ve seen in three rounds on this show.”

“If this was a video game,” Camila Cabello notes, “you just skipped 20 levels today. For you to do a cover that was on the cutting edge of a song that was on the cutting edge was, like, Inception. I felt like a star was born. It was beautiful to watch.”

Stefani was left with a “very hard decision” decision to make. In the end, she sent Kique through to the live rounds.

“Kique is just a very unique type of singer, and I can’t wait to see what we do together next,” she explains.

It’s not all over for Rowan Grace, a student at Rapid City Central High School, who earned Blake Shelton’s steal.

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Peak Whitney Houston was impossible to beat.

Clearly Andrew Igbokidi and Zach Newbould read the memo when they engaged in a Battle Tuesday night (Oct. 25) for NBC’s The Voice.

The Team Camila singers went to work with Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” steering it into different territory. The pair stripped it down, creating a midtempo number with few clues to the shiny ‘80s original.

“Zach your voice really shined,” enthuses Gwen Stefani. “It was like an alternative sounding voice in a pop song. I like the contrast of that.”

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Igbokidi, she comments, had great range and unexpected runs. “And you are very beautiful, it was stunning when you came out.”

John Legend also picked up on Igbokidi knack for “very cool” unexpected vocal flurries. “You have an interesting approach to music.” His rival, however, is “more consistently on point” with “really lovely” tone. “It was really well executed”

Blake Shelton cut to the chase. Nerves got the better of Igbokidi. “Andrew, almost felt like something was holding you back,” he remarks. “I just think you’re better than what happened here today.” Newbould delivered best in this “tall task,” he admits.

Cabello went deeper on Igbokidi’s stumbles. “I think that your hypercriticism of yourself is keeping you from accessing the freedom and the fun to go to that next level. But the talent is there.”

However, Newbould stepped up under the bright lights. And he did it consistently.

Cabello had a decision to make. Her pick, like Igbokidi’s runs, was most unexpected.

Watch below.

The gloves are off, the Battles round is upon us on NBC’s The Voice, and the remaining contestants are wearing their big boy/girl pants. It’s no time for a slip-up.
On Monday night (Oct. 17), Grace Bello went head-to-head with Reina Ley for a performance of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” a timeless gem that went all the way to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1984.

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Ley, a thirteen-year-old hopeful from San Tan Valley, Arizona, is a member of Team Camila Cabello, catching the Cuba-born pop star’s attention in the Blind Auditions with a mariachi song, “Cielito Lindo”.

Bello, a 21-year-old who raised in Cibolo, Texas, and now based in Lacey, Washington, announced herself on the talent show with an audition of Justin Bieber’s “Ghost,” a performance that was rewarded with a four-chair turn and a spot on Team Cabello.

With the lights a little brighter in the Battles, and the pressure ratcheted up a notch, it was Ley who impressed.

“Reina, your voice is unbelievable,” Gwen Stefani enthuses. “I was shocked. Your tone is so warm and deep and rich, and I could feel you, that you understood what the lyric was doing and saying.”

John Legend remarked on how “secure” and “confident” she was in the melody and the moment. “I was really impressed.”

Blake Shelton cut to the chase. “I wish you could get in your head how super-talented you are,” the country star says. “I just felt like you’ve lost some confidence at some point between the Blind Auditions and right now. You seem scared up there, which, by the way, is ridiculous because you’re so good.”

Whereas Reina, he continues, “she’s 13 and she doesn’t even realize how much pressure this should be… She just came out here and did her thing and owned it and because of that your voice just came through stronger.”

The pressure then fell on Cabello, who had a decision to make. “This is just a sucky situation because I have two really talented people,” she remarks. “I don’t think one was better than the other. If I had a ‘Save,’ neither of you would be going home.”

Just before the axe fell, she added, “I hate this so much. This is the most terrible I’ve felt literally in all of these Battles.”

There could be only one winner, and that was Ley.

Watch below.

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