State Champ Radio The Voice
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The Voice is officially in the battle rounds, and Reba McEntire’s team members Jackson Snelling and Jordan Rainer went head-to-head to perform a Reba classic. The two traded verses in an emotional rendition of McEntire’s 1993 collaboration with Vince Gill, “The Heart Won’t Lie.” The song was nominated for best country vocal collaboration that year. […]
Huntley looks like a Viking, sings like a rock star.
The 33-year-old from Fredericksburg, Virginia showed his form when he stepped onto The Voice stage Monday night (Oct. 16) for the Blind Auditions.
That muscular voice sits somewhere between country, blues, rock and grunge, with shades of Bob Seger meets Mark Lanegan. It’s a frontman voice, the kind that tells stories and has its own to share.
From the opening notes of his cover of “She Talks To Angels,” Huntley caught the attention. The four coaches’ chairs turned almost in unison.
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“Your voice is incredible,” Reba McEntire enthused. “When I first listened to you, I heard Chris Stapleton. So everything about your voice I absolutely loved.” And with that, the pitches started.
Niall Horan chimed in, recounting the vocals of Australian Daniel Merriweather and Brit James Morrison.
“That’s a tone that comes naturally. I bet you were singing like that when you were 15,” the Irishman noted. “You sing your own way, you sing direct, and so much power and the control you have. It’s so beautiful to listen to.”
Gwen Stefani likened his talents to those of Bradley Nowell from Sublime. “Your voice is just so automatic. You know exactly at what point you’re going to be raspy. And it’s pure and honest and you sound like you’ve been singing forever, on stage performing.”
John Legend was blown away. “Your voice sounds so ready. So ready for the world, so ready for the radio,” he explained. It’s “truly one of the best voices we’ve heard. It’s so impressive, dude.
Huntley had a big call to make. He passed down the responsibility to his daughter Stella, who joined him on stage. The youngster went with Team Niall.
Watch the performance from NBC‘s The Voice below.
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Willie Gomez may be used to dancing backup for Britney Spears, but on the Tuesday (Oct. 10) episode of The Voice, it was the star’s turn to support his moment in the spotlight.
Ahead of his blind audition, NBC’s long-running singing competition aired a video message from the Princess of Pop herself for the 37-year-old Miami native. “Willie is a dancer of mine, and not only is he a great dancer, but he is an amazing singer,” Spears gushes in the clip.
“I’m sending all my kisses to you,” the “Toxic” singer added, blowing a kiss. “Love you!”
Gomez has also danced for Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Kesha and more pop icons, per his IMDb page. He seems particularly close with Spears, though, and even shared photos from her wedding to now estranged husband Sam Asghari last year on Instagram.
But on the latest episode of The Voice, it was Gomez’s turn to be the star. And no, he didn’t sing a Britney Spears song to impress coaches John Legend, Gwen Stefani, Niall Horan and Reba McEntire — all four of who turned around for his lively performance of Latin music star Manuel Turizo’s 2022 hit “La Bachata.”
“You can do all the things you need to do to be a big star,” raved Legend after Gomez finished the song. “It sounded like, ‘Oh, I can hear this guy making a record that would be huge.’ Latin music right now is just so big. It is pop music in a lot of ways.”
“I really think that you’re super gifted, super talented,” Stefani told Gomez, after which Horan jokingly accused her of flirting with the dancer-turned-singer.
“Blake, she is flirting his pants off,” the former One Direction star pretended to text Stefani’s husband, Voice veteran Blake Shelton.
Ultimately, Gomez went with Legend as his coach. Watch his full audition above.
Well, that was quick.
When Caleb Sasser stopped by NBC’s The Voice to deliver a Blind Audition, the feedback was swift.
Sasser, who hails from Goldsboro, North Carolina, hadn’t even finished the first line in his cover of Toni Braxton’s “Another Sad Love Song” when he’d landed the one-two punch of Niall Horan and Gwen Stefani turns.
And when he unleashed a run of delicate high notes, Reba McEntire had heard enough. John Legend pushed the red button last to complete a four-chair turn.
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Sasser has his finger on R&B, jazz, soul. The good stuff. “That was magical,” remarked Legend. “I was hearing Toni and I was hearing a lot of Anita Baker in your voice, too.” Both are influences, the contestant told the coach, as are Jazmine Sullivan and Legend himself. At that point, a sigh came over the other three coaches, and a keen understanding of which team the singer would choose.
Regardless, Stefani entered her sales pitch. “I’m really good at stage presence, personality, getting out of your shell, trying to get people to know you as a person through your voice.”
Horan chimed in: “The ease at which you sing, is just so beautiful and the most humble, down-to-earth, smiley way that you could possibly do it.”
McEntire spoke last. “Calab,” she enthused, “your voice made me feel such peace inside. I did a duet album many years ago. And I promise you if I’d have heard your voice, I would have begged you to please come sing a duet with me.”
In the end, there could be only one. There were no more surprises; Sasser chose Team Legend.
Watch below.
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Nini Iris is living out a real-life fan fiction on The Voice. Just a few seconds in to her blazing performance of Everybody Loves an Outlaw’s “I See Red,” all four of the show’s judges turned around for the 27-year-old hopeful, including her longtime idol, Niall Horan.
Horan and co-coaches John Legend, Gwen Stefani and Reba McEntire each pulled out all the stops to convince Iris to join their team, with the “Slow Hands” singer even getting down on his knees and begging, “Please, please, please.” Seconds before, he even warned the others: “I’m gonna fight hard for this one, so you better get ready.”
Ultimately, the power belter went in Horan’s direction — although he may have had a slight advantage. “I gotta say that I was a big One Direction fan,” Iris confessed before choosing her coach. “I’m not ashamed to say that I wrote maybe a few fanfictions when I was a teenager.”
The revelation earned a flattered grin from Horan, meanwhile Legend wanted to know what exactly Iris’ writings entailed. “When you’re young and you love somebody you just wanna meet them so bad,” she explained. “So you write about your dreams of meeting them, that’s all.”
“You know what’s sad is when reality doesn’t live up to the dreams that we’ve had,” the “All of Me” musician joked in response.
“You know what’s been really sad? I met John Legend,” Horan quipped back.
This season of The Voice marks Horan’s second turn as a coach. He’s also the show’s current returning champion, having won season 23 with his protégé Gina Miles.
He and Stefani recently chatted about this season on The Jennifer Hudson Show, where he impressed both ladies with a spot-on impression of Stefani’s husband and Voice veteran Blake Shelton. The “Hollaback Girl” artist also lamented the struggles of building a team with Horan as an opponent, joking that all of the young women who audition (such as Iris) favor the former boy band star.
“I lose every time because all those girls come out and are like, ‘Niall … look at his eyes. Oh my god, he’s so cute!’” she told Hudson. “And then next thing you know, I’m a loser.”
Watch Nini Iris’ audition above.
Sometimes, even a young artist can carry the weight of time, of life lived, in their vocals. Lila Forde showed the world those talents when she stopped by NBC‘s The Voice on Monday night (Oct. 9) for her Blind Audition. Performing at the keys, Forde has a vintage voice. It’s fused at the hip with soul and soil and a touch of country, the type we’ve all heard speaking to us from the radio over the years, wondering where on earth that came from. For the younger generation, think Florence Welch and Freya Ridings. And some of us older fogies, Joni Mitchell and Carole King.Like a hawk, Gwen Stefani swooped fast on that buzzer. John Legend turned next, then Reba McEntire and Niall Horan finished fourth, smacking that thing with his fist.Following her performance of Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home,” and her four-chair turn, Forde gave a wide smile. For a moment, it looked as though emotion had sucked the wind from her sails.“That song could not have been more perfect if you tried,” Niall Horan remarked. “You looked so comfortable up there at the piano. Your tone has so many parts to it.”It was a performance “that reminded me of everything I love about music.” And then, yes, the first sales pitch. Stefani stepped up her game by taking off her shoes, walking towards the contestant, and delivering her own pitch. “What the world needs, we want a singer-songwriter with a true point of view, that’s original, unique, that’s not trying to be anyone else,” she enthused. “And the way you performed it, the confidence, it’s everything I love. It was so good, so beautiful.”The cover “was magical,” reckoned Legend, “what I heard was wisdom, you understood everything you were saying, every nuance…everything felt completely under your control.”Speaking last, McEntire remarked, “you are an old soul. You’re mature beyond your years.”Hailing from Seattle, the daughter of a musical mom, Forde plies her trade on the Los Angeles gig circuit. With four Voice judges beckoning her, begging for her, the choice was all Forde’s to make. And she selected Team Legend. Watch below.
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Drake‘s 2015 smash “Hotline Bling” got a jazzy update during The Voice‘s blind auditions on Tuesday (Oct. 3), when contestant LVNDR wowed the coaches with her unique, reworked version of the rapper’s track.
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The singer took to the stage with her guitar and delivered her soulful rendition, causing coaches John Legend and Niall Horan to turn their chairs before she could even complete the first verse.
“You used to call me on my cell phone/ Late night when you need my love/ Call me on my cell phone/ Late night when you need my love/ And I know when that hotline bling/ That can only mean one thingI know when that hotline bling/ That can only mean one thing,” she sang.
After she gave each of the coaches lavender necklaces in their favorite colors, the commentary on LVNDR’s performance began, with Legend stating he was more than impressed with her take on the song.
“What I loved so much about it was the vibe and the feel, which was just magical and transported me. Your voice, your tone was so slinky and ethereal and felt like this [lavender] smells. It was peaceful, but also musically daring,” the EGOT winner gushed. “You made so many great melodic choices because you changed almost the entire melody. Do you write a lot of your own original material?”
“I only just started taking music seriously a few years ago,” she revealed. “I actually taught myself guitar using YouTube. I never showed anybody that I could sing.”
This cemented Legend’s impression of her. “For me, you can sing and you have a point of view and you have a story to tell and I think that’s really beautiful and it’s really fun for me to work with artists like that, so I would love to work with you,” he gushed. “It would be a joy.”
Horan was equally stunned by LVNDR and stated that he initially was considering turning his chair well before she got through the first verse. “That was something special,” he told the 27-year-old. “I was thinking, ‘Do I let her finish the first sentence before I press the button or what?’ Because I just love character, and you’ve got it in abundance.”
“I felt like I was watching a movie and listening to a soundtrack. To say that you’ve been nurturing this in your bedroom just playing the guitar off YouTube, everything you said, I kind of did the same thing,” he continued. “Those voices that when you’re facing away and you get get goosebumps and your ears perk up — because we’re over there staring at that wall staring and hoping that someone catches your attention, and you absolutely did that.”
While it was a tough decision for LVNDER, she ultimately picked the former One Direction member to be her mentor.
Watch LVNDR’s performance above.
The Voice has found another one.
Teen Kaylee Shimizu showed up big time during her Blind Audition Tuesday night (Oct. 3), with a performance that carried the confidence of youth, and the skills of a professional.
Hailing from Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Shimizu covered the Beatles’ “Golden Slumbers,” peppering it with elite high notes — all stability and control — and with more runs than a track and field event.
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The 17-year-old gave us feathery touches, through to the dynamite, and earned a four-chair turn.
John Legend turning first, followed immediately by Niall Horan, Reba McEntire and, after a pause to soak it up, Gwen Stefani.
“We’re just stunned right now. Your voice was just dazzling, it was so creative it was so musical,” remarked Legend. “You know you could win The Voice, right,” he added, before rolling out the red carpet for Team Legend. “You have so much confidence delivering these impossible notes.”
Stefani was “blown away.” The youngster’s “vibrato, it’s so slow,” and it “feels like you have so much control over that,” she added. “I’ve never heard anything like that before and I think it’s because you’re so young and free.”
Horan, as a member of One Direction, has enjoyed several lifetime of experiences. “I cannot believe what I just witnessed,” he enthused. “That was just unbelievable. When we talk about ‘technically gifted,’ I’ve never met anyone so gifted. The song choice was perfect.”
Speaking last, McEntire admitted, “when I was 17 I had not the imagination to be even think about singing like you. I’ve never heard anybody do what you did on stage today. It was spiritual to me.”
Shimizu digs her “soulful R&B” and grew up singing karaoke with her Filipino family, who were invited to join the contestant on center stage.
There could be only one team for Shimizu, and that was Team Legend.
Watch the audition on NBC‘s The Voice below.
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The Blind auditions are rumbling along on NBC‘s The Voice, and, on Monday night (Oct. 2), one particular contestant got tongues wagging.
Hailing from Wrightsville, Arkansas, Mac Royals stepped into the spotlight and showed he’s in the right place. With a voice coated in caramel, Mac covered John Mayer’s “Gravity,” and was an immediate with the judges. All of them.
Royals has a vision to “build a bridge” from the industry to Arkansas, a place lacking in opportunities for talent. “I want to be there personally to help them, so I’m here doing what I can,” he explained.
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Don’t bet against him.
Prior to hitting the stage, Royals remarked: “I hope the coaches can hear my heart and not just my voice,” and that “they can feel the pain in the song that I’m about to deliver, and that’s what’s going to make them turn around.”
Niall Horan didn’t hesitate, as he turned first. John Legend closely followed, then Gwen Stefani, with Reba McEntire bringing up the rear — for a four-chair turn.
“Wow, that was such a beautiful rendition of that song,” Legend later remarked. “You made us forget about the original and just think about who is this person and I was so moved by your performance.” Legend wasted no time in presenting his pitch.
“You have this incredible gifted voice,” explained Stefani. “You weren’t trying got show off your voice, you were showing off you. And your heart. And that was beautiful.”
It was “off the scale, it was amazing,” Horan enthused. “You did everything so well. And brought different variations of your voice, we heard the falsetto, we heard the sick runs in the middle.”
McEntire played the geography card. As an Oklahoman, they’re virtually neighbors. “I had 18 people in my hometown growing up,” she noted, “so I do know about small towns, giving back, helping out.”
The smalltown connection was a winner, as Mac selected Team Reba.
Watch below.
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Yodeling is an artform so difficult to master, it ought to come with a warning — “only try this at home.”
Ruby Leigh is an exception. The 16-year-old from Foley, Missouri stopped by NBC’s The Voice on Tuesday (Sept. 26) for a Blind Audition that was both brave, unexpected and fabulously executed.
Looking the part of a golden-era country star and wielding an acoustic guitar, Leigh hit a cover of Patsy Montana’s 1935 “I Want To Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart,” said to be the first country song by a female artist to sell more than one million copies. The youngster’s rendition was soaked in thigh-slapping country and western. And yes, yodeling.
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From the opening bounce, the coaches realized they were in for something different. All four turned.
“I truly never heard anything like what you just did,” John Legend explained. “I loved how clear and precise and piercing and beautiful your tone was. And then when you started doing the yodeling, it was like, how was a human being able to do the things that you’re doing? You could win the voice, honestly.”
Gwen Stefani revealed her own secret talents at yodeling, though admitted they were nothing when stacked against the superior Leigh.
The contestant’s energy was “just insane,” remarked Niall Horan. “You got a four chair for a reason.” This kid is “exciting,” he added.
Reba McEntire, the country icon, spoke last. “Being as young as you are, and being a fan of Patsy Montana, I’m a third generation rodeo brat, so Patsy Montana, a country western singer, not just country – there is a difference – I’m very flattered, very proud of my heritage that you’re singing this song.”
McEntire’s mom taught the country legend to yodel, which she duly gave an example of. It was a thinly-veiled sales pitch. Was it a winning one?
Of course it was. Leigh steps into Team Reba.
“Ruby could be a star and have a huge following,” Reba told the cameras afterwards.
The 24th season of The Voice premiered Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock.
Watch below.
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