The Voice
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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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Niall Horan has a squeaky clean reputation in the Kardashian-West household — at least, as far as dental hygiene goes. On the kickoff episode of this season of The Voice, the returning coach shared the unconventional way Kim Kardashian introduced him to her and Kanye West‘s eldest daughter North West, who apparently associated the Irish singer more with brushing her teeth than with his music or One Direction.
“The first time I met Kim Kardashian, I was backstage at an Ariana Grande concert,” he shared. “And she brought North, her daughter, up. And this is how she introduced North to me, she said, ‘North, this is the guy that sings from your toothbrush!’”
The topic came up following a stellar blind audition from 19-year-old Olivia Minogue, who revealed that she was wearing a “Niall” necklace after finishing her performance of Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down.” This prompted Horan to joke that “the merch did well, guys!” before sharing his story about the teeth-cleaning piece of merchandise evidently purchased by the Kardashian-West family.
Based on the “Slow Hands” singer’s story, it’s unclear whether Kardashian was referring to a toothbrush that played one of Horan’s solo songs or a track from his former boy band’s discography, although co-coach John Legend seemed to think it was the latter. “You guys had singing toothbrushes?” the “All Of Me” musician asked incredulously.
“Oh, did we,” Horan confirmed. Then, emphasizing his point, Minogue revealed that she actually used to have one herself.
Unsurprisingly, Minogue went on to choose Horan as her coach for the season, even though Legend and newcomer Reba McEntire had also both turned their chairs around for the teenager’s soulful voice. The three musicians, along with Gwen Stefani, make up The Voice coaching panel for season 24, which premiered on Monday (Sept. 25). It marks Horan’s second season on the show.
Watch Horan recall meeting Kim Kardashian and North West in the video above.
NBC’s The Voice is back on our screens, back in our lives. And some standouts have already stepped forward for this latest, 24th season.
Mara Justine did her chances no harm with a Rocket Man rendition Monday night (Sept. 25) for her Blind Audition, which she hit deep, coated in a smoky tone. The 21-year-old native of Galloway, New Jersey performed Elton John‘s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” a song so iconic, the British pop legend referenced it in the title of his farewell tour.
The coaches went hard and fast. John Legend turned first, immediately followed by Gwen Stefani. The show’s newest coach Reba McEntire turned third, then Niall Horan, the reigning champion coach, to complete a four-chair turn.
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“Someone who’s willing to go into the first round and sing an Elton John song like that takes something. If this is where you’ve set the bar,” Horan remarked, “what are we going to see down the line? America’s going to fall in love with that voice.”
McEntire praised the song selection, Justine’s voice, confidence and stage presence. “You’ve got such a song-spoken voice to have such a big voice when you sing,” she enthused, “that’s incredible.”
The country star kicked off the sales pitches. Legend followed suit. The R&B artist pointed out the youngster’s “tone in the lower part of the song” and her “finesse to also do those really light touches.”
Stefani pushed her enthusiasm beyond, asserting she “would love, die, freak out” at the chance to coach the competitor.
Niall, in his desperation to poach Justine, triggered a giant prop to help catch her attention. Then he strolled over to her and worked his charm offensive. Legend played his own fight by singing “All of Me,” with Justine effortlessly dueted on.
In the end, the choice was all Justine’s. And who did she select? Buckle in. We don’t know the result until Tuesday night.
The Voice premiered Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock. Watch below.
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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 […]
The gloves are about to come off. Another fall means another new season of The Voice, and the upcoming 24th installment of the singing competition series is already promising a slew of entertaining dynamics amongst the coaches.
In a new video uploaded to The Voice’s official YouTube page on Monday (Sept. 18), season 24’s coaches — John Legend, Gwen Stefani, Niall Horan and Reba McEntire— enjoy their first day on set. For McEntire, the day was something of a crash course in how the coaches operate on The Voice, with season 24 marking her first appearance as a coach. She served as a battle advisor in seasons 1 and 8, and during season 23, McEntire acted as the overall Mega Mentor for every team, advising artists ahead of the knockout rounds.
“It’s day one of season 24 blind auditions, we’re back!” Horan announces at the beginning of the video. “The reigning champ is here. It’s like the first day of school, come on!” Last season, Horan won The Voice — on his first attempt! — alongside 19-year-old contestant Gina Miles.
In a relaxed roundtable discussion between the coaches, McEntire asks, “Am I supposed to like y’all? Be mean to you? Is there something that I need to know to let me win?” Legend quickly interjected that “you’re supposed to direct all the artists my way,” prompting an aghast “your way?!” echo from McEntire. Throughout its lengthy history, The Voice has become synonymous with the playful competitiveness that permeates every configuration of the coaches’ panel — from Blake Shelton and Adam Levine’s early friction to Horan and Shelton’s “father-son” rivalry last season.
On May 15, NBC announced that McEntire would be joining The Voice as a coach. Earlier this year, when asked if she thought she’d make a good replacement for Shelton — who hung up his cowboy hat at the end of last season — McEntire revealed that she was almost one of the original Voice judges. The country music icon told ET that she was originally offered a role on the show before it debuted in 2011.
After a few seconds of McEntire and Stefani gushing over how “cute” Horan’s Irish accent is, the “Can’t Even Get the Blues” singer got serious about her first day on set. “The blind auditions were so much harder than I thought they were going to be,” she said. “They block you, and it’s just so devious! But a lot of fun too!”
In a clip of her addressing the crowd, McEntire joked, “Everybody’s just as sweet and kind offstage as they can be. When they come on the stage though, they kinda change their personalities!” “They’re real mean… especially Gwen,” she teased before breaking out into a fit of laughter.
Season 24 of The Voice premieres on Sept. 25 on NBC at 8/7c. Watch Reba McEntire get into the groove of being a Voice coach above.