Reality competitions are known for really drawing out big announcements, but The Voice took a different approach on Monday’s first episode of the Lives.
The audience learned right away who coaches Kelsea Ballerini, Michael Bublé, John Legend, and Adam Levine had chosen to bring back with the “super save” they were given at the tail end of last week’s episode. Each of them had been stressed at the idea of trimming their teams from five to two last week, but they did it anyway, only for host Carson Daly to reveal they’d have this new tool. So fans had already been waiting a week to see who would return to the stage for the final episode of the season.
Olivia Kuper Harris (Team Legend), Kaiya Hamilton (Team Bublé), Jaelen Johnston (Team Kelsea), and Connor James (Team Adam), who all left the show last week were back for at least one more performance.
Team Kelsea’s Alanna Lynise, who was one of the two artists she initially chose to take to the Lives, gave one of the most poignant performances with a song from Wicked, “I’m Not That Girl.”
“One thing that I just love about you so much,” Ballerini told her afterward, “is you’re never scared to show your heart on this stage, and you’ve shown so many different versions of it, and I think that this set matched the magic that you have in yourself and that you show every time, and I’m just … I’m really so proud of you.”
Team Legend’s Bryson Battle also brought down the house — and the coaches to their feet — with his version of Mariah Carey’s “Without You.”
Legend was loving it.
“That was stunning!” Legend said. “It was so beautiful and stunning.”
And so was Daly, who rarely weighs in on the performances, but made an exception for Battle.
“Well, not easy to go from 12 to 5,” he gushed, “but, with performances like that, we’ll see what the odds are, I think that was almost vocally flawless.”
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And all 12 artists were jaw-droppingly good. Now it’s up to voters to decide which of the 12 will take the five spots in next week’s finale by casting a vote for their favorite artist on NBC.com or on The Voice‘s official app.
The answers will be revealed on the reality competition’s second episode this week on Tuesday, May 13 at 9 p.m. ET with a recap and results from Monday. The season’s big finale is set for May 19-20.
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