Blake Shelton Scores ‘Tiny Tim’ and ‘Michael Buble’ on ‘The Voice’
Monday (Mar. 5) night continued the 14th season of The Voice's Blind Auditions, in which coaches Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, Alicia Keys and American Idol alum/newbie Kelly Clarkson compete to figure out who will make up their respective teams. This particular week didn't provide much in the way of country music, but Shelton did manage to express his personality all over the place, as usual.
Shelton also scored two team members, both of which had absolutely nothing to do with country music whatsoever.
Shelton's best moment of the evening came when Brett Hunter, a 30-year-old who lives with his brother to save money, took the stage blasting out Carl Carlton's 1981 funk classic "She’s a Bad Mama Jama." The twist? He played it on a ukulele!
Shelton leaped on this little bit of oddity, hitting his button and then telling the other three coaches, "What is wrong with you guys? I have the next Tiny Tim, idiots!" Clarkson seemed bewildered by this, evidently not familiar with pop culture's most famous ukulele player.
Hunter displayed his talent further by giving an impromptu acoustic stanza of the song with his uke, and tiptoed through the virtual tulips to join Team Shelton.
Shelton's other triumph of the night was, as noted, also not a country-related one. After blithely rejecting Kayla Woodson, a Country Music Hall of Fame employee who belted out a Reba McEntire cover, Shelton became enamored of Austin Giorgio, a 21-year-old who favors dressing in sleek suits and putting it out there big-band performance style in the vein of Sinatra, Bennett and Buble. He chose to perform "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" by Marvin Gaye, giving it the best Buble twist possible.
Shelton and Clarkson both hit their buttons, but Shelton ended up winning Giorgio over by noting what good friends he is with Buble. "We'll Facetime him," promised Shelton. Good enough...Giorgio went straight to Shelton's team.
Tune in Mondays and Tuesdays for recaps of Season 14 of The Voice, and we'll keep you informed on all the series' twists and turns.
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