‘The Voice': Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton Face Off for University of Alabama ‘Roll Tide’ Girl
The Voice's 20th season continued its Blind Auditions on Monday (March 8), with Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Nick Jonas furthering their efforts to build out their respective teams.
The night's first country song came in the form of 25-year-old Emma Caroline from Tuscaloosa, Ala. As might be expected, the pretty blonde attended the University of Alabama and interjected a fair share of "roll tide" mentions into her audition.
But that wasn't all. "My dad is a military helicopter pilot, and he was deployed when I was in third grade," she explained. "And since then, he's been in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and other places. It was pretty difficult growing up without him there, just because we're super close. But it pushed me into writing songs." She added that he wasn't often stateside to see her perform live, but he was there that night, and could watch her "sing my heart out for the first time."
That established, she took on a lilting version of Kacey Musgraves' "Slow Burn," which had both Clarkson and Shelton spinning their chairs. Legend explained shortly after: "I think Nick and I probably were a little hesitant to turn 'cause we knew, once Blake turned, that it was probably no chance."
Fair enough. Clarkson hopped in with an enthusiastic set of thoughts: "Kacey kind of represents a part of country music...It's like this new lane, but it's an old lane. I love female country artists. I've won with a female country artist, and I would love for you to be on my team.
Meanwhile, Shelton noted, "I'm so excited because you bring something that we don't get to see that often. You have more of a mountain-sounding voice, which I love, by the way.
"I disagree about [Musgraves] being an old lane," he added. "I think she's kind of created a new spot in country music, and people are so attracted to that ... I think you can do something like that too. Country music has been my life since I was 14, 15 years old. And now what's exciting for me is to find new young talent. I would be honored to be your coach."
It didn't take long for Ms. Emma Caroline to make up her mind, selecting Shelton as her coach. Let's see if Shelton's coaching record will hold up to Nick Saban's this season.
The Voice airs on Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC at 8PM CT. Come back each week to see how your favorites fare!
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