‘The Voice': Blake Shelton’s Non-Country Girls Perform, Resulting in Double Steal
The Voice season 16 Battle Rounds continue this week, with Monday (Apr.1) ushering in another fun night of the coaches pitting their team members against each other in epic duets—and training them with the help of celebrity advisors.
Team Blake Shelton enlisted Brooks & Dunn to help groom the hopefuls. While this worked out well for Shelton's first battle of the night (the uniformly country Dexter Roberts vs. Dalton Dover), the storied duo found themselves with a challenge on their hands with the second Team Blake battle.
Kim Cherry and Kendra Checketts are not really in the country sphere: "It makes no sense that they chose me as their coach, which is why I love them both," Shelton mused.
"One of these girls raps, so that's where I need y'all's help," Shelton casually told Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who seemed mystified but game.
Cherry confirmed this, saying "Rapping makes me feel strong, just like the sword of Gryffindor. I'm also a nerd," she casually added (not too hard to guess). "I was super happy to be able to showcase that part of my talent."
Meanwhile, Checketts displayed the same offbeat humor. "My parents decided to get me a life-sized cardboard cutout of you as a joke for Christmas," she told Shelton. "So, I have you standing inside of my recording studio at my house and it scares my dog and me." (Yes, Brooks and Dunn remained nonplussed, but admirably poised, throughout all of this.)
There was nothing funny about the battle between these two, however. Shelton served them up Alessia Cara's dramatic "Here," a not particularly easy number which the pair handled with a dual, beautifully executed, dark edge. "This song is the perfect blend of rap and singing and pocket, which both of these girls are comfortable singing," Shelton explained.
Comfort aside, Shelton raved about the "magic" the two created together. "You have to be talented to do that song. You have to have pocket. You got to have pitch. You have to have personality. To do it right, you got to have all of those elements, and then add in the passion that you two have..." he enthused. "Very few people on Earth have ever performed on something like this."
Of course, it was another tough decision. But Shelton ended up going with Cherry. "There's just something about her that I think is infectious," he explained. "But I got to say, Kendra did give a performance of a lifetime."
Coaches Adam Lambert and John Legend heartily agreed with that, hitting their buttons for a near-immediate dual steal as soon as host Carson Daly brought Checketts to the stage. Both agreed that they felt Checketts was the rightful winner of the battle. "I think you guys are seriously the most incredible people ever," gasped a visibly overwhelmed Checketts, who eventually decided to go with Team Adam for her save.
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