‘The Voice': Blake Shelton Has Another Hard Choice Between Ricky Braddy and Zach Bridges in Knockouts
The Voice Season 17 continued along with the Knockouts rounds on Tuesday (Nov. 5), with coaches Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani and John Legend making decisions about their strongest artists pitted against each other in singing challenges. Helping things along again this week was "mega-mentor" Taylor Swift, who had words of wisdom for all the contestants.
The previous evening, Shelton had to make a tough choice when his team's Kat Hammock faced up against Lauren Hall. He had an equally tough time this night, trying to make a decision between Ricky Braddy and Zach Bridges.
"Zach is my country singer," Shelton introduced him right off the bat, and for good reason: Bridges auditioned with one of Shelton's own classics, "Ol' Red" (which Swift, amusingly sarcastic, termed "An apple to the teacher on the first day of school). Meanwhile, Braddy charmed the audience with an endearing story of how his boyfriend is "his world," and how he wants nothing more than to win the competition just for him.
Braddy did a sort-of Bridges, choosing a song by a coach (just not Shelton). He selected Legend's "So High," which he says "really just embodies the excitement you get when you're in love."
He added, "I'm freaking terrified to sing a John Legend song in front of him. From what I've seen on the show before when people do his songs, he's very picky, but this song shows just about every part of my voice. Hopefully that will be enough to send me to the next round."
Shelton and Swift both approved during rehearsals. "Just don't burn up all your gas," cautioned Shelton.
Meanwhile, Bridges decided to take on yet another country legend, choosing "The Dance" by none less than Garth Brooks.
"No one knows that song. It's actually a very little-known indie artist," deadpanned Swift, to which Bridges explained, "I picked this song because I want to prove that I can be Blake's country guy."
All fine and well, but as Shelton practically observed: "Zach is gonna be singing literally one of the most famous country songs of all time, and everybody's gonna notice every little thing that he does because we all know the melody." He added that both singers weren't doing themselves any favors with their song choices.
Following both performances, the coaches were impressed, but all leaned toward Braddy. Legend approved of the cover of his own song, even going so far as to use the term "thrilling." Stefani said her "jaw was on the floor." Clarkson was a bit more measured, advising Bridges to lean more into his own personality.
At the end of it all, the choice was Shelton's. "My decision is gonna be based on who I feel like swung for the fence," he said. "I mean, you did a Garth Brooks song. It's a classic. You don't do that. That takes a lot of nerve, you know? And, Ricky, you did a John Legend song in front of John Legend. Who do you think you are, you know?"
In the end, Shelton decided on Braddy, with Bridges unfortunately heading home.
We'll be following along each week to keep up with the Season 17 competition, so be sure to check in weekly to check the progress of your favorites on the show.
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