Victor Solomon Treats Fans to a Bonnie Raitt Crossover Hit at ‘The Voice’ Finale [Watch]
The Voice finalist from Team John Legend, Victor Solomon, treated country fans to a surprise during night one of the season finale on Monday night (May 25), performing Bonnie Raitt's crossover classic, "I Can't Make You Love Me."
The 22-year-old North Carolina native doesn't have much of a history of dipping into the country genre during his time on the show, typically opting for more pop or R&B-inflected selections. His performance of John Legend's "Glory" earned a three-chair turn during the Blind Auditions -- from Blake Shelton, Legend himself and Nick Jonas -- and it was no surprise when he ultimately went with Legend as his coach.
Solomon has been a stand-out contestant from the start, wowing the coaches with performances by the likes of Usher and the Temptations, the latter of which even earned the singer a social media shoutout from the legendary Detroit-based pop group.
During the first night of the season finale, Solomon and the four other Voice finalists were tasked with performing one "special dedication" song, and one uptempo song, both of which will be subject to live fan voting throughout the night. Solomon's "special dedication" performance was a powerful version of "I Can't Make You Love Me," which underscored the song's natural slow-jam tendencies and expertly drew out its emotional power.
Oddly enough, it's not the first time that a televised singing competition contestant has performed Raitt's pop-country crossover classic in 2021. Over on the American Idol stage, Season 19 hopeful Hunter Metts also selected "I Can't Make You Love Me" back in April.
Originally released as a single in 1991, "I Can't Make You Love Me" was a crossover hit for Raitt, reaching the No. 6 spot on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart and notching a place in the Billboard Hot 100's Top 20, too. The song comes off of Raitt's '91 Luck of the Draw album, which also produced another major single, "Something to Talk About."
The Voice will conclude its two-part season finale on Tuesday (May 25), airing at 8PM ET on NBC.
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