The Battle Rounds on ‘The Voice’ Heat Things Up
Coach Blake Shelton had to make some tough decisions for his team's roster after he witnessed some pretty equal battles.
The competition is becoming more and more fierce as the weeks go on during this season of The Voice. As the coaches begin to solidify their rosters one show at a time, they also need to make the tough decisions on who will lead them to victory.
Blake Shelton roughed it out this time around, with his first battle consisting of Pryor Baird and Kaleb Lee. Both exuding that rock-country edge with their raspy voices and guitar shredding skills, the two went head-to-head in the ring while singing Tom Petty’s “Don’t Do Me Like That.” As Lee kicked off the duet with a calmer approach to his heavier sound, Baird stepped the game up by introducing unexpected yet delightful notes into his vocals.
All of the coaches expressed their support to each of the contestants for matching each other’s energy and knocking the talent higher between them. It was all down to Shelton’s final decision, in which he admitted to calling it the “suckiest” part of his job as a coach. While he ultimately chose Baird to stick on Team Blake, Kelly Clarkson snuck in a steal for Lee and took him under her wing for the duration of the Battle Rounds.
The next tough pick that Shelton put himself through was with the pairing of Jordan Kirkdorffer and WILKES. Singing Chris Stapleton’s “Nobody to Blame,” Kirkdorffer started off strong with a pop tone to his voice over what normally comes out as a raspy quality. WILKES made the adjustment with his rock blend, and really captivated the audience with his performance.
Shelton agreed that Kirkdorffer may be on to something with his smooth sound, but it didn’t match what the country coach was looking for on his squad this season. He said goodbye to Kirkdorffer and let WILKES take away the win for the evening. It wouldn’t be a crazy night, though, without a strategic steal on Shelton’s behalf. He ended up taking Jaclyn Lovey off Alicia Keys’ hands for his own team to grow in size and talent.
The Voice airs new episodes on Monday and Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. EST on NBC.
