Talent Floods the Stage on Second Premiere Episode of ‘The Voice’ Season 14

It was a tough choice for many of the auditions as the coaches on 'The Voice' turned their chairs around left and right.

Written by Kelly Brickey
Talent Floods the Stage on Second Premiere Episode of ‘The Voice’ Season 14
THE VOICE -- "Blind Auditions" -- Pictured: Blake Shelton -- (Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC)

Just as the season 14 premiere episode kicked off, the following night’s show of The Voice measured up to the stiff competition between judges fighting for the best vocal auditions that hit the stage during the blind auditions.

From little tiffs between Blake Shelton and Adam Levine over whose musical ability will rub off more onto their team members in persuasive speeches to Alicia Keys spotlighting why picking one of the girls as a coach will benefit each contestant in the long run, it was a night of sensational performances and tough decisions alike for all the new faces.

The first showstopper of the night came with a contestant by the name of Levelle Davison. The 23-year-old Arkansas native brought a new name to soul when he sang riffs all over the Bee Gees song, “To Love Somebody.” Almost rather instantly, Shelton and Levine hit those red buttons to swivel around and give a standing ovation to Davison.

Shelton argued that Davison’s ‘vintage’ and ‘vinyl’ voice belonged on his team due to their Southern roots tying them together, while Levine petitioned toward bringing his dreams to reality once he is crowned a winner on the show. The plea was good enough for Davison to stick with the Maroon 5 lead singer as his coach, with Shelton losing out on that smooth R&B voice.

When Molly Stevens strummed just a few chords into her audition, Shelton immediately sold himself on the acoustic nature and raspy quality of her sound. Hoping to snag her up for himself, Clarkson thought to add some friendly competition by flipping around her chair as well with Shelton begging to not utilize a block.

Both coaches tried to convince Stevens to choose them through her desire to play country or Americana music. Although Shelton is typically the obvious person to side with since the genre made his career blow up, Clarkson did enough endorsing to reel Stevens in for the long run thanks to their girl power personas.

But Shelton didn’t walk away from the evening empty-handed as he landed upon singer and guitarist Pryor Baird. After his rocking rendition of “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” Baird revealed he moved to Nashville after growing up in a small town called Orcutt, California, to pursue a career in music and finally got his kick-start by getting all the coaches to turn around for a peek.

Ultimately though, it was Shelton’s genuine spirit and country music qualities that interested Baird enough to call the country singer his mentor for the season.

New episodes from this season of The Voice air on Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.