The Voice Recap: Team Blake’s Jon Mullins and Todd Tilghman Sing Shenandoah Hit During Battle Round

It was the final night of Battle Rounds for season 18 of NBC’s The Voice. And with just a handful of steals and saves left, hearts were bound to be broken — the contestants and coaches Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, John Legend and Blake Shelton. Fortunately, Kelly had mentor Dua Lipa, Nick had his brothers, John had Ella Mai and Blake had Bebe Rexha to lean on, along with host Carson Daly.

There are just two nights of pre-recorded competition remaining after the Battles wrap — the all-important knockout rounds, but first, the teams continued to take shape.

TEAM NICK – SAMUEL WILCO and AREI MOON

• Performed “Missing You” by John Waite

KELLY: “I love your chemistry, the whole vibe. I love the song. I turned for both of you in the Blinds. I got blocked for Arei. She was singing my song and it’s wrong, but that’s fine. This is actually a very even matched ballad. You both have really big, cool voices. Y’all took advantage of every second.”

BLAKE: “I love that performance, I love that song. With Samuel, you have a really big voice, you’re very quick with it, with your pocket and everything. And on the flip side of that, Arei fills space with different runs and just letting your voice ring out. I think it’s a pretty even match.”

• Winner: AREI

TEAM KELLY – MEGAN DANIELLE and SAMANTHA HOWELL

• Performed “Top of the World” by Patty Griffin

BLAKE: “Kelly is handing you guys, and probably especially for her, a sacred piece of music to her and that says a lot about the confidence that she had in the two of you. Megan, you, to me are the shocker here. My God. Your voice is unbelievable. Kelly’s the only person that turned around for you, clearly, I had gone to the bathroom or something. There’s no way I wouldn’t have hit my button for you. When I hear a singer with that kind of tone, the first thing I think of is ‘Wow, they probably can’t get up there and hit some of that other stuff.’ But you do and you do it well with a lot of strength and power. Samantha, I did damn well hit my button for you and Kelly stole my dreams away because she used her block on me. I kinda feel like I heard some moments in there that the pitch was just a little under a couple of times.”

JOHN: Samantha, you have a really powerful, clear voice that really rang out, especially in the higher notes. And Megan, I think what made you interesting was your tone, the grit in your voice. It just sounded unique to me.”

• Winner: MEGAN
• SAVE to SAMANTHA

TEAM BLAKE – JON MULLINS and TODD TILGHMAN

• Performed “There’s a Ghost In This House” by Shenandoah

NICK: “I love it, I love the emotion. It’s all about that. It was a really, really well-executed performance. The last time I heard you sing, Todd, you lit this place on fire, but Jon, you came out of nowhere with this and really blew us all away I think, and I’m proud of you for that.”

KELLY “I’m a fan of both of you. I thought it was a pretty even battle. Jon you singing Gary LeVox with Rascal Flatts would be insane. And any of that 90s country, Todd, I want you singing all of it. You got that depth and you both have little sweet spots.

• Winner: TODD
• STEAL: JOHN to Team Nick

TEAM LEGEND – BRITTNEY ALLEN and ZAN FISKUM

• Performed  “Closer to Fine” by Indigo Girls

NICK: “That was so unexpected. What a great song selection. I love the camaraderie within that where you let each other shine. There was a moment where I said, ‘Zan’s gonna take this whole first verse and then the whole chorus,’ and then you effortlessly gave the spotlight to Brittney. And it was just really enjoyable to see you work together to create a great moment for everybody in this room.”

KELLY: “It was so effortless and beautiful and I thought at first, Zan, you were taking the lead, so I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. Poor Brittney.’ And I was like, ‘This girl is on fire’ and then Brittney opened her mouth. You seamlessly weaved this beautiful, magical moment. I am so angry right now that I don’t have a steal.”

• Winner: ZAN

TEAM KELLY – MANDI THOMAS and SARA COLLINS

• Performed “My Baby Loves Me” by Martina McBride

BLAKE: “I’ll start with you, Sara. There were a couple of notes towards the end of the song that you went for that just didn’t quite get up there and I don’t know if it’s nerves because I think you have the talent and I think you have a really cool voice. You’ve just got to figure out a way to reel that in a bit. And Mandi, country music’s not your thing, right? But I’ll be damned if you don’t sound good on a country song.”

JOHN: “Both of you sounded great and I also enjoyed just watching you. I liked it when you harmonized and your voices are pretty different. Sara’s voice is a bit more piercing and cuts through in a way that usually works really well when you record and perform live. And Mandi, you were very good at singing country, but Sara sounded more like a country singer to me.”

• Winner: MANDI

TEAM KELLY – JULES and TAYLER GREEN

• Performed “Water Under the Bridge” by Adele
• Winner: TAYLOR

TEAM NICK – JACOB MILLER and KEVIN FERRIS

• Performed “Lights Up” by Harry Styles
• Winner: JACOB

TEAM LEGEND – CEDRICE and THUNDERSTORM ARTIS

• Performed “Stay” By Rihanna

KELLY: “Oh lord, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of it! I think both of you made each other sound even better. But I couldn’t keep my eyes off and it’s not because, aesthetically, you look like a goddess, Cedrice, it’s because you’re so comfortable and confident in your skin, it was so captivating. Thunderstorm, whoo, you’ve got a good voice. The tone, the range in a competition setting. You can do way more songs, I think.”

BLAKE: “Cedrice, Kelly is right. There is something that is magical about you and you’re super talented on top of that. And Thunderstorm, you really live up to that name, you know. You’re going to dominate musically, whatever it is you want to do. It’s hard to contain that much talent.”

• Winner: THUNDERSTORM
• STEAL: CEDRICE to Team Blake

And with that, the Battle Rounds come to an end. Next week begins the Knockout Rounds where singers will gain the expertise of their coaches and mega-mentor James Taylor before entering the ring again. Each coach regains a steal that they can use to add an eliminated artist from another team to their own team. In addition, the four saved artists will go head-to-head in the first ever four-way Knockout.

Due to COVID-19, most live shows have been postponed until the quarantine period has been lifted across the United States. No announcement has been made regarding the Live Rounds that follow the Knockouts.