The Voice Recap: Hello Sunday Brings Mega Mentor Taylor Swift to Tears

They all sound incredible!

Written by Tammy Ragusa
The Voice Recap: Hello Sunday Brings Mega Mentor Taylor Swift to Tears
THE VOICE -- Knockout Rounds Episode 1713 -- Pictured: Hello Sunday -- (Photo by: Tina Thorpe/NBC)

This is the final week of Knockouts for season 17 of NBC’s The Voice and tension is high on the soundstage. Coaches Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani welcome back “Mega Mentor” Taylor Swift this week and the pop superstar had great advice and input for all of the singers.

Going into the third night of Knockouts, Blake and John were the only coaches with their “steals” intact, and both were very guarded with them.

TEAM GWEN

ROSE SHORT (34) – “Big White Room” by Jessie J

TAYLOR: “I was watching her and I didn’t quite know what to do with my face. She’s just got this magnetism as well as having the kind of voice that makes you go, ‘what?’”

VS

DESTINY RAYNE (23) – “Tell Me You Love Me” by Demi Lovato

TAYLOR: “It can be easy to belt your way through a number if you feel like, ‘OK, I’m in a vocal competition,’ but I think it’s about delving into the emotional side of it.”

Feedback

GWEN: “Destiny, you did an amazing job, but you were trying to do such a great job singing that maybe you’re just losing who you are a little bit, but that’s all I would say. Rose, to choose a song that has the lyric that really reflects where you are right now is what really came across. That just made it moving for me as well.”

Winner: ROSE

TEAM KELLY

KIARA BROWN (22) – “The Bones” by Maren Morris

TAYLOR: “I love this song and she did an amazing interpretation of it. She’s also just like a really warm, lovely, sunny person that makes you gravitate towards her and her performance.”

VS

SHANE Q (28) – “In Case You Didn’t Know” by Brett Young

KELLY: “The hard thing about Shane going against Kiera is the fact that they could not be more different. It’s going to come down to if Kiara stays on pitch and has enough air. It’s going to come down to if Shane can control when the spirit moves him.”

Feedback

KELLY: “Kiera, what you’ve done just in the tiny amount of time you’ve been on my team is incredible, like those high notes. And Shane, you’re phenomenal every time you come out here, but there’s some kind of hesitancy and I don’t know if that’s belief in yourself because people, they don’t want to just hear you sing, they want to feel you. And that is what is completely infectious and contagious about not only your vocals, Kiara, you’re such a beautiful light. And Shane, you’re that way, too, I just need you to show everyone.”

Winner: SHANE

TEAM BLAKE

KAT HAMMOCK (18) – “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer

BLAKE: “At this point, I haven’t not loved anything that Kat’s done. I just love the sound of her voice, the tone. There’s just something so innocent about her and so pure. I really believe in her as an artist.”

VS

LAUREN HALL (25) – “Breakaway” by Kelly Clarkson

TAYLOR: “What I loved about her performance is the emotion and the rawness and the honesty of it.”

Feedback

BLAKE: “My thoughts are I’m really happy for both of you because this is a big stage and you both have handled this thing really well. Lauren, you know, one of the things we talked about in rehearsal was I wish you would embrace that part of your voice that starts to break up. That’s the sweet spot. And Kat, I am literally blown away by your originality and your talent and how humble you are.”

Winner: KAT

TEAM LEGEND

WILL BREMAN (25) – “I Don’t Care” by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber

TAYLOR: “Will is such an interesting performer because he’s really got his own thing. It’s like adorable. He does this shuffle-y, anxious-looking movements and I thought it just suited him. He’s really cool!”

VS

ZOE UPKINS (16) – “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” by Meghan Trainor and John Legend

TAYLOR: “Zoe is so talented. I think she even has really great instincts about how to convey the emotions of the song.”

Feedback

JOHN: “I think Zoe has consistently shown me that she is so poised, such a gifted singer, so beyond her years, you’re going to dominate in whatever realm you wanna do. Thank you for letting me work with you. Will, you do have that fire and that energy that everyone is so attracted to. I don’t know what is going to happen next. When certain people do that, it makes me feel uneasy, but when you do it, it makes me feel excited because I know you’re going to pull it off. It’s really fun to watch you perform, to hear your creativity, to hear your artistry.”

Winner: WILL

TEAM GWEN

ROYCE LOVETT (30) – “Wake Me Up” by Avicii

GWEN: “Royce has star quality on stage, he just needs to figure out where he’s going to move and what he’s going to do with his body.”

VS

JAKE HALDENVANG (24) – “Powerful” by Major Lazer with Ellie Goulding and Tarrus Riley

TAYLOR: “He’s so effortlessly good at everything that he almost looks like he’s phoning it in and he’s not.”

Feedback

GWEN: “I’m just really impressed with my fellow coaches because they are picking up on all the things that we talked about. Jake, your vocal blows me away. To be in this pressurized situation where you have that much control, it’s moving me to tears. I’m so in love with you, Royce. I love that you bounce genres. This is super hard.”

Winner: JAKE

TEAM KELLY

ALEX GUTHRIE (25) – “I’m Not the Only One” by Sam Smith

TAYLOR: “Alex has an amazing voice and he has a really great presence on stage. He had a great idea with starting with a stool. I think it’s cool to have performance dynamics where you start doing something and you end up doing something else. I was like, that’s promising.”

VS

HELLO SUNDAY (13, 14) – “Almost is Never Enough” by Ariana Grande

TAYLOR: “When I started out, I was 10 or 11 years old singing for people, but seeing young performers who so firmly have their musical identity figured out, I was so completely shattered by it. I fully fell apart, it was that good.”

Feedback

KELLY: “This is a hard one for me, y’all. Alex, you made it sound effortless. And the fact that you’re confident enough to end that song in your low kinda tone, that’s why I fell in love with you. I love your range. And then you have Hello Sunday. I never know what you’re going to show up with in rehearsal and it made Taylor cry. It is very moving and Taylor was right – not just because you’re 14, you’re incredible, what you do. You literally come to rehearsals and I’m like, ‘OK. I’m supposed to coach you, right?’ I could pick either one of you.”

Winner: HELLO SUNDAY

STEAL: John – “I liked Alex before, but in the knockout, he came with his A-game. I really felt like we could do some great things together.”