The Voice 24 Blind Audition Preview: Chechi Sarai’s incredible whistle tones on Minnie Riperton’s “Lovin’ You” earns her 4 chairs
In Minnie Riperton’s rendition of her classic 70’s hit “Lovin’ You,” she saves her incredible whistle tone until the end of the chorus. But if a singer is auditioning for The Voice and wants to impress immediately, pull that card out from the beginning.
That’s how Chechi Sarai gets the coaches–John Legend, Gwen Stefani, Niall Horan and Reba McEntire–to hit their buttons almost immediately. She begins the iconic song with a whistle note, nearly blasting the coaches out of their chairs. The singer sprinkles the high notes throughout her performance and ends it with a run that traverses up and down the scale. She takes the whistle tones even further than Ripperton did.
The coaches predict Chechi could go all the way to the finals
“First of all, anyone who can do a whistle tone that we’re all blown away by–to start a performance and then drop back down into a verse, I wouldn’t even attempt…,” Niall tells the 32 year old singer from Los Angeles. He adds, “You set the bar so high for this competition, I can see the finalist in you already.”
Reba agrees with Niall. “Your ability to sing is off the charts,” she says, adding, “But what I love so much is you’re having fun. You’re classy the way you do your hands. There’s a storytelling to when you’re performing. You’re vocals are just insane.”
“The thing about that whistle tone,” John remarks, “Sometimes it’s like a one trick pony kind of thing. But what you really thrilled us with today is the fact that You have so much more to your voice than just that.” He adds, “You look like a star. Your energy just felt like you belong on this stage and you belong on The Voice for a long time. Like all the way to the finale.”
“It felt like I was just watching a Grammys performance”
Gwen says, “What I loved about you was the love and confidence that you had on stage. You were in complete control of the whole room, and of my heart at the moment.” Gwen adds, “It felt like I was just watching a Grammys performance.”
Each of the coaches really want Chechi on their respective teams. Gwen believes that singers who have technically perfect voices like Chechi can lose their uniqueness. She offers to help the singer “get inside” of her “heart” and find her personality.
Will Chechi respond to Gwen’s offer to help her find herself? Or will she pick another coach? Tune into NBC on Monday, October 2 at 8 pm ET/PT to find out which team she chooses! Watch the performance below.
