The Voice 24 Battles: Ms. Monet and CORii bring fiery attitudes and vocals to Patti Labelle’s “New Attitude”
The Voice season 24 Week 2 kicked off on Monday (Oct 23) with a mixed bag of battles. While some singers struggled, two battles (the opener and the closer) resulted in steals. One of those battles occured between two seasoned vocalists from Team Reba McEntire—Ms. Monet who is a professional backup singer, and CORii, an extremely talented songwriter who appeared on the NBC songwriting competition, Songland. (Read our Recap)
Ms. Monet calls Reba a “renaissance woman” noting that she is “legendary.” CORii shares that after auditions, she went home to be a mom to her almost 2-year-old child. Ms. Monet confesses that she doesn’t have a husband or kids because she has “sacrificed nearly everything” for her music career. CORii admits she is not familiar with the Patti Labelle classic “New Attitude” that Reba chose for them. Realizing that Ms. Monet knew the song, CORii went into “work mode” to learn it.
“CORii was totally a surprise for me,” Reba says, adding that Ms. Monet “commands attention.” The duo’s vocals floor Reba, prompting her to exclaim, “God Bless America” and “Jiminy Christmas.” She is so wowed, in fact, that she ends up flat on the floor. Reba advises them, “I like to see everybody in the moment,” meaning she wants them to entertain and keep the attention of the crowd all the way through.
CORii appeared on Songland a few years ago
The show montaged CORii during the blinds, so we get a bit of an extra look into who she is. She says she is a songwriter who appeared on Songland where she pitched her song “What If” to Luis Fonsi. “I haven’t done anything as amazing since that,” It’s rare that a contestant is allowed to talk about appearances on other shows even if from the same network. She notes she didn’t do super well in blinds, but in the clip we get to see, she is hitting some big notes while Reba turns.
This battle starts with all of the bells and whistles. CORii beings the battle off with growls and all, but at times isn’t fully in control even if her range is super impressive. Ms. Monet on the other hand has so much power, and her growls are next level. She is 100% in control of her voice. Ms. Monet says, “C’mon mama” and then Corii hits some massive notes. Their chemistry on stage is great! Ms. Monet hits a very high falsetto note, which is nearly in the whistle range. Corii’s smoother voice intrigues with very good harmonies, but Ms. Monet’s leads are simply stronger. This uptempo song choice was a blast too, and both singers brought the stage presence which kept the performance exciting.
Reba chooses Ms Monet, but TWO coaches attempt to steal CORii
“There you go girls” exclaims their coach Reba. Niall Horan wonders why he didn’t turn for CORii calling this “night and day” compared to her blind audition. He tells Ms. Monet, “that could have been your song.” He would lean towards CORii. Gwen Stefani calls Ms. Monet “masterful” and “swaggy.” She said CORii began to “lock into her voice” showing off her “power.” John Legend notes CORii took awhile finding her “footing,” but then she was “magnificent.” He calls Ms. Monet, “consistently amazing.” Reba was “so proud,” adding, “you could go on the road as a duet.” She says to CORii, “you really stepped up with your stage presence and your vocal range today.” She says, “Ms. Monet, I’m just a huge fan.”
In the end, Reba chooses Ms. Monet, saying “she’s such a powerhouse” with “great stage presence” and that’s why she chose her. At the last second, Niall and Gwen push their buttons to steal CORii. FYI – the show actually does take it seriously that if you step off the stage, and the coaches haven’t pushed their buttons, they are unable to steal. This happened a few seasons ago with a singer Blake Shelton tried to steal. Luckily, they hit it just in time. Niall says her “night and day” improvement excited him. Gwen believes she can help her “tame” her “charisma” just a bit to be “cooler.” CORii chooses Gwen, calling the choice “organic.”
This battle was electric, but so was Team Gwen’s BIAS and Jacquie Roar who brought energy and big vocals to a Jelly Roll song which resulted in BIAS winning and Jacquie getting stolen by Reba. An honorable mention goes out to youngsters on Team Niall, Julia Roome who beat Olivia Eden on a chill, but effective rendition of “Kiss Me.”
