The Voice 28: Reba McEntire Uses Her Mic Drop on Seasoned Country Singer Aaron Nichols
The Voice Season 28 continued the Knockouts with a 4th part airing on Monday night (Nov 17). This year’s round seems so drawn out with this one hour format. This episode did have some highlights, including the 3rd mic drop going out via Reba McEntire to one of her team members, Aaron Nichols, a 37-year old country singer from Bakersfield, California. He faced off against country singer Cori Kennedy.
The mic drop allows for recipients to advance to a vote for a chance to perform at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.
Aaron is stoked to find out the mentor is Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh. “I don’t know if he was picked for me, but it felt like he was picked for me,” Aaron remarked. “I’m the only guy playing electric guitar and singing.” He chose to perform “Hurricane” by The Band of Heathens due to its bluesy rock sound and because he relates to the song detailing the hardships of being a full-time musician. He auditioned for The Voice for his wife and kid.
“His tone was really good. He sang just the right amount of almost too hard, but not quite”
Joe liked what Aaron is doing in rehearsal saying, “His tone was really good. He sang just the right amount of almost too hard, but not quite.” Aaron wishes that the show allowed him to play the guitar slightly more but realizes that the competition is about his voice. Reba and Joe advise him to use his eyes more.
Aaron opened the song with his gritty tone as he played electric guitar throughout. Aaron is a rock solid vocalist but is one of those singers that sounds very Chris Stapleton like. With that being said, he is one of the stronger country vocalists this season and is likely to be popular with the voting bloc. This version of the song is one of the better I’ve heard, vocally speaking.
Reba pushes her Mic Drop button for gives Aaron Nichols
His opponent, Cori Kennedy follows the performance up with a well-done version of “You and I” by Lady Gaga showing off her range. I found her performance to have a bit more character, so I would lean towards her, but for Reba neither is really the wrong choice as they are two of the stronger singers on her team.
Michael Bublé tells Aaron, “I wish I had that gritty thing, so I could sing like you.” Snoop Dogg added, “The way you know how to control your vocals, the way you can get that grit off, I believe you are a star whether you win or not.” Niall Horan said, “if that was on the CMAs, that would be all over the Internet the next day.” Niall would lean towards him due to “consistency.” Reba called Aaron a “seasoned veteran.” She chose him to win the Knockout and also hit her mic drop button.
This Knockout was solid, but the true highlight of the night was the Knockout between Team Snoop’s Mindy Miller on “In Color” and Carolina Rodriquez on “Love Song” as both brought something unique to the stage. Next week the Knockouts end with the final mic drop.
