The Voice 28: Team Reba McEntire’s Cori and Aubrey stun during fierce country battle
Another two hour The Voice Season 28 episode aired on Tuesday (Oct 14), which featured more action-packed battles. Unfortunately, the twist that allows the singers to pick their partners means some pairings make sense, and others seem like total mismatches. However, one pairing that made total sense and impressed the panel and audience as well, was Team Reba McEntire’s closing pairing of Cori Kennedy and Aubrey Nicole. (Read our Recap)
Cori, a country singer from Minnesota, not only turned two chairs (Team Reba McEntire, Team Michael Buble) but then sang an original about her audition. In the end, she chose Reba over Michael. Aubrey, a 19-year-old country singer who is a college student at Belmont was a one-chair turn, and was one of only two montage short-clipped auditions this season, so it is exciting to see her battle air in full.
In their rehearsal, Aubrey shares with Reba and Nick Jonas, their mentor, that her audition song to get into Belmont was “Fancy” by Reba. Cori is one of six kids, and working hard is something she had to do growing up. She has a hunger to make it to the next round.
For their battle, they will sing “Somethin’ Bad” by Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood. Reba describes Cori’s voice as a “more powerful, growl” and Aubrey’s voice as “sweet.” Nick praises their vocals, and advises them to express feeling, and to care less about the enunciation to show that. Aubrey is a bit out of her comfort zone, as she typically sings ballads. Nick advises Cori to utilize that growl more.
“It’s always really scary when two of the greatest singers pair up”
From the first note, the battle is in sync and powerful. Aubrey’s tone is special with a slight yodel to it. Cori has power in both her sound featuring a gravelly rasp and in her stage presence with great energy. The two sound wonderful together and feed off of each other. I lean towards Aubrey due to her unique tone, but either is a worthy winner and both deserve to move on.
Michael is impressed, saying it is “impossible” to choose on this pairing. Snoop Dogg calls the two coming together “sisterhood” and reveals he would choose Cori. Niall Horan remarks, “Cori, you were performing the hell out of it,” and called Aubrey “flawless.” He would lean towards Cori. Reba states, “It’s always really scary when two of the greatest singers pair up.” She thought their performance was better than even their rehearsal.
Reba chooses Cori as the winner, and saves Aubrey after Snoop tries to steal her
Reba chooses Cori as the winner and attempts to save Aubrey. However, Snoop quickly hits his button to steal. He says, “Aubrey performed her a** off, that was a hell of a performance.” He claims he declared Cori the winner of the Battle, as he truly wanted Aubrey on his team. Reba says, “I know your potential,” trying to get Aubrey to stay on her team. Aubrey chooses to stay.
This performance may be the highlight of the Battles so far. Other match-ups that impressed me include Team Niall’s Kayleigh Clark who showed she may be the country frontrunner as she defeated Camille Tredoux on “Cowboy’s Cry Too.” Team Snoop’s fiery battle between Toni Lorene and Sadie Dahl on “Love on The Brain” resulted in Toni winning and also getting saved by Snoop. I was disappointed to see Alex Brown, one of my favorites of the season get eliminated in a montaged battle. n.
