The Voice shook up season 22 by raising the stakes in the Knockouts round. Instead of two artists going head to head for a spot on their respective teams, THREE artists will vye for ONE spot on the team. And with the coaches only allowed to steal one artist, the competition becomes cutthroat.
In the show’s newest preview, Bodie sings Post Malone’s “Better Now,” Kevin Hawkins sings Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” and The Dryes sing Ryan Hurd & Maren Morris’ “Chasing After You” for a spot on Team Blake Shelton.
Each act comes from a different genre. Bodie is pop, Kevin Hawkins sings R&B and the husband and wife duo The Dryes, perform country music. The coaches save their comments until each of the three acts perform their song.
“The is awful!” Blake declares after the performances, “You guys all did incredible! Two of you were supposed to suck!”
Blake gave Kevin some bad advice
The Dryes “mesmerized” Camila Cabello with their sexy performance. But, while Kevin hit “all the right notes” she wanted to “feel more” from his “body language” and “face.” But she still thinks he’s a star. “Bodie, I really liked your arrangement of that song,” she shares. “Rhythmically you were so on point. It sounded like a record.” She’d “probably” choose Bodie.
“Doing a Post Malone song is almost impossible,” Gwen Stefani remarks to Bodie, “But you did!” She loves his high and his low tones. “Everything about your voice I love so much.” She compliments Kevin’s style. “You look gorgeous,” she says. “To be able to go from the high notes to the low notes was just excellent.” She tells The Dryes, “This was my favorite performance of yours, for sure.” She compliments her husband Blake’s coaching abilities.
John Legend loved Bodie’s song choice and his execution. “I thought you were able to pull out this rhythmic style that Post Malone does but do it in your own way.” Like Camila, he also had reservations about Kevin’s delivery of the song. Although he loves Kevin as a vocalist, he felt his performance was “just a little disjointed” because he was going between his falsetto and chest voice so much. He calls The Dryes performance “sexy and assured and confident.”
“I quit. I’m quitting the show right now!” says Blake
Blake admits that his coaching may have impacted Kevin’s performance negatively. “In rehearsal, Kevin was probably 80 percent in the falsettos.” The coach suggested Kevin give him more of his full voice. “I take responsibility. That’s why that happened.” He gives props to Derek of The Dryes for coming out from behind his guitar and delivering an impressive vocal. He compliments Katelyn’s range and calls her “unbelievable.” And as for Bodie, Blake says, “I don’t think we’ve seen an artist quite like you on this show,” he adds, “What you’re doing live in the moment sounds like somebody whose been jacked with in the studio, but you do it all live.”
Ironically, Blake declares “I quit. I’m quitting the show right now!” before he’s forced to make a decision. “You three broke me! I quit!” John says, “It’s been a great run!” Blake actually DID announce he quit The Voice. But he’s got one more season to go…
Who won the Knockout? Did Blake ruin Kevin Hawkins’ chance to move on? Will a coach steal an artist? Tune in to The Voice on NBC Monday October 31 at 8 pm ET/PT to find out.
