Night two of The Voice season 22 Knockouts only featured two trio pairings and a montage winner of
another. It felt quick! (Read our Recap)
The final pairing of the night, from Team Blake Shelton, featured country crooner Bryce Leatherwood, who won the Knockout, emotive current country singer Jay Allen, and pop singer Kate Kalvach, stolen by Camila Cabello in a double steal. It took Katy’s performance at the end of the hour to truly wow me. She impressed Camila as well–so much, that she she jokingly proposed marriage to her.
First, I want to give a quick shoutout to Jay Allen who lost tonight’s knockout. He was the most commercially viable of the country singers this season and I found his country style refreshing. His performance of “Prayed For You” by Matt Snell was messy at times. But he became teary eyed as he glanced at his fiancée, Nashville country rising star, Kylie Morgan, sitting in the audience. He dedicated the song to her. Fun fact: Jay and Kylie are good friends with NBC’s Songland fan favorite contestant Sam Derosa who could be spotted in the audience sitting next to Kylie.
A difficult song choice
In rehearsal, Bryce sang a bit pitchy, but choosing the difficult song “Colder Weather” by Zac Brown Band impressed Blake, who told him to clean up some of those bits. Come performance time, Bryce still had some pitchy moments, but for the most part he is a solid vocalist. Some country vocalists on the show have not been the best vocalists, yet still advance. But Bryce seems to be consistently bringing solid vocals. In previous performances, he seemed a bit more comfortable in his upper range, and it might just be nerves. Either way, his mix of classic country with modern songs should be appealing to the audience of the show.
Blake advised Kate to stay in full voice rather than lean on her falsetto so much when singing the chorus of “Anyone” by Justin Bieber. However, she worried about sounding nasally if she used her full voice. Blake suggested that she lean into that quality.
Kate’s breakout moment
In her performance, she started strong right off the bat. It was exciting to hear her finally tackle a full-on pop song, as her previous performances were in the country and rock genres. There’s something very appealing about how soft her tone is while still having great control. This was without a doubt the best performance of the night and Kate’s best to date. It was a true breakout moment! She connected to the lyrics, as she hit some impressive notes in the home stretch. Kate’s voice is so transcending that she could sing any genre and still appeal to the audience. I’d love to see her tackle something in the Adult Contemporary realm like Sara Bareilles or Christina Perri.
Camila was loving the Kate performance the whole way through and was on her feet at the end. She also
loved Bryce, calling him “iconic.” Kate blew Gwen Stefani away. She thought Blake should pick her. John Legend noted that Bryce was a bit pitchy but liked how he sounded “warm and assuring.” John called Kate a “revelation” and would go with her. But Blake said he was going to “roll the dice” and go with Bryce. The coaches unanimously felt Kate won that knockout. But Blake knows the audience will eat Bryce up and he also can sense when the other coaches will steal a contestant.
A marriage proposal?
And an epic double steal ended the night! John and Camila. stole Kate. John pressed first and pitched on that. Camila and Kate have history after Camila went hard for Kate in the blind auditions. At the start of her pitch, Camila jokingly proposed to Kate, asking if she would “marry her.” Kate responded that she was already married. Kate ultimately picked Camila to be her new coach for the lives. She was the true standout of the night and could be a dark horse on Team Camila..
One last Fun Fact: Kate and Camila are a coach-contestant match made in heaven . Originally, Camila planned to release “Anyone” as an exclusive bonus track on the Target edition of her 2019 Romance album. However, the record label scrapped that plan and gave the song to Justin Bieber.
