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This time it’s personal for ‘Voice’ coaches Blake and Gwen

October 4, 2022

“I’m waiting for the perfect moment to really crush another coach’s dreams,” said Monday’s leader Blake Shelton sarcastically. The voice episode. Viewers just didn’t expect these crushed dreams to belong to… his own wife.

It was the fifth night of blind auditions of Season 22, and Blake, the show’s most earning starting coach, had gotten off to a slow start this year – frequently losing contestants to his better half, Gwen Stefani. , or his new rival, rookie coach Camila Cabello. So when an up-and-coming 17-year-old jazz stylist named Daysia released her own version of Willie Nelson’s country classic “Crazy,” written by Patsy Cline, he was ready to fight his wife, even though he admitted , “It’s embarrassing for me to fight in these situations.”

“Let’s see what the fight looks like in our marriage!” happily proclaimed Gwen, who has always had a soft spot for — and a good track record with — young contestants. (The only time she won was with then-15-year-old Carter Rubin in Season 19.) Daysia was, of course, a great catch for any trainer, at any age — as Gwen told her, “ You sound like a grown-ass woman!” — but despite her choice of old-school country song, it was clear that Daysia had a thing for Gwen; she visibly lit up when Gwen turned on her. So for now it was up to Blake Voice dreams that have been crushed.

“Mom and Dad fought – and Mom won!” Gwen said. “I just got the winner of The voice!”

Not so fast, Gwen. The next audition was given to another talented teenager, 15-year-old Ansley Burns, singing a version of “Unchained Melody” inspired by Patsy’s obvious disciple, LeAnn Rimes. This adorable South Carolina girl, who went viral as a child from a video of her singing Carrie Underwood in her mother’s car, had ‘deep country roots’ and real-life family ties to Hank Williams Sr. – so he was a young competitor who looked like a Blake Team Launch.

Once again, only Gwen and Blake intervened, despite Blake’s assertion, “I’m not pressing my button today!” Blake, in fact, pushed of them buttons – the second being her block, thus automatically pushing Gwen out of the race. “I wanted you so bad, I blocked my own wife,” Blake told Ansley.

Honestly, Blake probably didn’t need to use his only Block of the Season in this case, since Ansley said Blake was his “idol” and probably would have chosen him anyway. Also – while Ansley presented a nice vibrato, and I’m sure viewers will love it – her young, untrained voice was so wonky, I actually assumed she wouldn’t turn a chair and be just well encouraged to work on his craft and come back in season 23. Hopefully the risk of bouldering was worth it for Blake, if he ended up sleeping on the couch once he and the woman got home house after this episode.

Monday ended with a four-chair turn in which (spoiler alert) Blake beat all of his castmates without resorting to his usual sleazy gameplay; even Gwen had to give him props. Read on for this moment and other successful blind auditions from The Voice Season 22, Episode Five:

Kique, 18: “Beautiful girls”

A Miami resident with Cuban roots, Kique hoped to join Team Camila – but Camila didn’t turn around. I’m actually more surprised that John Legend didn’t turn to this soulful, old-school crooner, who channeled both Frankies Lymon and Valli on this Sean Kingston retro hit. John actually later noted that he liked the “cool” version of Kique.

Who shot? Blake and Gwen. “This is the moment I’ve been waiting for!” Camila shouted. “We are going to fight!” Gwen exclaimed. “Bring it on!” Blake retorted. And so the marital drama continued.

Results: Team Gwen, of course. Blake really didn’t fight this time around, practically handing Kique over to his more skilled wife while admitting he doesn’t even know who Sean Kingston is.

Hilary Torchiana, 34: “Easy with me”

This powerhouse singer “took the safe route” in life, with a normal nine-to-five job; however, after losing all of her belongings and her two pets in a fire, she had an epiphany and decided to focus on what makes her happy, including music. After this sad story, I expected more brutality and pain in her performance – but as Camila noted, any Adele song is a “tough choice” because comparisons to the original GOAT artist are inevitable. That being said, Hilary had the range to pull it off.

Who shot? Just Blake – probably because he didn’t recognize the song and has nothing to compare it to! He actually heard a bit of a “twang” in Hilary’s voice, so I expect him to push her in a more country direction this season.

Results: The Blake team.

The Marilynds, 30 and 34: “What if I never got over it”

Sisters, best friends and former Miss Maryland pageant queens Lindsay and Kasey were, interestingly, a rare case of a duo where the parts were greater than the sum. Each sister delivered a beautiful solo, but when they harmonized, something was missing; it just doesn’t have the punch or gain I was expecting. I’m not sure the Marilynds can repeat the success of Voice harmonic brother act Girl Named Tom, who won last season.

Who shot? John, Camila… but surprisingly not Blake, even though they covered a piece of Lady A that he probably recognized.

Results: Team legend. John has a lot of experience arranging harmonies, so hopefully he can help these ladies harness their vocal powers for good.

Song SOL: “Turntables”

SOLsong went with another hard pick from Adele, so maybe that’s why he was cast, and why only John turned for him. From the brief clip I saw, he was clearly capable of hitting all those powerful notes, and John seemed thrilled to have been “gifted” by the “Voice gods” with this “super cool” contestant. So maybe SOLsong will get their big TV moment during the Battle Rounds.

Who shot? Just John.

Results: Team legend.

Kara McKee: “Woodstock”

I thought the brief clip of this mounted contestant wasn’t impressive, and Blake noted that she was “so far out of the comfort zone” of the only coach who turned, John. I expect her to be up in the battles, but maybe John, who covered this CSN&Y classic himself, heard some potential here. Kara might not be so out of John’s wheelhouse after all.

Who shot? Just John.

Results: Team legend.

Zach Newbould, 19: “Using someone”

The suburban kid with a normal Rockwell upbringing was likeable and had a nice raspy tone, but he admitted his voice had changed a lot over the past year, leading to something of an artistic identity crisis. “I would really like to work with a coach who can help me figure out what type of music is best for me,” he admitted. It’s a good thing Blake didn’t tour, because I’m sure Blake would have pushed Zach to go country – and Americana/rock, like this Kings of Leon cover, seems to be the right one. lane for Zach. Maybe this kid has it all figured out already.

Who shot? Camila and Gwen, who gave Zach a standing ovation.

Results: The Camille team. Gwen volunteered to be Zach’s “momager”, but this time, “Mom” didn’t prevail. Camila’s background as a singing show contestant sealed the deal. (Funny that Camila accused Blake and John of being “drunk” because they didn’t turn to Zach. Maybe they were playing that new season 22 drinking game – to take a sip every time she mentions something about herself. X factor past!)

Lana Love, 30: “Candy”

This fabulous fashionista/acting queen really sold the drama with her sweeping remake of Mandy Moore’s early years torch song NMT hit. (In fact, I’d love to hear Mandy herself re-record “Candy” in this cabaret-style ballad.) Such balance, such power! Lana gave one of my favorite blind auditions of the season. It should have been a four chair turn.

Who shot? Just John?!? Maybe the other three coaches were drunk this time, either that or Lana’s performance was shown out of order and the other teams were already full.

Results: Team legend.

Bodie, 29: “You found me”

A neck-tattooed punk-rock father of three who “grew up on Gwen” in Orange County, Bodie seemed like obvious material for Team Gwen. But as Monday’s only four-chair contender, he had his pick of teams. Blake lamented that there have been more rock competitors this season than usual, as he rarely has a chance to score a rocker for his team. But maybe it was his new Team Blake incentive prizes — personalized beer cozies — that gave him an edge this time around.

Who shot? The four coaches.

Results: The Black Team! “I beat Gwen without using any tricks,” gloated Blake, while his wife admitted, “Blake might have the team to beat this season.” And so it looked like the two lovebirds had seemed to call a truce…until the Blinds continued on Tuesday.