Blake Shelton Takes a Dig at Adam Levine as ‘The Voice’ Contestant Drops Out
Photos by: Tyler Golden/NBC Reading Time: 2 minutes
During Tuesday’s new episode of The Voice Season 23, Team Blake member Alex Whalen left the competition before his Battle against Neil Salsich. While commenting on Neil’s solo performance, Blake Shelton took a dig at former coach Adam Levine.
Alex Whalen Leaves The Voice, Neil Salsich Performs Solo
Shelton explained that Alex left the show for “personal reasons” ahead of his Battle against Neil. He added that “obviously, Neil’s gonna move on to the Knockouts.” However, the singer still performed Marvin Gaye’s “I Heart It Through the Grapevine” solo.
Neil turned four coaches’ chairs during the Blind Auditions, performing “Honky Tonk Blues” by Hank Williams. Meanwhile, Alex turned Shelton and Chance the Rapper’s chairs during his audition to Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” Both artists chose to join Team Blake.
Coach Niall Horan praised Neil’s solo Battle performance, saying, “The fact that we’ve had Hank Williams and Marvin Gaye come out of you makes me very excited.”
SEE ALSO: HOW ‘THE VOICE’ COACH CHANCE THE RAPPER PICKED HIS STAGE NAME
Blake Shelton Takes a Dig at Adam Levine
Shelton said that Neil “absolutely nailed” his performance. While sharing his thoughts, the coach couldn’t help but get a little dig in at former The Voice coach Adam Levine, who left the show in 2019 after 16 seasons.
“I told Neil before he came out here, I said, ‘Man, if you lose this Battle, it will be the worst fail in history,'” Shelton joked. “I mean, this would be some Adam Levine level failure.”
Shelton kept the Levine theme going after Neil left the stage, as he pointed to fellow coach Kelly Clarkson and said, “That’s the chair he used to sit in.” Clarkson didn’t miss a beat, telling Shelton, “The only reason I’m in this chair is to separate us.”
Tuesday marked the final episode of the Battles for Season 23. Next up is the Knockouts round, with Mega Mentor Reba McEntire.
