‘The Voice’ Recap: First Knockout Round Ends With EPIC Double Steal
Tyler Golden/NBC Reading Time: 3 minutes
After a week off, The Voice finally premiered the beginning of the highly anticipated Knockout Rounds. We’ve seen the auditions and we’ve seen the Battles, but there hasn’t been anything quite like this, yet.
The first episode of The Voice season 23 Knockout Rounds began with a full circle moment for Blake Shelton. Before showing off his team, Shelton called working with Reba McEntire a “full circle moment” since she was his advisor for season one.
Niall Horan Uses The First Steal of The Knockouts
The first pair of the night was NOIVAS and Tasha Jessen. NOIVAS decided to sing “I Put a Spell on You” in both Annie Lennox and Nina Simone styles. He picked some aspects of each versions to pour into his. Meanwhile, Tasha chose to sing “Take Me to Church” by Hozier. Since the artist admires storytelling in music, she tried to show off her storytelling capabilities.
Ahead of their performance, Shelton admitted that this may be the toughest Knockout for him to pick the winner of. Since the beginning, he’s loved each artist equally, so his decision was purely based on their performances.
I was absolutely speechless after both performances. Truly, I didn’t know how Shelton was going to pick between the two. I thought both artists showed off their voices well, but Tasha truly brought her Hozier song to a new level.
In the end Shelton picked NOIVAS to go into the Playoffs. Even though Shelton called it a hard decision, he said he knew he’d end up picking NOIVAS. Luckily, Tasha’s time on The Voice is not over. She was stolen by Niall Horan.
Tasha Jessen was made for #TheVoice pic.twitter.com/PhDx0NrKP6
— The Voice (@NBCTheVoice) April 18, 2023
Blake Shelton Eliminates a Country Singer
The second to last performance of the night featured Kylee Dayne and Walker Wilson. To this point, Kylee and Walker had been some of the best performances of the season. For this round, Kylee chose to sing Celine Dion’s version of “All By Myself” By Eric Carmen, while Walker chose “Ain’t Living Long Like This” by Waylon Jennings.
Kylee gave an absolutely breathtaking rendition of the song. She took McEntire’s advice to stand still while singing the track and it totally paid off. The coaches and audience seemed pretty invested in the performance. Walker channelled his inner rocker yet country artist to impress during this round.
Even though these songs couldn’t be more different, both singers got compliments from the other coaches. In the end, Shelton decided to pick Kylee over Walker, which was a shock. I really thought Shelton would’ve picked Walker as the winner, but it’s clear he saw Kylee’s potential.
Kylee Dayne BROUGHT DOWN THE HOUSE pic.twitter.com/iy9knWnFP9
— The Voice (@NBCTheVoice) April 18, 2023
Coaches Use Double Steal on Kala Banham
Last friday, The Voice released an early performance on their YouTube channel. This performance featured team Kelly members Cait Martin and Kala Banham. Cait sang “All the Man That I Need” by Whitney Houston, while Kala sang “Iris” by The Goo Goo Dolls.
As previously seen, these artists put on quite the show. Now, fans know that Cait won Kelly’s vote as the winner of the duo. Luckily, Kala’s journey on The Voice isn’t finished yet. Both Chance The Rapper and Blake Shelton hit their steal buttons for the incredibly talented singer. Since Chance The Rapper had been trying to get Kala on his team since the beginning, she chose to join his team for the Playoffs.
The Voice Knockout Rounds return to NBC on Monday, April 24 at 8 p.m. ET. During the Knockout Rounds, The Voice is only premiering once a week.
