‘The Voice’ Season 26 Premieres with Several Four-Chair Turns, New Coach Replay Button
Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC Reading Time: 3 minutes
The Voice returned on Monday night for the Season 26 premiere, as the coaches listened to the first round of Blind Auditions and started building their teams. The episode featured four artists who managed to turn all four coaches’ chairs with their performance. The premiere also introduced the new Coach Replay button.
The Voice Season 26 Premieres with Four-Chair Turns
One of the standout performances from Tuesday’s premiere came from Sydney Sterlace, a 15-year-old singer who performed “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo. Her audition turned all four coaches’ chairs, and they couldn’t believe she was so young.
The coaches made their pitches to hopefully get Sydney on their teams, with Snoop Dogg telling her that he hasn’t “heard anybody that sounds as good as you.” Gwen Stefani even offered to name her new kitten after her. Ultimately, Sydney chose to join Team Gwen.
Another impressive audition from Tuesday’s show came from 31-year-old Filipino singer Sofronio Vasquez, whose performance of “I’m Goin’ Down” by Mary J. Blige was teased ahead of the premiere. Sofronio turned all four coaches’ chairs.
Michael Bublé talked about how special the Philippines are to him as he praised Sofronio’s performance. What we didn’t see in the early release clip is that Sofronio ultimately chose to join Bublé’s team this season.
Two Coaches Used Their Blocks
There were two more four-chair turns during Tuesday’s show — both of which featured blocks from the coaches. First, 31-year-old Jake Tankersley took the stage to perform “Something in the Orange” by Zach Bryan. All four coaches turned around, but Stefani blocked Reba McEntire from getting Jake on her team.
Unfortunately, the block was wasted, because Jake didn’t choose to join Stefani’s team. Instead, he chose to join Snoop Dogg’s team. The other three coaches could still have an opportunity to steal him in the Battle round, so stay tuned.
Later in the show, 37-year-old Danny Joseph auditioned with a unique cover of “I Put a Spell on You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. All four coaches turned their chairs, while Snoop Dogg used his block to keep Danny off Bublé’s team. Once again, the block was wasted, because Danny chose to join Team Reba.
SEE ALSO: ‘THE VOICE’ COACHES TEAM UP FOR A NEW PERFORMANCE AHEAD OF THE PREMIERE
Reba McEntire Uses First Coach Replay Button
This season, The Voice has introduced a new feature called the Coach Replay. It allows each coach to retroactively say they want an artist on their team after that artist has been eliminated with no chair turns. Reba McEntire was the first coach to use the new button on Monday’s show.
She chose to use it for 37-year-old Kendall Eugene, who unfortunately didn’t turn any chairs with his performance of “Don’t Think Jesus” by Morgan Wallen. After Kendall talked to the coaches, McEntire said, “I don’t understand why I did not turn around.”
She then let Kendall know about the Coach Replay, and she decided to use hers to get Kendall on her team. McEntire hugged Kendall in an emotional moment as he learned he would be moving on in the competition.
Season 26 will return with a new episode next Monday night at 8/7c on NBC, and streaming on Peacock. What was your favorite audition of the premiere? Which coach do you think has the best team so far? Let us know in the comments below.
