Monday’s blind auditions episode of “The Voice” Season 20 began with a whopping 28 of the Top 40 artists having already found homes on one of the four teams. All of the coaches (Blake Shelton, Nick Jonas, John Legend and Kelly Clarkson) had acquired seven contestants apiece, which meant they each just had three more to go to complete their teams of 10. Did tonight’s two-hour edition of the blind auditions find any of the coaches pick up their final artists?
Below, read our minute-by-minute “The Voice” recap of Season 20, Episode 5 to find out what happened Monday, March 15 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT. Then be sure to sound off in the comments section about your favorite artists on NBC’s long-running reality TV show, which coach you’re rooting for and who you think will ultimately join “The Voice” winners list for this 10th anniversary season. Here is a closer look at each coach’s team (so far):
Team Blake Shelton: Aaron Konzelman, Avery Roberson, Cam Anthony, Connor Christian, Ethan Lively, Emma Caroline, Pete Mroz
Team Nick Jonas: Andrew Marshall, Bradley Sinclair, Dana Monique, Devan Blake Jones, Jose Figueroa Jr., Raine Stern, Zae Romeo
Team John Legend: Carolina Rial, Christine Cain, Ciana Pelekai, Deion Warren, Durell Anthony, Pia Renee, Victor Solomon
Team Kelly Clarkson: Corey Ward, Gean Garcia, Ghianna Zoe, Halley Greg, JD Casper, Kenzie Wheeler, Ryleigh Modig
Keep refreshing/reloading this “The Voice” live blog for the most recent updates.
8:00 p.m. – “Previously on ‘The Voice’!” In the fourth episode, five more artists made it onto the show when the coaches pressed their “I Want You” buttons during Night 4 of the blind auditions. Connor Christian (23 years old) joined Team Blake, Bradley Sinclair (22) joined Team Nick, Deion Warren (28) joined Team Legend and Gihanna Zoe (17) and JD Casper (28) joined Team Kelly. But enough about last week’s episode — let’s start tonight’s final blind auditions!
8:01 p.m. – The night kicked off with Savanna Woods, a 26 year old songwriter from the Pacific Northwest who has allegedly been writing songs (about toasters) since she was two years old. For her blind audition, she put the pen down and picked up the guitar for her take on “Zombie.” Nick was the first coach to hit his button while John and Kelly vibed to the song with their back to Savanna for a little while longer only for Kelly to hit her button in the very last second. As coaches that didn’t turn. both Blake and John noted Savanna’s laid back-ness and her confidence. Nick hammered in that he turned very quickly for Savanna while Kelly waited to see the dynamism in her voice and how she would choose to end it. But in this story Savanna got to choose the ending and she chose Team Kelly!
8:13 p.m. – The next artist to take the stage was Rachel Mac whose link to music growing up is through both church and her dad. She went into her audition of “Let Him Fly” hoping that Blake would turn, but he remained chilled out for the entire performance, sitting back and letting Nick claim her as the only coach to turn a chair. Even still, Rachel was starstruck over seeing Blake for the first time and revealed (with slides and all) that she gave an entire presentation on his life in school before. John found some time to tell her that she should tone down her vibrato a little bit in order to improve her vocal performance.
8:25 p.m. – Indie folk duo Almond&Olive, the only two person group in the competition, was up next with what they called a special version with a banjo and guitar of “Wildflowers.” Though their creativity was off the charts, none of the coaches turned for them. Kelly mentioned that she would have preferred a different setting to hear them and Blake agreed that the vocals weren’t as lined up as they could have been.
8:36 p.m. – Lindsay Joan joined musical theater as a kid because she believed that it was what all pop stars had to do and that led her to NYC where she was able to join a run of Kinky Boots. Tonight she hit a different stage for her rendition of “Nightmare,” but still managed to bring the drama. When she reached one of the song’s biggest notes, Nick and Blake were simultaneously caught and turned their chairs for a head-to-head to bring her to their team. Kelly complimented the soulfulness in her big pop voice and then realized that she should have turned for her. The one thing all the coaches noted was that she was overly nervous in her performance, but Nick stressed that with her vocal ability there’s a lot of things they can do to find the right path for her. That was all it took to convince her to be a member of Team Nick.
8:47 p.m. – The earliest music memories of Rio Doyle was listening to her mom’s band so now that she gets to carry the torch for her family while her mom battles a brain tumor is a huge inspiration for the kind of career she wants to build. Tonight she auditioned with “When We Were Young” in a rich tone that you could tell would win John over. Sure enough, John turned his chair after only one line and the other coaches were content to sit this one out, allowing Rio to automatically roll onto Team Legend.
8:58 p.m. – Blue collar worker Jordan Matthew Young changed his life when he joined a rock band and started traveling to play music across the country. He broke out onto his own tonight with his audition of “I’m No Stranger to the Rain,” wowing Blake, Kelly and Nick for the night’s largest chair turn of the night so far. Blake told Jordan that he started off shaky, but was able to turn it around halfway through and impressed him. Kelly’s argument was a pretty good one–she played a seamless video of Gwen Stefani saying that he shouldn’t choose Blake and that Kelly is the stronger coach. Nick made a pitch about helping him be disruptive in country music like only he’ll be able to teach him, but ultimately what Blake said about having a unique voice in country music resonated with Jordan the most.
9:11 p.m. – As a country musician in Nashville, Tyler Kohrs came to the show to gain confidence, but his audition of “More Hearts Than Mine” wasn’t strong enough for any of the coaches to turn their chair. Kelly told him that his nerves got the best of him and created some pitch issues.
9:20 p.m. – Single working mom Zania Alaké is looking to break away from her banking job with experience in both a funk band and an R&B group. Tonight she stripped down that musical experience with the big ballad “Sweet Love,” earning John’s instant approval with an excited chair turn. It was no surprised that when Zania hit a run later in the song that Kelly also turned her chair for the face off with John. Kelly told her that her voice is “filled with tone and butter” and she’d be lucky to work with her while John said that all it took was her proving in a few lines that she could confidently take on an Anita Baker song. John was as equally happy as he was when he turned his chair to hear that Zania wanted to join his team.
9:32 p.m. – Like many of the artists on the show, Savanna Chestnut was raised in a musical family. Tonight she wanted to show her “creative edge” with “Hold Me Now.” Kelly seemed to be the coach most taken initially with the performance, uttering multiple “wows” and exhalations throughout. But by the end it was only Blake that turned a chair and so she would join his team no matter what. Kelly explained that she didn’t turn because her performance was linear, but she called her tone beautiful. Nick also agreed that there’s a lot of growth for her to achieve still and that Blake is the right coach for her.
9:43 p.m. – First generation American Nadianicole moved to New York from Florida to hustle in order to follow her dream of becoming a successful singer. Her audition of “I Wanna Be Down” had some big moments, but failed to catch the ear of any of the coaches. Nick thought there was too much shakiness and John found her behind the beat too often.
9:51 p.m. – The final audition of the night came from Anna Grace who recently survived recurring infections that ultimately inspired her to stop taking life for granted and realize her dream of becoming a singer. Prior to her audition of “My Future,” Anna received a special message from Brynn Cartelli, an artist that she said inspires her for achieving so much at a young age. Anna began her audition so strongly that Kelly, John and Nick all slammed their button for her at the same time, leaving Blake the odd one out. By the end, Blake came to his senses and hit his button as well, making Anna the only four chair turn of the evening. John loved her nuance and musical choices, Kelly liked the song choice but thinks she can teach her better breath control, Blake liked the way she made a Billie Eilish song show her own strengths instead of just Billie’s, and Nick pulled out the big guns with some incriminating memes of the other coaches. With the choice in her own hands, Anna went with her heart and selected Kelly as her coach!
NEXT WEEK: The blind auditions conclude with part 6 and an edit of the season’s “best of the blinds.”
