Blake Shelton's soul-crushing 'Voice' decision: 'My heart's broken right now'
Hard to tell whether or not singing one of her coach Blake Shelton's songs was the right decision, but during the first night of The Voice Knockouts Monday, 15-year-old female football player Hailey Green, who managed to outshine her competition during the Battle Rounds, sang Shelton's hit "God's Country" and brought the house down.
Unfortunately for Hailey, her competitor Libianca performed Billie Eilish's "Everything I Wanted" and hit one note at the end that kinda sealed the deal.
"Hailey, that was brave of you to sing the one and only Blake Shelton's song right in front of him. The voice that you have, it's just so strong and so powerful. Libianca, I love how you switched up the melody. I love that you saved that very high note for the end. I would have to give this one to Libianca," admitted Ariana Grande.
John Legend shared, "Hailey, your voice is just powerful and just filled up this room with energy, and I was like, 'How is Libianca gonna follow that?' And then it was a master class in vocals."
While Ariana and John voted for Libianca, Kelly Clarkson stated, "Hailey, you are like a baby Janis Joplin. I haven't really heard a female in that lane since Gretchen Wilson. And then Libianca had so much cool texture and vibe. I think the only reason why I'm leaning a little bit more towards Hailey is I don't think anyone on the show is doing that."
Meanwhile, the ladies' coach, Blake, told Hailey, "I've literally lost years off my life trying to get through that vocal, and listening to you sing that, holy crap." As for Libianca, Blake thought she deserved credit because she had "a hard time getting through the song in rehearsals," but pulled it together when she took the Knockouts stage and was "incredible."
In the end, the cowboy chose the latter, but said that the decision was "soul-crushing."
"My heart's broken right now. It wouldn't have mattered who I chose, but there was no way in hell I was gonna let Libianca leave. I feel like she had the tallest mountain to climb, and she was able to get it together. As a coach, there's no way I can't reward that," shared Blake.
Video Transcript
BLAKE SHELTON: OK, you're going to be singing "God's Country" by Blake Shelton.
HAILEY GREEN: Oh, my God, he's amazing.
BLAKE SHELTON: Oh, my gosh.
ED SHEERAN: Who's that?
HAILEY GREEN: He's this pretty cool guy, you know?
KYLIE MAR: Hard to tell whether or not singing one of her coach Blake Shelton's songs was the right decision. But during the first night of The Voice knockouts Monday, 15-year-old female football player, Hailey Green, who totally outshined her competition during the Battle Rounds, sang Shelton's "God's Country," which had fellow coach Ariana Grande out of her seat.
[MUSIC - HAILEY GREEN, "GOD'S COUNTRY"]
KYLIE MAR: Unfortunately for Hailey, her competitor Libianca performed Billie Eilish's "Everything I Wanted," and hit one note at the end that kind of sealed the deal.
[MUSIC - LIBIANCA, "EVERYTHING I WANTED"]
JOHN LEGEND: Hey!
KYLIE MAR: While Blake was still very impressed with Haley's performance of his song--
BLAKE SHELTON: I've literally lost years off my life trying to get through that vocal and listening to you sing that, holy crap.
KYLIE MAR: Ultimately, the cowboy had to choose Libianca, which he said "crushed his soul."
BLAKE SHELTON: My heart is broken right now. It wouldn't have mattered who I chose, but there was no way in hell I was going to let Libianca leave. I felt like she had the tallest mountain to climb and she was able to get it together. As a coach, there's no way I can't reward that.
