'The Voice': Blake Shelton's heart was 'cracking' as he struggled to choose battle winner

Instead of rooting for the “Anti-Hero,” Blake Shelton championed the underdog on “The Voice.”

Team Blake singers Mary Kate Connor and Kylee Dayne won over Shelton, along with coaches Kelly Clarkson, Chance the Rapper and Niall Horan, with their stirring rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” during the second battles round Tuesday night.

“It’s not easy to come out and sing a current song that’s huge,” Horan told the teen vocalists. “People have been listening to the Taylor version since it came out, and then you’ve made it completely your own.”

Horan and Clarkson gushed over Connor’s sparkling vocal delivery, with Clarkson noting that the 18-year-old has a “passion that’s really breathtakingly beautiful.”

Meanwhile, Dayne stood out as frontrunner material to Chance with her performance. “The whole point of this show is to emphasize your identity through your voice,” Chance said. “Kylee just had a sense of control and a sense of self that this competition needs and could win the whole competition."

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Having to declare a winner of the battle and send one of his singers home left Shelton feeling torn.

“What happened here today was you’ve both given 150% of what you do, and my heart is cracking literally right now,” Shelton said. “I did not want to go out doing something like this, but here I am.”

Shelton chose Dayne as the battle’s winner, sending the 19-year-old to the next round of the competition. But Shelton wasn’t prepared to let go of Connor either.

The longtime coach hit his playoff pass button, which allows Connor to skip the knockouts round and go directly to the playoffs.

“Mary Kate’s only 18 years old, but she’s very mature. She’s ready for this as a vocalist and as an artist,” Shelton said. “She’s going to go deep in the competition.”

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The Voice' recap: Blake Shelton sends Mary Kate Connor to playoffs