Blake Shelton Scoops Up Four More for Team Blake on ‘The Voice’
Tuesday (Mar. 6) night continued the 14th season of The Voice's Blind Auditions, in which coaches Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, Alicia Keys and American Idol alum/newbie Kelly Clarkson compete to figure out who will make up their respective teams. The previous night, Shelton pegged two charismatic characters for his team, and he added four more interesting contestants to his team on Tuesday.
Things started off right on a country-oriented foot when San Antonio's Spensha Baker, a trained gospel singer, took the stage with a soulful version of the Beatles' Paul McCartney-penned "Blackbird" which made both Shelton and Clarkson turn their chairs. When pressed, the 24-year-old admitted she wanted to pursue country music, which kind of made everything a moot point beyond that.
She, of course, chose Shelton, who raved, "You’re my favorite artist. You’re my favorite artist!" and added, "To get her on country radio would be the best thing that could happen to country music right now."
Shelton faced off against his bromance/hate partner Levine a little later, when both hit their buttons for the singularly named Wilkes, a 33-year-old stay-at-home dad from Georgia. Wilkes gave a slinky version of the Wallflowers' 1996 hit "One Headlight," showing off vocals with expendable flexibility.
Levine held out to hear how he'd belt the chorus; when that proved good, Shelton called his voice "sneaky," noting that "the longer you went on the more you kept turning the dial," and raving about the touch of Nashville in the rock 'n' roll cookie dough. Wilkes, perhaps predictably, went with Shelton, citing their "southern guy" backgrounds as his tipping point. "I think we'll get along really well."
Shelton then went on to neatly checkmate Clarkson, scoring JessLee, who performed "I’m With You" by Avril Lavigne. Shelton calmly noted that 2012 Voice winner Cassadee Pope had sang that song — boom, another one on his team.
In a bit of synchronicity to his previous evening, Shelton's final score was 29-year-old Jaron Strom, who like the previous night's Austin Giorgio preferred a more retro approach. Strom chose "This Magic Moment" by the Drifters, dressed in a dapper formal outfit, and danced (the latter two elements the coaches were not able to appreciate, of course). He drew Shelton to turn his chair, who raved, "I knew the second you started singing," called the vocals "endearing," and did a happy dance for the audience to show off his appreciation.
This marks two male singers who are somewhat of the throwback/showman style for Shelton's team. Will he prevail overall for another season?
Tune in Mondays and Tuesdays for recaps of Season 14 of The Voice, and we'll see how things shake out.
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