The teams are filling up on season 24 of The Voice — but a unique voice got the coaches on their feet during Monday’s Blind Auditions.
Lennon VanderDoes, a 27-year-old performer from Phoenix, Arizona, had the coaches racing to push their buttons for his high-register rendition of Lord Huron’s “The Night We Met.” Reba McEntire made it clear that it would have been a four-chair turn, but her team was already full, leaving Gwen Stefani, Niall Horan and John Legend to duke it out for the talented singer.
“That honestly is one of my favorite voices that I’ve heard on the show this season,” Niall praised. “It’s so pure and clean.”
Lennon admits that he wasn’t sure he’d find success on the singing competition, because his voice is so distinctive and doesn’t quite match his appearance.
“For the longest time I thought, because my voice is different, I didn’t think it was good,” he told the coaches. “I didn’t think I had a place on this show.”
“You’ve got more than a place!” Niall assured.
“It was just a tour de force of a performance,” John agreed, sharing how excited he was to see the singer’s “journey” on the show and in his career. “Honestly, you’re one of the best vocalists I’ve heard, and we need voices that are interesting, that are distinctive… You belong out there making records, you belong out there touring.”
Ultimately, Lennon’s admiration for Niall’s songwriting won out, and he became the last singer to join Team Niall!
ET spoke with Gwen ahead of this season’s Battle Rounds, where she opened up about how strange it is to return to The Voice this season without husband Blake Shelton by her side. The country star left the competition earlier this year after 23 consecutive seasons.
“Let’s face it. Blake, he’s such a huge part of this show,” Gwen noted. “I mean, he is The Voice in so many ways, so it does definitely feel weird to be back without him.”
“The thing that’s frustrating is we all love watching him. He’s so good at the show… It took me like a long time to accept that he was going to [leave], because I was like, ‘Who will you be if you’re not the guy on The Voice?'” she added with a laugh. “Ends up, he’s still the same guy and I get to hang out with him every day. Sorry, guys, I’m lucky!”
The Voice airs Mondays at 8 p.m. PT/ET and Tuesdays at 9 p.m. PT/ET on NBC.
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