The second season of NBC's The Voice is underway with coaches Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christian Aguilera and Blake Shelton back and ready to battle over the contestants with the best singing abilities. With the third episode complete, each team is tied at six contestants, with the exception of Adam Levine, who has chosen seven vocalists for his team.
On the two-part season premiere, Blake Shelton chose RaeLynn as well as two more singers, Gwen Sebastian and Jermaine Paul. With two country singers and one who could go in an R&B or pop direction already on his team, in episode three, Blake Shelton went for the power singers.
Twenty-two year old Erin Willet from Gaithersburg, Maryland was Blake Shelton's first pick of the night. From the moment Erin Willet began singing The Jackson 5's I Want You Back, the crowd was cheering and clapping along. Her soulful voice combined with a natural stage presence drew the audience in quickly and got Blake Shelton's attention as well. However, with each coach being a bit more choosey this year, the other coaches were biding their time as Erin Willet sang.
As the performance went on and the remaining coaches still weren't turning their chairs around, Blake Shelton's excitement grew. He began to rub his hands together and clap, eager to have Erin Willet on his team without any competition from the other coaches. In the end, Blake Shelton was the only coach to turn, so he automatically acquired Erin for his team. Blake Shelton told Erin Willet that he turned because she has a powerful voice and she got the crowd into it right away.
It was a solid performance by Erin Willet, especially considering what an emotional time she's going through in her personal life. Her pre-performance package told the story of Erin's close relationship with her father, who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. Despite the tragic blow, Erin Willet bravely stated that she would not let her own sadness bring him down, that though one day he will be gone, today is not that day. Her amazing attitude and strength surely helped her to give the great performance that impressed Blake Shelton.
In addition to Erin Willet, Blake Shelton picked up Brian Fuente for his team. Brian Fuente came out strong, singing the rock song, Paris (Ooh La La) by Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. In a post-performance interview, Brian Fuente confessed that he originally thought he'd choose Cee Lo Green if given the chance, but the more he thought about it, he decided Blake Shelton was his man. Brian Fuente is 28 and says that being chosen as a contestant on The Voice validates all the years of hard work he has put in since age 13.
The last singer of the night was Jordis Unga from Los Angeles. Her powerhouse version of Maybe I'm Amazed started off strong, smooth and beautiful and it took mere seconds for Blake Shelton to turn his chair around. Though eventually, Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera became entwined in the fight for Jordis Unga, Blake Shelton won out.
The high compliments he gave to Jordis may have influenced her decision. Blake Shelton said, "You're the type of person I have been sitting here waiting for. That is the voice that I have been sitting here waiting to hear. You're the type of singer that makes me excited about what I do and your voice makes me want to push myself to be that much better of a singer. I'm a believer." With praise like that and Blake Shelton's nearly instant turn around for her, Jordis Unga made her decision and added even more vocal firepower to Blake Shelton's team.
Along with Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green, Blake Shelton has six more spots to fill. To see who gets the next honor of being chosen for Team Blake when The Voice airs each Monday night at 7:00 p.m. Central.
To see Jordis Unga's performance of Maybe I'm Amazed, check out her video in the left sidebar of this article. For Brian Fuente and Erin Willet's performances, visit The Voice online by clicking the artists' names.
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