“No, I’m not related to John Legend,” Talakai laughingly clarified on The Voice Monday. “A lot of people think I look like John Legend. So, if John turns a chair for me, I’m going to be, like, ‘What’s up, cousin?’”
Talakai auditioned this week hoping to join the “Legend squad,” and when John was in fact the first coach to turn for the 34-year-old crooner’s cover of Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” Talakai got his wish. John definitely noticed the seeming family resemblance, cocking an amused eyebrow when he spun around. Host Carson Daly, standing in the wings with Talakai’s family, even joked, “John turned for his brother!”
“Wait till you see his face,” John told his fellow panelists. “I’m looking at myself.” John actually called Talakai “a taller, more handsome version of myself,” despite once being named People’s “Sexiest Man Alive.”
“You know, when I’m on the internet, a lot of people will send me pictures of people that they think look like me. “And most of the time I’m like, ‘Not really,” John chuckled. “And then I turn around at look at you!” Niall Horan looked even more surprised than John when he eventually got a glimpse at John’s doppelganger.
Talakai revealed that he’d been compared to John his whole life: “In school, they used to sing ‘Ordinary People’ to me down the hallway all the time.” He really did resemble John, and I’m sure viewers would do a double-take if they watched him actually sing John’s “Ordinary People” with the sound off. But his reedy, trebly voice was distinctively his own. If he can become more of a connected storyteller — something John promised to help him with — he could become a legend in his own right.
Along with John, who is this season’s “O.G.” coach now that Blake Shelton has retired, this season’s rookie coach and Blake’s much-hyped replacement, Reba McEntire, also turned for Talakai. But she barely even put up a fight, knowing that Talakai would pick his “long-lost twin.” This was a literal match.
Reba got off to a strong start on last week’s The Voice Season 24 premiere, but this week as she settled into her red chair, she struggled to compete against John, reigning champ Niall, and this season’s other veteran coach, Gwen Stefani. Two of her recruits were actually by default, because she was the only coach who turned. But along with those one-chair also-rans, she did score one promising four-chair singer on Monday. Here’s how the rest of the night panned out:
Stee, 34: “Sugar”
“Pray for me — because that high note is really high,” said Stee. But this charismatic performer with the old-school ‘80s pop voice, who honed his stage skills playing in a band with his sister at his family’s restaurant in South Carolina, nailed every note of the sweet Maroon 5 song, seemingly effortlessly. “Anyone who takes on an Adam Levine song is brave in my eyes,” said Niall. Gwen was impressed at how Stee’s head voice was just as strong as his chest voice, which is rare.
Who turned? All four coaches — but John blocked Niall.
Result: Team Legend, so John’s blocking move paid off. (John probably wasted that Block, to be honest: Stee’s cousin, who died three weeks before the Blind Auditions, was a massive Legend fan, so Stee was sentimentally leaning towards John anyway.) Undeterred, Niall promised Stee, “I’ll steal you some point.” Niall also vowed to get revenge on John, noting, “I’ve still got my Block in my back pocket.”
Chechi Sarai, 32: “Lovin’ You”
When it came to high notes, Chechi basically told Stee, “Hold my beer” — because Minnie Riperton’s famous “Lovin’ You” dolphin/whistle note is so high, it could make Adam Levine seem like that guy in Crash Test Dummies by comparison. The extremely brave Chechi, a Michigan-raised daughter of Nigerian immigrants, was a bit timid during parts of the song, but she did not shy away from that money note. She attacked that note — twice! — and pulled it off so perfectly, both times, that I almost wondered it NBC editors had sweetened the sound in post. Niall accused Chechi of being from “another planet” and called her a “readymade star”; Gwen called this a “Grammys performance”; and Reba said Chechi’s “six-octave range” was “way over my hairspray.”
Who turned? All four coaches, again!
Result: Team Gwen. Gwen promised to help Chechi work on her personality, so that her “perfect voice” wouldn’t become a party trick or gimmick, and I think that will be a shrewd strategy.
Reid Zingale, 27: “July”
Niall called this Nashville “storyteller” with the unique, rounded tone “absolutely magical” and “captivating,” comparing him to Damien Rice (the Irish singer-songwriter that first inspired Niall to pick up a guitar). Fellow storyteller John described Reid as “gentle and powerful at the same time.”
Who turned? Gwen and Niall, so quickly that I almost got whiplash watching them spin around. (Their reaction just might have been one of the quickest in the series’ history; an instant replay was practically necessary to prove that Gwen had hit her button half a nanosecond earlier.) John turned around a couple of verses later.
Result: Team Niall. “I just know that my fans are going to love you,” Niall had predicted, so the promise of Directioners’ mass votes might have affected Reid’s decision. Having queen Reba endorse Niall over John and Gwen probably didn’t hurt either.
Claudia B., 24: “Human Nature”
A former “teenage rock star” who was inspired by at 14 to start a band, the now Nashville-based Claudia later studied jazz at Berklee. She delivered an elegant, mature performance with smooth-jazzy inflections, but she could have rocked it up a tad. This effort was more wine bar than dive bar.
Who turned? Reba, Niall, and John. Claudia, who said going on The Voice was the “biggest thing” she’d ever done, momentarily lost her composure when that happened. “I was not ready for y’all to turn around,” she gigglingly confessed, which Reba thought was “cute.”
Result: Team Legend. Unfortunately, rocker Gwen was not an option here, but I am sure Claudia and John will connect through their love of jazz.
Mac Royals, 30: “Gravity”
Mac hoped the coaches would hear his pain — stemming from his father’s incarceration throughout his childhood, and then his father’s recent death — during his bluesy John Mayer cover. And Mac got his wish: Everyone on the panel connected with him. Gwen loved his “pretty voice” and called him a “true, pure artist.”
Who turned? All four coaches.
Result: Team Reba, which was a surprise. Despite not being a country singer himself, Mac felt a kinship with Reba over their shared small-town roots, plus his family used to watch her TV show when he was growing up in Arkansas.
Noah Spencer, 20: “Something in the Orange”
It was hard to believe that this troubadour from a small Virginia coal-mining town was only 20 years old — his whiskey-husky, pack-a-day growl was the voice of a grizzled old soul. Noah reminded me a bit of Aaron Lewis, Tom Waits, Chris Stapleton, Hozier, or even Unplugged-era Kurt Cobain. “I loved the gravel in your voice — I couldn’t wait to turn around the see what you looked like!” said Reba.
Who turned? Reba, Niall, and Gwen.
Result: Team Niall! Reba seemed like the obvious choice for this self-described “hillbilly” raised on bluegrass and country music, but I think Niall will help Noah make some interesting, unexpected, outside-the-box song choices.
Tom Nitti, 31: “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”
This military veteran, who received the Purple Heart after he was injured in Afghanistan, did a twangy Stevie Wonder cover that drew equally from his love for country music and Motown. The performance was very Branson/bar-band, which is probably why it was not shown in full and only turned one chair, but we will see if he gets more screentime during the Battle Rounds.
Who turned? Only Reba, at the last second — but I’m sure that’s who Tom, who primarily considers himself a country artist, wanted as his coach anyway. “Something in my gut said, ‘Turn around,’” she explained.
Result: Team Reba, obviously.
Alison Albrecht: “Ironic”
This was another one-chair montage. Alison was pitchy and unfocused, and the fact that the panel’s resident ‘90s alt-rocker, Gwen, did not during for Alison’s Alanis Morissette cover was not a good sign. But Gwen seemed confident that this young singer would be in very good hands with “the queen,” Reba McEntire.
Who turned? Just Reba.
Result: Team Reba.
Rudi, 28: “You Don’t Own Me”
This sassy lady picked the perfect song choice, Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me,” and while it’s been covered by everyone from Dusty Springfield to Joan Jett to Klaus Nomi to Grace Sewell, she most definitely owned it. Rudi effectively turned it into a Mary J. Blige-esque R&B ballad. “You really convinced me that you meant that. … You touched my heart. That’s a true gift, and you have it,” declared Reba. But Rudi, with her quirky personality and throwback ‘90s vibes — she almost seemed like she should be on Carson Daly’s old show, Total Request Live — was clearly Team Gwen material.
Who turned? All four coaches — but this time, Niall blocked John.
Result: Team “my gurl” Gwen. As it turned out, Niall did not get his revenge on John after all. “What a waste of a Block — I love it,” John gloated.
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