Before JB Somers opened his mouth to sing on The Voice‘s blind auditions Monday night (March 20), coach Kelly Clarkson crossed her fingers for a pop vocalist. What she got was so much more.
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Somers, a 31-year-old Montgomery, Alabama native, now Nashville transplant, delivered a soul-stirring performance of Joni Mitchell’s magnum opus, “A Case of You,” for the seated coaches—Kelly alongside artists Blake Shelton, Niall Horan, and Chance the Rapper.
Against a simple piano arrangement, Somers’ smooth vocals were on full display. The camera panned the coaches just as Chance’s face dropped when he realized the song was being sung. By the end of the first verse, Kelly had turned her chair with Chance saying he needed to hear the high note first. And with that, the rapper turned.
It was up to Kelly and Chance to duke it out for the singer’s voice of their teams. “Your tone is incredible,” Kelly told him, reminding him that she was the one who turned her chair first.
“When I turned around it was even more beautiful to watch you perform it. You just exude so much empathy and emotion,” she added, saying she would love to have him on her team. “I have no one like you on my team. You are going to make it to the finale regardless of which team you’re choosing here.”
Chance said he only hesitated with his turn because he is particular about Joni Mitchell covers. “Really I was just waiting to hear your high register,” he said, calling his approach to the song dynamic and strategic. “That’s one of the things I respected the most about your performance.”
Chance agreed that no matter Somers’ choice, his journey to the finale seemed a sure thing. The Voice hopeful ultimately picked Team Kelly.
Season 23 of The Voice seems to be the season with several Alabama ties. Somers joins a fellow Alabamian on Kelly’s team, D. Smooth. Ryley Tate Wilson, a Montgomery teen, and Jerome Godwin III, a student at Auburn University at Montgomery, were also picked earlier this month and are both on Niall’s team.
Photo by Casey Durkin/NBC
