Kelsea Ballerini is coming to Blake Shelton’s defense. During the second round of blind auditions on The Voice, the country darling became the coach to beat when it came to landing artists in her genre.
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That was never more true than when Jaelen Johnston took the stage to perform “Where the Wild Things Are.” Ballerini turned around for the 21-year-old, as did Adam Levine and Michael Bublé.
The Maroon 5 frontman, however, knew it’d be an uphill battle to win over Johnston.
“My batting average when it comes to convincing country artists to come on my team is extremely poor because of that big, smelly guy, Blake Shelton,” Levine told Johnston of his one-time Voice foe.
Ballerini did not take kindly to Levine’s dig, as she joked of Shelton, “Don’t talk about my dad like that!”
“He could be,” Levine replied, a knock at Shelton’s age.
Bublé tried his best to sway Johnston next, pointing out that he’s sung with Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton recently.
“I’ve sang with Dolly! And Reba! And Trisha! And Garth! And Taylor!” Ballerini fired back, naming several living legends in country music.
That made Levine groan, as he complained, “This sucks, man. I always lose the country singers.”
This time turned out to be no different as Johnston selected Ballerini as his coach.
Kelsea Ballerini Has Won Over Contestants of All Genres
It’s not just country singers that are flocking to Team Kelsea. Earlier in the episode, Nashville-based singer Tatum Scott wowed Ballerini with her cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire.”
While Legend also expressed interest in Scott, the 22-year-old singer was quick to reveal that she’s a Ballerini fan.
“There is no one who knows what it is like to be a woman in Nashville except for a woman in Nashville,” Ballerini told Scott. “We can do it together.”
Legend didn’t roll over and accept defeat, though.
“I have so much experience helping young artists navigate their way through this show,” he said. “With Kelsea, she may. We don’t know.”
Scott was not moved by Legend’s argument, so she decided to sign on to be a part of Team Kelsea.
Photo by Trae Patton/NBC via Getty Images
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