As the Battle Rounds continued on The Voice, Tuesday (October 24), Reba McEntire found herself scolding a contestant for the direction they wanted to take with a Bee Gees classic.
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Assigning Mac Royals and Rachele Nguyen the Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love,” one contestant had other ideas for the 1977 hit. Royals called the Saturday Night Fever ballad “one of the most iconic and beautifully written songs of all time.” At the same time, Royals wanted to move away from the original melody of the song in an attempt to “give the people a little of what we do and what we like” he said before McEntire quickly shot the idea down during the duo’s rehearsals.
“Mac, I didn’t think you were hearing the beat,” said McEntire. “You kind of went in a different direction on it.”
Earlier on, McEntire advised the contestants not to stray from the classic melody too much for the performance. “The reason we pick the songs we do is because of familiarity,” said McEntire. “[Fans] want something they can sing along to. When you’re singing a song that is so well-known as ‘How Deep Is Your Love,’ you need to stay with the melody [viewers] remember, so [they] can sing with you and be a part of the show.”
Though Royals nodded in agreement, when the Battle Rounds came around, he shifted from the original melody, which threw both contestants off their harmony during the round. Though the contestants strayed from the original the coaches still had praise for their Battle Round performance.
“To take on a song of that stature is brave in itself,” said coach Niall Horan.
Gwen Stefani focused on the control of Nguyen’s voice since she is one of the youngest contestants on the show. “Rachele, the fact you’re 17, I hate to throw that in there, because singing is singing,” said Stefani, “but the things that you can do with your voice and instincts, it’s pretty magical.”
John Legend praised both singers but still leaned more toward Royals. “Mac, I just love the sound of your voice,” said Legend. “It’s so full, and it’s got richness and character, and it’s just the kind of voice I love to hear.”
In the end, McEntire chose Nguyen as the winner of the round. “She just blew me away,” said McEntire, “and for her to beat out a Four-Chair Turn says a lot.”
Though Royals was knocked off Team Reba, he still kept his place in the competition after Legend came in to Steal the singer for his own team.
“He just sounds like he should be a star right now,” said Legend. “Maybe he should have always been on Team Legend.”
During another Battle Rounds rehearsal, McEntire teared up after pairing up her youngest contestants Alison Albrecht and Angelina Nazarian for a duet of Lauren Daigle‘s 2018 hit “You Say.” McEntire teared up several times while instructing the contestants to bring the emotion to the ballad.
“This is a song, in my mind, between me and the Lord,” said McEntire to the contestants during rehearsal. “I am in a very depressed state, thinking I’m worthless. It’s very humbling. It’s baring your soul.” McEntire also told Albrecht, 17, and Nazarian, 23, to not move much while performing to better convey that sense of feeling “broken.”
The two singers ultimately buckled during their performance and received some tough love from McEntire following their duet. “Emotion, to me, means a lot,” McEntire told the singers. “If you can’t portray an emotion to your audience, it’s [just] a song. Y’all did that in rehearsals. You were still. You were meaningful. I was crying. But today, you went back to the way you did it the first time.”
McEntire decided that Albrecht had a better connection to the song and kept her on Team Reba.
Photo: Trae Patton/NBC
