NBCSurefire ways to wow The Voice coaches: Sing your heart out and take on a wildly popular song with a new spin. That's what Jordan Smith and Amy Vachal did on Monday night's show.
Smith, who is considered the frontrunner in the competition, brought coach Gwen Stefani to tears with his rendition Selah's "Great is Thy Faithfulness." He opened with an acapella verse that he told us was "difficult, scary and very nerve racking, but in the moment it felt completely right."
Smith, who is part of Adam Levine's team, said moving Stefani to tears is quite the accomplishment.
"I just think that as artists, one of the greatest things we can do is move someone with our music, with our art. I would compare it to anyone doing their work, anyone wants to be good at what they do, and ultimately most people want to help people. Even though we're not doctors, or in the field, firefighters, policemen, I think we want to do what we can to help people," Smith told us. "The greatest thing we can know as artists is that someone was moved by what we did, and they enjoyed something that we did, but they were also touched by it, and also helped them in some ways. So, I'm really honored she was affected in that way, and that I could help her and anybody else that kind of needed that."
Smith's teammate on Team Adam, Vachal, took on Drake's hit song "Hotline Bling" with a haunting rendition and roused the audience and coaches alike. However, it wasn't her choice to do the song; it was Levine's.
"When he said that I was really shocked. I would have never chosen a song like that, even though I love flipping the script on songs, just for whatever reason...but when I started digging into what good of an idea it was for him. How he saw that in me, that I love to take something unexpected and try make it my own, so I was taken off guard by the song choice. I think the challenge at this point, is just the time crunch. We just got our songs last week, and we want to give our all in every performance, and part of that is laying out exactly what you want to do, then rehearsing that so it's second nature. I of course felt like I wish I had more time with the song and owning it, but I just had so much fun working on this song, and showing a different side of me."
When it came time for coach critiques, Blake Shelton and Stefani referenced when the two did their own version of the song on The Tonight Show.
"I'm all for their little romance. I think they're just the cutest couple, and we've gotten to know them in different ways then maybe the rest of the viewers on the show, and we just see their connection with each other, all four coaches," she said. "Just to know that two of them have found romance is just the sweetest thing. They're awesome. They're just adorable."
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC.
—Reporting by Lindsey Caldwell
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