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Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas and John Legend joined host Carson Daly for a remote press conference on Monday.
The Voice season 18 is ready to crown a winner!
The latest round of the NBC singing competition ends on Tuesday, with five hopefuls vying for the ultimate prize, and each coach still has a team member in the hunt.
Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Nick Jonas joined host Carson Daly for a remote press conference on Monday, where they opened up about their contestants, the unique circumstances of filming the live shows from home amid the coronavirus pandemic, and what their plans are for season 19.
"Micah is in a lane all his own," Clarkson said of her finalist, Micah Iverson. "He's pop, but he has an alt-indie pop vibe to him, and nobody has that sound going right now in the finale."
As for Legend's competitor, CammWess, it's all about tone. "He's just got such a smooth tone, I call it the honey butter," Legend noted. "I have said it enough times now, but it really is true, that tone is really special. It just sounds so warm, and any song he sings, he puts a certain amount of soul into it."
Thunderstorm Artis wowed the coaches with his blind audition, and ended up on Team Nick, impressing the first-time Voice coach with his confidence and musical skills.
"I think he combines a lot of different influences," Jonas explained. "You get this really unique sound for him that's so clearly Thunderstorm... that Ray Lamontagne, you know, he's got some Leon Bridges in there at times, a little John Legend, even."
"There's a lot of sounds, and he finds a way to bridge them all together," he added, noting that he was particularly impressed by Artis' original song, "Sedona," which he performed on Monday's show. "When I first heard it, I was struck, because I feel like he was able to connect really internal, emotional thought to a song in the way that someone who has been writing for a long time is able to do. That takes real talent, and it takes a gift to be able to tell a story like that. And to be as young as he is and to be able to craft such a song, I think is a testament to how much he is going to continue to grow."
As for Shelton, he's fond of reminding his fellow coaches that he has two performers left in the competition: Todd Tilghman and Toneisha Harris, who was the winner of the five-way Instant Save that moved her on to the finals.
"What I remember about my team members is, neither one of them are kids and the fact that they were able to stay kind of hidden and off the radar all these years... maybe that is kind of working in their favor in the eyes and the ears of this show," Shelton noted. "I know they have waited a long time for this... I think every week that goes by, you kind of hone in a little bit more on what these artists are great at and they start figuring out who they are and what they want to say and how they want to sound. For my team, I feel like it all naturally came together this week. That's why we're the best."
While it's sure to be a different atmosphere with each of the Top 5 competitors performing and getting the results from home, Daly noted that Tuesday's crowning will be special even without the confetti and fanfare that usually accompanies a Voice finale.
"I think it doesn't really matter, like, how much stuff we blow up," he said. "We have five great finalists, and winning the show really is life-changing, so I think watching the excitement of one of these five finalists and their families, you know, jump up and down and be excited is really the only winning moment that matters. We'll have the heart of it, for sure."
"I'm just curious, are they actually gonna send me the trophy though, when I win, or will I have to wait for a while?" Jonas joked. The newest Voice coach said his first season of the show was a "quick learning curve," particularly under the unusual circumstances. "It's been really special and I feel really grateful for the opportunity to have done the show, especially on a season that's been as unique and wild as this one has been," he raved
"The one thing I will say that has been a bummer, especially for Nick, this being his first season, is there's a lot of fun in the lives when the energy in there, you're all in the room together," Clarkson admitted. "That kind of camaraderie comes across not only on camera, but with us, and it helps us have a good time...I'm a little bummed for him that he didn't get to feel that, you know, with us, but that's not to say he won't."
No coaches have yet been announced for season 19, and Clarkson teased Shelton that he and girlfriend Gwen Stefani should team up on a "red loveseat" for the next season. However, the coaches have made the most of this unique season and Shelton got one last jab in at Jonas before signing off -- proving he'd be more than happy to have him back again.
"I'm gonna say that ever since Nick Jonas joined the show, it hasn't been the same. Let's just say, we can't even be in the same room as that guy," the country star joked. "If he comes back, maybe we'll have to do it from our homes again, which is fine with me, having said that."
The Voice's two-part season 18 finale concludes Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
