"I don't know if it was Gwen who first pointed it out or John, but they pointed out that we haven't really been able to listen to live music in person in forever," Kelly noted. 'So it was really cool, the Blinds. I feel like we were having our own private concert every time these people came out."
'You just one-upped me on my own song!'
Kelly Clarkson is a mega-talented performer and a veteran winner of one of the world's biggest singing competitions, so it can be tough to really shock her as a coach on The Voice. But a season 19 contestant did just that on Monday's round of Blind Auditions!
Kelsie Watts, a performer from Nashville, took the stage to perform a cover of Kelly's latest single, "I Dare You" -- a notoriously tough sell.
"It's my song!" Kelly lamented to the other coaches as she wrestled with whether to turn her chair.
However, when Kelsie hit an absolutely epic run of whistle notes, the performer and talk show host had no choice -- throwing up her hands and hitting her button, with Gwen Stefani following shortly after. Immediately after turning, Kelly leapt to her feet to applaud and was overcome with emotion as Kelsie ended the song.
"You better sing that song!" she yelled at the contestant, with a huge smile.
"You just one-upped me on my own song!" Kelly proclaimed when Kelsie was finished. "Oh my gosh, you just sang the crap out of my song."
Kelly's fellow coaches noted that the performance was special, pointing out that Kelly rarely turns her chairs for performers that sing her songs. "I'm very hard on it," she admitted. "But I was like, you cannot come out here and sing my song like that and not have me turn around."
The Voice coach praised Kelsie's range and courage -- comparing it to her own memorable performance on American Idol when she went big on a high note while performing Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."
Kelsie of course ended up choosing Team Kelly, to the surprise of none of the coaches. (Blake Shelton even teased Gwen, saying, "You are so screwed on this one.")
"Kelsie is one of those singers you can throw anything at, and she is excited by the challenge," Kelly raved after the win. "I would be shocked if she wasn't in the finale."
Season 19 looks a little bit different at The Voice, as they film with strict safety protocols in place due to the coronavirus pandemic. The blind audition rounds are taking place with a "virtual audience" of fans watching from home -- which Blake said created a "new dynamic" for the coaches, as they were able to listen to the hopeful performers without any crowd noise.
"We're able to hear the artists in a way that we've never heard before -- and we're able to hear the insults coming from the other coaches in a way that we've never heard them before," he joked. "They're really cutting through."
On a more serious note, the coaches all agreed that they were more than happy to be back together in person for season 19.
"I know it sounds so silly, but I think we take for granted live music, we take for granted feeling it, not just hearing it and being a part of it, that was really, really special. It stuck out more this season than it has any other season, because we knew to really appreciate it."
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. PT/ET on NBC.
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