Season 23 of the singing competition features a brand new tool for the coaches!
It's time for the Battle Rounds on season 23 of The Voice -- and that means the introduction of the franchise's first-ever Playoff Pass!
The Battles kicked off Monday night, and Chance the Rapper faced some tough decisions with his very first pairings. This season, the coaches don't have Saves during the Battle Rounds, rather, each coach has one Playoff Pass apiece, which allows them to send a singer -- one who they do not pick as the winner of their Battle -- past the Knockout Round and straight to the live shows.
Chance's second Battle of the night was an interesting group, as he pitted Manasseh Samone against sister trio Sorelle on Adele's "Someone Like You" -- but it turns out the first-time coach has more than few tricks up his sleeve.
From start to finish, the coaches are blown away by the entire collaboration, from Manasseh's impressive runs to Sorelle's super-tight, pitch-perfect harmonies.
"No one's heard that song like that," Kelly Clarkson marvels, the first of the coaches to praise Chance's impressive vocal arrangement. She gives the edge to Manasseh, telling the singer, "You're the reason this show exists."
Niall Horan and Blake Shelton both give their slight preference to Sorelle, however, praising the sisters' harmonies for sounding as perfect as a recording.
"It's almost hard to believe that was live," Blake praises, with Niall agreeing, "You would struggle to get a record to even mix that well."
As for their coach, Chance couldn't have a tougher call to make.
"That was a masterful performance on both parts," he shares, calling Manasseh a "one of one," and praising Sorelle's poise and harmonics.
Ultimately, he announced Sorelle as the winner of the Battle, but didn't even let Manasseh finish her thank yous before he was hitting his button to make her the first-ever recipient of The Voice's Playoff Pass!
"Manasseh, her journey is crazy," the coach raved. I think she was meant to be here at this time... she's heads and tails above the competition in my eyes."
Watch the full Battle below!
ET spoke with the season 23 coaches ahead of the premiere, who all shared how excited they were to be on the show for The Cowboy's last go-round.
"I texted him," Kelly shared. "If he was gonna do a last season, I wanted to make sure I was there."
However, the talk show host insisted that she won't be letting nostalgia affect her competitive nature.
"If [Blake] wins, I am very happy for him, because that is super cool to win on the last season and he's literally the show, from its conception," she conceded. "But, like, I'm not, like, rooting for him to win. I'll be happy for him if he does, but I'm obviously trying to win myself."
As for the show's new coaches, Niall and Chance said they were ready to put in the work against the Team Blake dynasty.
"It's been awesome," Chance said of joining the show. "Kelly's very, very sweet, very nice to me. And Blake is... here."
The Voice airs Mondays at 8 p.m. PT/ET and Tuesdays at 9 p.m. PT/ET on NBC.
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