Season 22 of The Voice officially kicked off on Monday night (Sept. 19), and the gloves are already coming off. Contestant Kate Kalvach wowed the judges with a stunning rendition of Kacey Musgraves‘ Golden Hour closer track, “Rainbow,” and sent coaches Camila Cabello, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton into a battle of words — and button mechanics — to see which team Kalvach would choose to join.
After delivering her version of the song, Cabello, Shelton and Stefani all pressed their buzzers to turn theirs chairs at nearly the same time. And shortly after, the banter ensued.
“lf you could have seen the conversations happening back here while you were singing it was like, ‘Oh, she’s really good,’” the country singer said, kicking off the conversation.
“It was me spearheading this thing, being like, ‘She’s really good, why aren’t you turning?’” the former Fifth Harmony member noted, to which Shelton replied, “And then by the time it got to the end, we were like, ‘What are we doing?’”
Trying to urge the 27-year-old contestant to join her team, Cabello added, “Well, Kate, I was the first one to turn around maybe by point one second.”
But then Stefani placed her hat into the ring, noting, “I feel like I really encouraged you. I was like, ‘You know what? If you like her, just go.’”
Shelton then abused his button privileges and rigged it with a mute button to cut the volume on Cabello and Stefani’s microphones. When Cabello said, “Yeah but that means the conversation started with me saying ‘I like her.’ I was like, ‘What am I doing, waiting for a grandpa?’” the country singer cut her volume so Kalvach couldn’t hear the feedback she was being given.
Unfortunately for Cabello, she had to continue most of her feedback without the amplification of a mic. “I love Kacey Musgraves and I love that song. I was nervous because I was like … a Kacey Musgraves song that is a really hard song,” You didn’t disappoint. I love your tone, I love the falsetto. I was like, ‘This could be the secret weapon on my team.’”
Shelton then gave his two cents about why Kalvach should join Team Blake, citing their mutual Oklahoma roots, his connection to the state’s television stations, and what that would mean for votes and his untouchable winning streak on the show. Kalvach was undecided, which means fans will have to wait for the Tuesday (Sept. 20) episode to find out who she picks.
Watch Kalvach’s performance of “Rainbow” and see the judges fight over her above.
