Watch Gwen Stefani get serenaded to her favorite song during Battle round of “The Voice” season 24
As host Carson Daly informs us, this isn't just any old episode of The Voice — on this Halloween, it's "a spook-tacular episode." And we don't have just any coaches: for spooky season, we're joined by "Jack-o-Legend," "Ghoulish Stefani," "Haunting Horan," and "Reba McEn-Terror." But just because the coaches are hopped up on candy, it doesn't mean The Voice doesn't have some business to attend to. Believe it or not, the season 24 Battles are winding down. There are just a few more spots left in the Knockouts and at the start of the evening, John Legend and Niall Horan have the remaining steals. There's a lot on the line.
But you wouldn't know the intensity is turned up from tonight's Team Gwen Battle, which features laid-back vocalists Eli Ward and Jason Arcilla. Gwen Stefani pairs them up because neither are big belters, and she wants both to lean into their "chill," singer-songwriter vibe. She gives them one of her favorite songs, Bread's "Make It With You." It's a stark contrast from the showy, vocal acrobatics you see in many of the Battles, but it's entertaining nonetheless. Eli, who you may remember as the guy who started off strong in Blinds but completely, as Gwen put it, "had a meltdown" once she turned her chair, winds up being a major surprise. He's more confident — and pretty smooth, honestly — than he was in rehearsals. But Jason is easily the more consistent singer.
After their performance, it's John Legend who points out that maybe Gwen picked that song for more reasons than one: "What a song choice, Gwen — that was so fun and soulful and you got these handsome gentlemen to serenade you," he says. He isn't wrong! At the end of the performance, Eli and Jason came center stage to make sure Gwen knew they were singing to her. It's very cute. It probably makes the choice — Gwen says she has no idea what she's going to do when it comes to her time to critique — even more difficult. She loves Eli's growth, but feels like Jason is ready for this competition right now. She selects Jason Arcilla to move on to Knockouts. We'll see if his cool, low-key serenades will be able to carry him through another round.
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