‘The Voice’ Season 9 Battle Rounds Begin With An Epic Steal For Gwen [Video]

The first part of The Voice Season 9 Battle Rounds began with a pretty amazing duo, followed by an epic steal. This is the very first portion of the very lengthy elimination rounds, in which each coach pairs off each of their players and lets them battle it out with a duet on the stage. The coach then decides which singer performed the best in that competition and lets that singer stay. The other person either goes home or can be stolen by one of the other coaches. Each coach has two steals. There has been a lot of anticipation and predictions to accompany this round.

The beginning standoff was Jordan Smith and Regina Love, two powerhouse singers from Team Adam. You might remember Jordan as the man with the high-pitched voice that says he’s often mistaken for a girl by just the sound of his voice. He was also the contestant who performed in a “Very Special Blind Audition,” which means that even the audience couldn’t see who was performing.

Regina Love is the powerful soul singer who has had her very own radio show for the last several years when her dream of music didn’t work out. The two met with both Adam and legend John Fogerty to practice singing “Like I Can.”

In the end, after glowing praise for both singers from all the coaches, Jordan was able to put more effortless heart into the performance, and it was his lighthearted tone that made a newly head-shaven Adam select Jordan as the winner. His tone is so unique and original that Adam couldn’t pass it up.

When Regina was up to steal, it didn’t take Gwen long to push her button and steal her, saying “You deserve to be on this show… You’re amazing.”

Watch the epic steal below.

The first battle got the crowd all riled up for a set of fantastic performances the rest of the night. Next up was Team Blake. The iconic country singer and his guest mentor, Brad Paisley, chose the song “I’m Gonna Be Somebody” by Travis Tritt to pair Tyler Dickerson and Zach Seabaugh.

During the practice rounds, Blake admitted, “This battles is going to come down to whoever can convince me that they want to be somebody.”

Shelton counseled Tyler during the practice rounds not to “look like he’s just going through the motions,” but it’s one piece of advice he didn’t quite master. For that reason, Zach was able to put a lot more heart and passion into the performance, which got him the win.

The first Team Gwen battle was between Ellie Lawrence and Tim Atlas, both with remarkably similar voices, but different strengths to bring to the table. They worked with guest mentor Selena Gomez, who helped to counsel Tim to put down his guitar and stand out a little. Their performance of “Sweater Weather” worked out better for Ellie, who was deemed the winner of the battle, but Tim isn’t done in the competition yet. Pharrell saw something in him that made him push his button for the steal.

For those who thought the first battle of The Voice Season 9 was epic, it’s nothing compared to what came next in Team Pharrell’s battle between Celeste Betton and Mark Hood. Pharrell invited Missy Elliott to help him coach the singers while they sang “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” At one point, the rehearsal became so emotional that Missy began to cry.

A rockin' take on an R&B classic defined night one of #TheVoice Battle Rounds: http://t.co/g4xSh7k8lU pic.twitter.com/mJKEFXnU3k

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) October 13, 2015

Once the live performance ended, the coaches had plenty of praises as well.

In fact, Gwen admitted, “That was my favorite battle that I’ve ever seen.”

It was a tough choice for Pharrell, but he ended up choosing Mark to advance, and surprisingly, no one used their steal on Celeste.

The next battle made its way back to Team Adam with his pairing of Dustin Monk and James Dupre singing “Fortunate Son.” They were fortunate enough to have the writer of the song himself, Fogerty, coach them through the rehearsal. The rich, soulful tones we heard from James are what gave him the win, despite Dustin’s excellent performance.

The final battle of the night went to Team Blake’s Barrett Baber and Dustin Christensen, who sang “Walking in Memphis.” The two are surprisingly evenly matched. Blake describes their voices as “pure raw power,” and they both had an opportunity to shine. With an incredible performance on both ends, Barrett was able to take home the win, even though Blake called the battle a tie. But it wasn’t the end for Dustin, who had both Adam and Gwen vying for the steal at the last minute. In the end, Dustin chose to join Team Adam.

The Voice Season 9 battle rounds began and ended with an epic battle and steal, getting fans excited for the next elimination round.

[Image via Jason Merritt/Getty Images]