Alicia Keys Delivers ‘A Whoopin’ On Blake Shelton With First Victory On ‘The Voice’
The Voice finale aired Tuesday night ending Season 12 with a big victory for Coach Alicia Keys. As was in the blind auditions, Alicia was the last coach to complete her team, and it was Chris Blue who sealed the deal for her. After Chris was declared the winner of Season 12, both artist and mentor opened up to reporters about their whole Voice journey.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I gotta be honest…it’s a great dream of mine to put a whoopin’ on Blake Shelton,” Alicia declared victoriously. “I couldn’t wait for the day when I could say, ‘Blake, naaaaaaah!'”
She followed up with praises for runner-up, Lauren Duski from Team Blake. Aside from Duski, Shelton managed to get Aliyah Moulden from his team to the finals. Meanwhile, Jesse Larson represented Team Adam, but Gwen Stefani’s remaining artists, Brennley Brown and Hunter Plake were eliminated during the semi-final round.
“Lauren is phenomenal,” Keys said. “I’m so, so proud of everybody that was on that stage tonight. This whole season has been such a beautiful group of people, and Lauren is especially special, so it was wonderful to see [them all] up there together.”
Then ending her statement with, “And I am proud to be the winner of Season 12,” to the cheers of Chris Blue.
Could not be more proud of @Chrisbluelive and @aliciakeys ???It's only the beginning my friend! Love you too much!!! pic.twitter.com/mv2yPyFt7m
— Lauren Duski (@LaurenDuski) May 24, 2017
Alicia recalled the blind auditions to have been long days for her and the other coaches. They endured seven days straight in a row listening to auditions over and over. Chris Blue’s coach remembers being almost at the end and people already telling her to just “go for what’s good” and pick someone, as she was the only coach left that has yet to fill her team.
“I knew they were sick of me because I just couldn’t do it. I know something is coming that I’m waiting for and I had to wait,” Alicia recounted the tedious Blind Auditions, admitting that she almost heeded the others’ advice to pick anyone who was just good.
“When Chris’ footsteps walked out, because obviously that’s all we hear, I was like ‘This is it, I feel it.’ Then he sang, and I never felt so happy in my life, because I knew nobody else could turn. So at that point, I just laid back, and I just listened.”
Alicia shared that the other coaches weren’t too happy about it of course. Since their respective teams were already full, fighting for Chris was out of the question. For Alicia though, she thought that the universe already knew that she was meant to have Chris on her team, even describing him as being like a caterpillar that turned into a butterfly as the competition unfolded.
“Chris just has an uncanny ability that somehow, no matter how nervous he might be, no matter how much he might be battling internally, somehow he gets up on that stage and he delivers in a way that’s not only emotional, but is powerful. He shows all sides of him.”
“I just felt so good about the fact that he can take a moment and get centered, and really put all his artistry in it and just leave it. And I felt that that’s the sign of the greats—the greats do that. And so he is going to grow into one of the greats. I really believe it,” Alicia said.
For Chris though, he wasn’t disappointed at all that it was only Alicia Keys left among the coaches that could turn for him. He always thought that had it been any other way and the others could turn for him, Alicia would still be his first choice.
“I wanted to work with someone that I felt like actually cared about me. And I felt like she really cares about Chris, and that means a lot because I care about you,” he said genuinely thankful to his coach.
Season 13 in September. [Image by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images]
According to ET Online, the Season 12 winner further explained that as the competition went on and the artists were eliminated one by one, he got to spend more time with his mentor. This was when he really began to feel “the magic” in their mentor-artist relationship.
During Tuesday’s finale, Chris Blue performed a soul-gutting REM classic, Everybody Hurts, with Usher. Another notable performance of the night was Gwen Stefani’s duet with Hunter Plake on Don’t Speak, a No Doubt classic. The Voice returns in September for Season 13 with Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Miley Cyrus, and new coach Jennifer Hudson.
[Featured Image by Chris Pizzello/AP Images]
