Nick Jonas's 'Voice' Battle Rounds decision: 'Toughest position I've been in in my life'

Lyndsey Parker
·Editor in Chief, Yahoo Music
Updated ·7 min read

When The Voice Season 18 Battle Rounds commenced Monday — with guest-mentor Ella Mai assisting John Legend, Dua Lipa working with Kelly Clarkson, Bebe Rexha with Blake Shelton, and the two elder Jonas Brothers advising new coach Nick Jonas — viewers knew they’d be in for a few surprises. The Battles always feature a few dramatic Steals or Saves, and this season, there’s yet another new twist, with the four saved contestants moving on to some sort of ultimate four-way Knockout — a battle royale with cheese, if you will.

But no one expected that Team Nick’s Joanna Serenko, the chanteuse who’d turned four chairs with her Blind Audition of “All My Loving,” would lose her Battle to one-chair contestant Roderick Chambers, a 38-year-old wedding singer and former boy band member.

The song that Nick chose for this Battle, Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over,” certainly seemed more tailored for the 18-year-old Joanna — with her sultry, smoky, modern vocal style that Nick described as “nuanced” — than for self-described “dinosaur” Roderick. But somehow, this pairing worked. Both contestants were really selling the drama, from the moment they hit the stage and struck that backlit, back-to-back ABBA pose. The soulful arrangement effectively showcased both very different singers — and while I thought Joanna was the star of the show, Roderick was a pleasant surprise. Nick had probably set up this Battle assuming that Roderick would be easy fodder, but instead, he was “exhilarated” by Roderick’s potential and thus ended up in “the toughest position I’ve been in in my life.” (Okaaay, Nick. That was a bit hyperbolic. Like, tougher than that time you decided to go on Smash?)

“I feel sorry for you right now, because what you just created was a masterpiece, and now you’ve got to cut half of it off,” Kelly told Nick. Kelly had been making major stankfaces during this duet (her greatest expression of appreciation, the equivalent of Season 13/15 coach Jennifer Hudson’s shoe-throwing), describing it as “the kind of performance I want to see on awards shows. … I didn’t see that coming.” Veteran coach Blake was similarly impressed, even advising rookie Nick to pick Roderick over frontrunner Joanna because of the “shock factor.”

And then… Nick did just that, going with his “gut feeling” and explaining that “there’s an opportunity here to turn this guy into a real star.” No one seemed more surprised than Roderick himself, who gasped, “I can’t even believe what’s happening!” Roderick had stated earlier, “I’m a full-time musician, but I’m 38, so The Voice is probably my last time to do something on a huge scale” — so he was understandably grateful.

Whether or not Nick made the right decision, it was a risky decision, and it was a shame to see talented torch singer like Joanna, with her unique mixture of tenderness and toughness, go home so soon. But it turned out that the party wasn’t over for Joanna, as John swooped in to steal her. “I feel good!” John shouted — and he really should. He already had far-and-away the strongest team of the season — “an embarrassment of riches,” as he gloatingly described it — and now, with yet another promising contestant in his ranks, this “VEGOT”-winner might be unstoppable.

These were the other Battles of Monday night:

TEAM BLAKE: Joei Fulco vs. Todd Michael Hall, “The Best”

Blake claims rock is coming back — something he’s been promising since his raspy rocker Chloe Kohanksi won in Season 13. But then Kohanksi changed her name to “chloe mk” and went pop, so there ya go. As much as I would like to believe Blake and Bebe’s prophecy, this was not the sort of performance that could kickstart a rock ‘n’ roll revival. It was very Rock of Ages, very dated, very OK Boomer. That being said, Joei’s husky, sexy tone was more versatile (Blake called her voice “an interesting blend of icons”), and her fighting spirit (she’s into body-building and mixed martial arts) made her a natural in the ring. I have no idea why the trigger-happy Blake, during the first Battle of the season, wasted his one Save on a technically excellent but shticky singer like Todd.

WINNER: Joei Fulco / SAVED: Todd moves to four-way Knockout

TEAM KELLY: Anaya Cheyenne vs. Chelle, “Scared to Be Lonely”

These young girls faced the extra pressure of singing a Dua Lipa song in front of Dua Lipa during rehearsal, and only one of them could truly handle it, especially once they got onstage. Kelly said this showdown between two promising ingenues would “come down to attitude” and “who pushed themselves more,” and Anaya, who’d been training for this moment for years in her theater boarding school, was clearly ready for prime time. Anaya’s performance had more of an attack, even if it was a bit try-hard and too-pushed in parts, while Chelle seemed overwhelmed. Chelle’s quieter, controlled, less-is-more performance had some lovely moments, but Blake said the song got away from her, and Chelle’s own coach, Kelly, said her performance was “nowhere near what she is capable of.” This Battle’s outcome was no surprise.

WINNER: Anaya Cheyenne

TEAM LEGEND: Mike Jerel vs. Zach Day, “Adorn”

“Gaylor Swift,” a.k.a. the quirky Zach, was one of my favorite contestants of this season, but I had a sinking feeling when I found out he’d be going up against four-chair favorite Mike that this would not end in a Joanna/Roderick-style upset. What a shame to find out Zach had been Battles fodder all along. Still, I fully believed Zach, who’d auditioned with SWV’s “Weak,” had the swagger and showmanship to pull off the Miguel hit (even if Zach, who doesn’t see himself as a “sexy” singer, didn’t think so at first). So I was hoping for a Save situation. Mike the R&B dynamo was clearly the superior singer in the ring, and absolutely fearless and fierce, but I think Zach rose to the occasion with his vibey, funky performance. “Why did you do this?” Kelly asked John, once again baffled by a fellow coach’s decision to pit two great contestants against each other. I just want to know why John didn’t send Zach to the four-way Knockout. Sigh. Season 18 will be a lot less interesting without Zach.

WINNER: Mike Jerel

TEAM BLAKE: Jamal Corrie vs. Levi Watkins, “Counting Stars”

The big brother/little brother buddy act between 27-year-old Jamal and this season’s youngest contestant, 14-year-old Levi, was admittedly adorable. But I still would have introduced a new “twist,” as Mark Burnett loves to do with this show, and sent both contestants home. Levi did well with his lower range for someone so young — no Peter Brady “Time to Change” moments for this kid! — but his inability to nail, or even attempt to nail, the dramatic high notes resulted in an overall anti-climactic performance. And this wordy, polysyllabic, stomping OneRepublic song actually pushed both singers out of their comfort zones, with Jamal running and flapping and jumping around so much that his vocals, as John observed, lacked precision and breath control. Kelly appreciated Jamal’s sense of adventure and “passion over perfection,” but of course Blake was always going to go with the cute kid, the Cousin Oliver of The Voice.

WINNER: Levi Watkins

TEAM NICK: Allegra Miles vs. Michael Williams, “How Will I Know”

This intense duet, of the Sam Smith ballad version of Whitney Houston’s smash hit, was a Shawn Mendes/Camila Cabello-like situation, and it was the other big surprise of the night. Once again, I had expected Michael to be Team Nick fodder, but he conjured some real magic onstage with Allegra and earned his Save. That being said, Kelly described Allegra’s voice as having a “finale tone,” so I don’t think this decision was quite as agonizing for Nick as the Joanna/Roderick one supposedly was.

WINNER: Allegra Miles / SAVED: Michael moves to four-way Knockout

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