‘The Voice’ season 24 episode 13 recap: The Battles end and Wynonna Judd joins as Knockouts mega mentor [LIVE BLOG]

Tonight on “The Voice,” the battle rounds end as Niall Horan, John Legend, Reba McEntire and Gwen Stefani prepare their artists to go head-to-head in hopes of advancing to the three-way knockouts, which begin with mega mentor Wynonna Judd on hand to provide advice to the artists.

The four-time Emmy Award-winning musical competition series returns with the strongest vocalists from across the country invited to compete in the show’s newest season, which premiered September 25 on NBC. The show’s innovative format features five stages of competition: Blind Auditions, Battle Rounds, Knockouts, Playoffs and Live Performance Shows. 

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SEE Everything to know about ‘The Voice’ Season 24: Premiere date, coaches

Below, read our minute-by-minute “The Voice” recap of Season 24, Episode 13 to find out what happened Monday, November 6 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. Then be sure to sound off in the comments section about your favorite artists on NBC’s long-running reality TV show, which coach you’re rooting for and who you think will ultimately join “The Voice” winners list for this 24th season. Carson Daly hosts the Emmy-winning program.

Keep refreshing/reloading this “The Voice” live blog for the most recent updates.

8:00 p.m. – “Previously on ‘The Voice’!” In episode 12, the coaches continued refining their teams in the battles. On Team Reba Tom Nitti defeated Dylan Carter. On Team Niall Olivia Minogue defeated Laura Williams. On Team Gwen Jason Arcilla defeated Eli Ward. On Team Legend Mara Justine defeated Claudia B. (stolen by Niall). Let’s continue the battles!

8:03 p.m. – The final night of the battles started with the last Team Niall pairing Huntley vs. Brailey Lenderman, two artists he identifies as soulful rock artists. In their rehearsal session of “Hold My Hand,” Niall helped them with their “dynamics” and “determination” because they both already had their notes down.

8:08 p.m. – Gwen told Brailey that she didn’t notice until “like halfway through” that she has so much power, but called out Huntley’s “precision” as the stand out. John also thought Brailey was powerful and made good choices, but it was a clear challenge for her to be up against Huntley’s presence and the special crackle in his voice. Reba heard “a few pitchy things” in Brailey’s performance and agreed that Huntley has great stage presence and is “a force of nature.” Niall echoed the sentiments of the rest of the coaches and acknowledged that this was Brailey’s least nervous performance of the ones he’s seen and so that was impressive growth for her. Niall agreed with everyone else on the panel that this was an easy win for Huntley.

8:13 p.m. – Up next was Crystal Nicole and Caitlin Quisenberry from Team Reba taking on “The Song Remembers When.” After one pass through the song, Reba told them that everything sounded great, but “let’s add to it.” What she meant is that they needed to listen to the lyric of the song and then bring a new connection to it in order to add depth to the words.

8:22 p.m. – Niall called Crystal’s voice “so round” and Caitlin’s “familiar,” naming Caitlin as the better storyteller between the two. Gwen thought Caitlin was memorable and more rare of a voice while Crystal has a naturally strong vocal delivery. John agreed that Crystal’s voice “takes up space in a really nice way” while Caitlin’s voice “felt more at home” with that song. Reba loved the battle overall saying that they both did a good job complementing each other. In the end, Reba selected Caitlin as her winner.

8:33 p.m. – The final battle was Team Gwen’s Brandon Montel and Kara Tenae with their rendition of “Have You Ever?” in a situation where we already knew that John, with the last steal still available, would claim the artist that Gwen did not choose. Gwen thought both artists are “quite equal” in their abilities, but got “nitpicky” about them finding the right placement for their runs. Specifically, she wanted Brandon to bring more character to his performance and Kara to blend into Brandon better when they’re singing together in the chorus.

8:43 p.m. – John loved Brandon’s “airy” higher register and Kara’s “powerful and brilliant” performance, but thought that Brandon had a more “rare” voice overall. Reba said that if she had to pick one of the two she’d go with Kara because of how fascinated she was with Kara’s handling of the song. Niall was impressed by the “technical stuff” and called it one of the best battles of the round. Gwen’s final decision came down to Brandon’s “pretty yet so skilled” voice versus Kara who improved upon the rehearsal sessions in the performance. She thought that Kara would “continue to blow people away” and so she chose Kara. That decision left Brandon open to be scooped up by John as the final artist for his team.

8:54 p.m. – From here the competition switched over into the threeway knockouts where each coach would pit three of their artists against each other and choose only one as the winner. In the round, each team would have one steal and one save to use, leaving each team with only five artists by the end of the round. Unlike in the battles where the coaches selected the songs for the artists, this time the artists got to pick their own songs. Oh, and they were advised by the special guest “mega mentor” Wynonna Judd.

8:55 p.m. – The round kicked off with Team Reba’s threeway between Jacquie Roar singing “Girl,” Tom Nitti singing “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” and Alison Albrecht singing “It’s Too Late.” Reba wanted Alison to think less about her body movements and Wynonna thought she should “relax into the low notes.” Wynonna told Jacquie she got distracted by the high parts of the song and urged her to move the vocal down a bit because that’s where she’s powerful. Wynonna suggested that Tom sing without the mic stand because the audience wants to see more of him, but the question for him was how do you mix country and soul without confusing your fans.

9:15 p.m. – Niall noticed the growth from Alison, Jacquie’s superior song choice, and then called Tom’s performance “haunting.” Gwen called Jacquie “so soulful” and handling the stage very well and Tom a “showman” and “engaging.” John said he’s in love with Alison’s voice, naming her as his favorite of the bunch though he would have liked to see “another gear” from her. Reba was proud of Alison’s composure, called Jacquie a “force of nature,” and thinks Tom has the “whole package.” In a shocker, Reba chose her stolen artist Jacquie as the winner of the knockout because of her range and comfort on stage.

9:23 p.m. – Before Tom could leave the stage, Reba hit her save button and Gwen hit her steal button, setting up a head-to-head to keep Tom in the competition for the playoffs. Gwen said she’s curious to see what Tom does next and Reba emphasized that she’s witnessed how special he is an artist and wants to keep him on her team. Tom called it a “tough decision” before sticking with Reba.

9:30 p.m. – Team John had the pleasure of meeting the mega mentor next with rehearsals from three four chair turn artists Mara Justine on “Without You,” Caleb Sasser on “Jealous,” and Kaylee Shimizu on “Ain’t No Way.” Wynonna thought she could be “more present” in Kaylee’s performance if she dropped the song a step lower and John thought that brought out her vibrato a little more. Wynonna admitted that there were technical issues with Caleb’s rehearsal, but she and John said he needs to focus on “feeling” the song in order to connect with the audience better. Wynonna thought Mara’s performance was “a little strained at times” and so she and John taught her about adding backside support when she goes high on the song.

9:44 p.m. – Reba appreciated Caleb’s stage presence and tone as well as Kaylee’s soul and sass as a performer. Niall told Mara he’s always been a fan of her, noting that she brought great energy to the song because she’s so emotive, but then there’s Kaylee who fills the room with her voice. Gwen noted Caleb’s difficult song choice, but thinks he could have more to his performance. She was impressed by Mara being able to make every song sound like her own in true artist fashion. John closed out remarks with comments on Caleb stepping out of his shell, Kaylee’s “warmth and richness” to her voice, and Mara’s compelling point of view as an artist. In the end, John decided to keep Kaylee on his team because of how gifted she is as a 17 year old.

9:55 p.m. – Once again there was a fight to be had when both Niall and Gwen hit their steal buttons for Mara. Gwen said she’s passionate about how well Mara connects to the audience and Niall said that he was texting John ever since he lost out on having Mara on his team and so he’s been waiting to steal her all competition. Mara’s decision would wait until Tuesday night…

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