Watch the First Artist to Win a Playoff Pass on Night One of the Battle Rounds on 'The Voice'
Manasseh Samone will go straight through to the Playoffs and skip the Knockout Rounds.
Night one of The Voice Battle Rounds for Season 23 introduced a new feature into the competition: the Playoff Pass. It allows each coach to advance both artists in a Battle Round—but each coach only gets to use it once.
And it comes with an additional perk for the chosen artist. The Playoff Pass winner also gains a major advantage in allowing them to skip the Knockout Rounds and automatically advance to the Playoffs, taking them one step closer to the Live Shows.
Team Chance the Rapper’s Manasseh Samone was the first artist to be awarded the honor after her Battle with Sorelle on a performance of Adele’s “Someone Like You.”
Sorelle won the Battle with Chance saying, “Sorelle had to move on to the next round. Their confidence on stage, their dynamics as sisters and the fact that they can do so many harmonics is just something that the show needs. They’re stars who will do wondrous things beyond this competition.”
You could tell Manasseh was disappointed, but she was a trooper, telling Chance what a blessing he was to her. Then as she prepared to leave, he hit his Playoff Pass button, making her the first artist to ever get put through to the Playoffs without performing in the Knockouts.
“Manasseh, her journey is crazy,” Chance continued. “I think she was meant to be here at this time and now Manasseh has my one and only Playoff Pass. She’s heads and tails above the competition. She has the strongest voice. She has the experience of being on this stage before. I think Manasseh totally deserved to skip the next round.”
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What Chance was referring to when he mentioned she had been on the stage before was that Manasseh had tried out for The Voice last year, but during her Blind Audition, not a single chair turned for her. Of course, this season there are three judges—Chance, Niall Horan and Kelly Clarkson—who weren’t on hand her first tryout, and these judges recognized her talent, making the 22-year-old from Dallas, Texas the perfect example of the rewards of not giving up.
As for the other judges' comments, Kelly told them, “Sorelle, that was some intricate harmonies. You never strayed. That was well done. Manasseh, you are the reason the show exists. You are incredible as far as tone and you have runs for days. Even when y’all were over here singing (to Sorelle), she was over here living and breathing the song. You can’t go wrong either way, Chance, but Manasseh, you are so good.”
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Blake said, “When the singing started separately, I wondered, ‘How is this ever going to blend?’ Now, I never want you guys to not sing together, all of you. Incredible arrangement. Manasseh is everything that Kelly just said, but I want to talk about Sorelle for a minute. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard on this show a group sing with such attack, that were so tight with each other. It’s almost hard to believe that was live. And for that reason, I would go with Sorelle because I’ve never heard anything like that.”
Photo by: Casey Durkin/NBC
Niall agreed with Blake, saying, “Ladies, that was phenomenal. I can’t believe what I just heard. Manasseh, where you started that song and where you ended it are two different planets. Like goosebump stuff. Really incredible. And Sorelle, the block harmony sounds like a record that you would struggle to get to mix that well. You come in and it’s like a wall of harmonies. I think I would lean to Sorelle for just that reason.”
Then Chance weighed in, saying, “I’m so proud of you guys. That was a masterful performance on both parts. Manasseh, you are a one on one and your ability to take notes, it all came together, and I don’t want that to be lost at all. Sorelle, it’s incredibly difficult working with harmonics to make sure the pitch is correct with your sisters and you guys are so poised and young is something this competition needs. It’s a really tough decision.”
So tough, that he used his one and only Playoff Pass to save them both.
The Voice airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. and Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
