An amazing four-chair turn on The Voice‘s season 24 premiere on Monday had the coaches pulling out all the stops — and even channeling the competition’s winningest coach, Blake Shelton.
Mara Justine wowed all of the coaches with her performance of Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” and had Niall Horan, Gwen Stefani, John Legend and brand new coach Reba McEntire clamoring to have her join their respective teams.
“Someone that’s willing to go into the first round with an Elton John song, and sing it like that, it takes something,” Niall marveled.
Reba praised Mara’s confidence and stage presence, while John leaned on the old standby of pointing out that he was the first coach to turn his chair.
“What made me turn around so quickly was your tone in that lower part of the song, and then you had the finesse to do those really light touches,” he noted.
However, Niall wasn’t going down without a fight, making a not-so-veiled reference to a friend who is no longer on the show, but “off on a tractor in Oklahoma.”
“I know him!” Gwen remarked with a laugh.
“He taught me a little trick I noticed on day one,” Niall said of Blake. “He taught me to do absolutely anything to make sure that you get a team member.”
With that, Niall hit his button, which lowered Blake’s infamous “Pick Me” red pointer finger. Only this time, Blake’s name had been crossed out and replaced — so the giant sign read “Pick Niall”
“You’re shameless!” Reba scoffed.
To retaliate, John pulled out one of his favorite tricks, and took the stage with Mara to perform a bit of “All of Me” together, leaving the young singer more than a little starstruck.
So, who did she pick? Voice fans were left hanging as the results will be revealed during the start of Tuesday’s Blind Auditions. Stay tuned!
When ET spoke with the coaches ahead of the season, Niall admitted that he was definitely missing his “TV dad” Blake after the two forged a semi-begrudging bond last season.
“Of course I miss Blake,” Niall told ET. “I’m glad I was there for his last season. I got to learn off him and have a bit of a laugh while doing it.”
“Every time he comes to town, he’s like, ‘Can I come over?'” Gwen Stefani teased. “They’re like little-big buddies.”
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. PT/ET on NBC.
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