If you’re ever playing poker against Shakira, take note: She’s not afraid to go all-in before anyone else has had the chance to get comfortable.
“The Voice” brought back the steal this season, with each coach getting two to use to take an opposing coach's losing singer in a battle. Shakira had used up both of hers by the end of Monday’s episode, so she’ll have to be content with sitting quietly the rest of the way while everyone else gets to swipe talent.
Or, if she prefers, she can just take Blake Shelton’s advice after she moaned, “I never should have taken this job.”
“Just drink, like I do,” Blake suggested.
Shakira got started quickly, convincing Sasha Allen to pick her instead of Usher after Adam Levine declared Amber Carrington the winner of their battle. In the time-honored “What was Adam thinking?” gesture, both coaches pressed their buzzers about three words into Carson Daly’s speech about how the steal still existed.
And while obviously this is a TV show and the coaches tend to err on the side of creating drama, Usher seemed genuinely upset that Sasha dissed him for the second time. He pushed his button for her both at her blind audition and the battle round, and both times she rejected him.
“I didn’t see that one coming,” Usher said. He also said he was “flabbergasted” and “mortified,” which means he must not have heard Sasha’s daughter screaming for her mom to pick Shakira.
After selecting Garrett Gardner to advance past J’Sun in her own battle, Shakira raided Adam’s team again for her second steal, taking advantage of the decision to pit Judith Hill and Karina Iglesias against each other. The two big voices made the most of their time in the ring, bowing to each other at the outset and then doing their best to bring down the light fixtures. It definitely made for an entertaining couple of minutes.
“That was not a great battle. That was the best battle I’ve ever seen on this show,” Adam said.
Of course, while it made for good TV, that call also meant Adam got an earful from Blake, whose feedback concluded with, “The only negative thing I'll say is that Adam's really stupid for putting you two together.”
Shakira also called the matchup “stupid.”
“And that was all true. I’m a stupid person with bad ideas,” Adam said. But he picked Judith, and Shakira used her final steal of the season to nab Karina.
Blake got the other steal of the night, swiping ex-gymnast Taylor Beckham after Usher decided she’d lost her matchup against Jess Kellner. Taylor has some potential, but she still has a lot of work to do. Moreover, she’s not a country artist, and Blake used that as his self-proclaimed tie-breaker when picking Holly Tucker and the Swon Brothers as battle-round winners for his squad.
“The Voice” continues with the battle rounds on Tuesday, and we’ll see if Shakira sits quietly or takes Blake’s advice instead.
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