Spoiler alert! This story reveals which teams a couple of auditioning artists ended up joining on the October 8 episode of The Voice. If you need to catch up on Season 26, episodes can be streamed with a Peacock subscription.
It’s probably not a surprise to anyone that Snoop Dogg has added a certain flair to the 2024 TV schedule as a new coach on The Voice. He always seems to know the right thing to say to keep everyone inspired and entertained, and I hope we’ll be seeing the rapper again on future seasons. But I have to admit that Michael Bublé, Season 26’s other rookie coach, has been quite a surprise. I had no idea the crooner was so funny, and I am living for the way he’s been using the plots of Titanic and other movies to try to earn favor with the artists.
The Blind Auditions have been wild so far, with the new rule that’s been introduced and some history-making auditions, so as artists took the stage on October 8 — the first Tuesday episode of the season, with The Voice’s schedule being impacted by the presidential election — it’s no wonder Michael Bublé felt the need to stretch the truth a little to get the hopefuls’ attention. Gabrielle Zabosky turned all four chairs with her version of Kelly Clarkson’s “Mr. Know It All,” and Bublé made an impassioned argument for why she should join his team, saying:
When I was a kid, I used to sing on a cruise ship, believe it or not, and I remember this one time meeting this girl, and I fell in love with her on this cruise ship, and she used to paint me like one of her French boys. And there was an accident, you guys probably saw it on the news, but the cruise ship actually went, it went down.
At this point, Gabrielle Zabosky caught on to what was happening and asked him if he was talking about Titanic. Michael Bublé insisted he’d never heard of that and continued amidst laughter from The Voice coaches and audience:
My point was to say that girl, I lost that girl forever. Listen to me, guys, it’s not funny. As I watched Rose sink beneath the water, I realized that if I would have just let her get on that door with me, we would have been together [forever]. … It was a long way to get to my point, but there is room on my door for the both of us. Neither of us need to die tonight.
So dramatic! He really gave it his all, but the singer chose to join Gwen Stefani’s team. The “Home” singer had better luck with Jamison Puckett, who sang Journey’s “Faithfully.” Reba McEntire and Michael Bublé both turned their chairs for the artist, which upset the latter quite a lot, as he said he didn’t want to battle the Queen of Country due to his traumatic past. Bublé explained:
I’m not happy. I’m deeply unhappy because Reba turned too. And I’m so tired of this. I truly am. When I was a kid — I don’t know 20, 21 — I moved to L.A. trying to get my big break. I was in this underground club where we used to fight. And we weren’t allowed, actually, you weren’t allowed to talk about it. That was the rule No. 1. And now, after that life and fighting…
As everyone realized he was just pretending to be a character in Fight Club, Reba McEntire hit her button, causing her hit song “You Lie” to boom from the speakers. Michael Bublé laughed so hard he was in tears as he exclaimed:
It’s happening again! I’m back in a fight club with Reba McEntire!
The Voice coaches have always been known for their antics, and Blake Shelton was also known to fib a little in order to win artists. The way Michael Bublé does it, though, he starts off so sincere that it always takes a second to realize what he’s doing, and it (ironically) feels more authentic than some of the other actions taken by the mentors. Like, I believe this is actually a part of his personality and not something the show told him to do.
On the October 7 episode, he was so upset with himself about not turning for the duo MisterMoon (who joined Team Snoop) that he compared himself to a character from Pretty Woman. In Bublé’s words:
I’ll be honest with you. As a young guy, I was shopping on Rodeo Drive and I went into this expensive store, and I went up to these women, and they were like, ‘If you have to ask how much it is, you probably can’t afford it.’ And it really hurt me. And I came back the next day with all my nice stuff on, all this money, and I said, ‘Do you work on commission, ladies?’ And they said, ‘Yes we do,” and I said, ‘Big mistake. Big.’ And I feel like today I might be one of those ladies working on commission.
It’s so extra, and I can’t get past how much Michael Bublé commits. A couple of times, he’s just straight-up taken Gwen Stefani’s life story, telling one artist that he used to be in a ska band in the ‘90s. He also asked a singer to help give him the perfect wedding anniversary by joining his team (when it was actually Stefani’s anniversary with Blake Shelton).
It’s a dumb bit, I admit it, but he’s got me hooked. I can’t wait to keep watching The Voice to see what stories are coming next. New episodes air at 8 p.m. ET Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.