Season 24 of The Voice opened with a fiery performance of Reba McEntire‘s “Fancy.” Jordan Rainer, a 33-year-old from Atoka, Okla., commanded the stage in an all-black ensemble.
Her black leather jacket, hat and black sunglasses only added to the power of her voice, as well as her mystery.
McEntire was the firs to hit her button as fellow coaches Niall Horan and Gwen Stefani’s hands hovered over their red buttons. They were quick to follow suit. It took until the second chorus before John Legend turned his chair.
After her performance, it was Stefani who spoke first, and it wasn’t long before she named-dropped her husband, Blake Shelton. The country singer was a coach on the show for the first 23 seasons and is currently the winningest coach, though he has since given up his Voice chair.
“This is really difficult. The queen is here, you sang her song,” Stefani says. “I’m new to country music. Eight years ago I met Blake (Shelton) and that got me into the genre more. It’s really about how do I get you to grow and compete with everyone else who is on the show. One thing that I could also help you with is obviously with song choices, you now I could just be like (makes a phone gesture), ‘Blake?'”
“Oh, pulling that card now? Really? Is that fair?” McEntire quips back.
“No,” the pop star replies.
“I’m gonna call Keith Urban,” the country icon jokes, getting in the last word.
It was McEntire’s chance to speak, and she asked how long it had been since Rainer had been home to Atoka. The singer recently opened her own restaurant, Reba’s Place, in that town.
“I played your place not too long ago,” Rainer admits. “And I’m a huge fan.”
As the two began to connect, the other coaches began to lose hope in winning her over.
“I moved to Nashville eight years ago with a husband and a wiener dog. Still got the wiener dog,” the contestant shares.
At this point, Horan stared hitting a button that wold play various audio clips of Shelton gushing over the former One Direction member.
Rainer ended up choosing McEntire for her coach, giving the county veteran the first pick of the season.
McEntire also got to hand out her first coaches’ gift: A serving of piping hot tater tots. McEntire’s boyfriend Rex Linn gave her the nickname of tater tot early on in their relationship.
The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8PM ET on NBC.