Spoiler alert! This story discusses the October 2 episode of The Voice Season 24.
We may have had to wait longer than usual for The Voice coaches to pull out their Blocks, but the third night of Blind Auditions certainly remedied that, at least when it came to John Legend and Niall Horan. It seems with Blake Shelton and Kelly Clarkson gone, The Voice is trying to fuel the fire of a new rivalry — one between the EGOT winner in his eighth season on the show and the sophomore coach who won the competition on his first try. However there’s something missing from this new “feud,” and I’m just not feeling it.
The mentors on the show have always been known to bicker back and forth with one another — and Blake Shelton especially was king of the trolls — so it’s understandable that The Voice would try to fill that gap by trying to pit John Legend and Niall Horan against each other. Just look at what happened on the October 2 episode.
John Legend And Niall Horan Used Their Blocks On Each Other
Never before has The Voice audience waited so long for the coaches to start blocking one another, but that all ended on the latest round of Blind Auditions, when John Legend used his Block on Niall Horan on the first artist of the evening. Stee, a singer from South Carolina, got a Four-Chair Turn with his audition of Maroon 5’s “Sugar” and ended up choosing the “All of Me” singer’s team.
John Legend continued to pick on Niall Horan throughout the night, as they both fought to get the last word with the contestants. He even took a page out of Blake Shelton’s book, hitting his button to make “Ramblin’ Man” play every time the One Direction star started to go on too long.
The Heartbreak Weather artist did get his revenge, using his Block on John Legend for Texas artist Rudi’s rendition of “You Don’t Own Me.” It ended up not paying off for Niall Horan, though, as Rudi was a big Gwen Stefani fan and decided to go with the No Doubt frontwoman.
Why The New Rivalry Doesn’t Work For Me
There have been some pretty epic rivalries in The Voice’s 22 years, which of course include Blake Shelton’s feuds with Adam Levine and Kelly Clarkson. We could even go way back and talk about how snippy the Maroon 5 singer and Christina Aguilera used to get with each other. The difference between those and John Legend vs. Niall Horan is that there’s no actual tension between the Season 24 coaches.
Adam Levine was still dropping F-bombs in reference to Blake Shelton after he left The Voice, and Kelly Clarkson may have been good friends with the cowboy, but there’s no question that he legitimately got under her skin when undermining her expertise in country music. John Legend and Niall Horan seem incapable of having true beef with anyone — at least on this show — and their “rivalry” ended up feeling manufactured to me.
Maybe they’ll have better luck finding friction between Gwen Stefani and Reba McEntire, when the two of them decide to use their Blocks against a fellow mentor, but I’d rather forget the fighting and just allow their authentic personalities to dictate what happens. We’ll see how it all shakes out when The Voice continues at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday, October 3, on NBC.