Spoiler alert! This story contains spoilers for the final night of Battles on Season 23 of The Voice, which aired April 4.
The Battles came to an end on The Voice’s 23rd season, and we’re one round closer to losing OG coach Blake Shelton. His final night of this portion of the competition was an eventful one, as the cowboy unexpectedly lost a member of his team before stealing an artist from Chance the Rapper who he’d wanted all along. And after Kelly Clarkson looked to be taking the reins as resident troll of The Voice, Shelton may have reclaimed his place and reignited an old rivalry, lobbing an insult at former coach Adam Levine.
Blake Shelton only had one matchup planned for the final night of the Battle Round; however, Carson Daly informed viewers that Alex Whalen had removed himself from the competition for personal reasons. Whalen’s battle partner, Neil Salsich, instead took the stage alone to sing “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” and he advanced to the Knockouts by default. That made for a pretty easy night for the outgoing coach, but he took advantage of the opportunity to deliver an A+ slam against his former rival on the show. After Salsich’s performance, Shelton said:
I told Neil before he came out here, I said, ‘Man, if you lose this battle, it will be the worst fail in history.’ I mean, this would be some Adam Levine-level failure stuff.
Wow, I’ll tell you it’s been a while since Blake Shelton or any of The Voice family threw shade at the Maroon 5 singer, who appeared on the original coaching panel with Shelton back in 2011 and stayed for 16 seasons. It’s certainly the first time anyone’s mentioned Adam Levine since his cheating scandal last fall. There were even rumors that Shelton’s wife Gwen Stefani might have advised her husband to distance himself from his former colleague. Maybe Shelton caught wind of Levine’s flippant reaction to his impending retirement?
I personally thought it was hilarious and perfectly fitting for Blake Shelton as he prepares for the end of his 23-season run on the show. Is there a chance we might see the F-bomb-dropping artist respond for old-time’s sake?
Meanwhile, Blake Shelton closed out the Battles with a huge win for his team, stealing NOIVAS from rookie coach Chance the Rapper. Chance had used his Block against the cowboy in the Blind Auditions, with NOIVAS earning a Four-Chair Turn, and Shelton seemed more than satisfied with the way his Battle journey ended, saying:
I love the fact that I was Blocked from NOIVAS in the Blind Auditions, and I was able, for once, to get somebody back on my team that I thought needed to be on my team from the very beginning. I thought this guy did a great job in the Blinds. I thought he did a killer job in the Battles. I mean, the man has a cowboy hat. He belongs on my team.
It sounds like Blake Shelton is happy about where his team stands going into the Knockouts, which are set to premiere in two weeks. Next Monday at 8 p.m. ET, tune into NBC to see the “Best of the Blinds, Battles and Blake,” which will include a performance from The Voice coaches.