Photo: NBC
āTodayās the day,ā Adam Levine declared.
Levine, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend competed for a rising country artist to join their teams on The Voice: Battle of Champions. Hunter Jordan, 22, from Maysville, Kentucky, performed āLet Me Down Easyā by Billy Currington during the blind auditions that aired on Monday evening (March 2). Host Carson Daly predicted the three coaches would āfight for an hour,ā after the triple turn.
āI know greatness when I hear it,ā Levine said. āI'm not Captain Country, I'm not Blake [Shelton], I'm Admiral Country. Whatās gonna happen today is, Iām gonna finally make a country singer realize sometimes the best thing to do ā and no oneās done it, so you would be blazing a trail, my friend. And we all want to blaze trails, donāt we?
āYou are gonna break the mold because you are gonna finally do what no country singer has ever done before,ā he continued. āResist the urge to go with the status quo, my friend. Youāre gonna shake things up. Itās gonna be television gold, but most importantly, itās gonna be Hunter gold because youāre gonna have a bigger career. Because people are gonna wanna know ālook at this odd couple. oh, wait. Odd couple. Blake Shelton (and) Adam Levine. Odd couple. Country, not country. It worked.ā Iām just saying.ā
Clarkson and Legend applauded Jordanās voice. Though the Kentucky-born country singer said before his blind audition that he would āfor sureā choose Clarkson, he opted to go another direction.
āIāve thought about this decision for along time when I knew that I was gonna be on the show,ā he said. āAnd I think Iām gonna blaze a path with Adam.ā
Levine jumped out of his seat and rolled across the floor to meet Jordan. He said, via NBC Insider, āI went fully insane over Hunter because he deserves it, but also because I had to go turbo because I always lose country Artists. I went hard, I got him.ā
Levine and Shelton became known for their banter over for more than a decade, including friendly competition for country artists. Shelton, the winningest coach in Voice history, left the show in May 2023 after 23 seasons.
The Voice: Battle of Champions airs on Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on NBC. Itās available to stream the next day on Peacock. Watch Jordanās audition here: