Alex Whalen delivered one of the most impressive audition performances on Season 23 of The Voice. The 43-year-old former Tube driver from London, England earned a two-chair turn for singing “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”
Blake Shelton and Chance the Rapper were the coaches who turned their chairs for Whalen. Shelton called his performance “incredible” and said, “This is my last season as a coach on this show, and I want you on my last team.”
Whalen ended up picking Shelton as his coach.
Viewers loved Whalen’s performance too. The YouTube video of his audition has over 536,000 views as of this writing.
Unfortunately, that was the last and only time Voice fans would see Whalen sing on the show.
Whalen dropped out of the competition before his battle performance. Host Carson Daly shared the news when Whalen’s duet partner, Neil Salsich, took to the stage on his own.
“Team Blake’s Alex Whalen could not be with us tonight, so in this case, his battle partner will be singing solo,” Daly said.
Shelton offered some additional context about Whalen’s departure:
“Alex had personal reasons that he had to bow out of the competition. It’s never easy to see artists going home, but Neil has a ton of charisma. He did a great job today.”
Since Salsich didn’t have to compete against anyone, he automatically advanced to the knockouts. Shelton poked fun at former Voice coach Adam Levine when he spoke to Salsich backstage.
“I told him backstage, if you lose this Battle, it will be the worst fail in history,” Shelton said. “I mean, like, Adam Levine levels of failure.”
Watch Salsich’s battle performance below.
We’re sorry that Whalen had to leave The Voice. We hope to hear more from him in the future.