The Voice Season 28 Battle Rounds are underway, and the field of 48 is quickly going to be cut in half.
Four dozen hopefuls made it past the brutal Blind Auditions. Now those talented singers are facing the first big test of the season – the Battle Round. In this round, team members were paired up to perform a song together. The coaches then had to decide who they were taking to the Knockouts and who they were sending home.
For the first time in Voice history, the contestants were tasked with choosing their own Battle partners. Team Reba’s Aaron Nichols and Daron Lameek were among those pairings.
Ahead of their performance, Nichols shared his concern about pairing with Lameek due to the latter’s “excellent” voice.
“I honestly felt like Daron was somebody to try to avoid. He’s an excellent vocalist. I mean, runs for days,” Nicols said.
During the Blind Auditions, Daron Lameek earned a 2-chair turn with a soulful rendition of Lionel Richie’s
“All Night Long.” Nichols turned three chairs with a “gritty” performance of Chris Stapleton’s “Cold.” Following his performance, coach Michael Buble predicted that Reba would win The Voice if Aaron Nicols joined her team.
Former Voice coach Nick Jonas joined Reba to advise the Battle Round contestants. Together, they combined Aaron’s soulful country sound with Daron Lameek’s R&B voice to create a beautiful cover of an Elvin Bishop hit.
Daron Lameek and Aaron Nichols faced off with a performance of “Fooled Around And Fell In Love.”
Coach Reba admitted that she wouldn’t have chosen the pairing due to the difference in the men’s voices. But Nick Jonas argued that it ended up “kind of perfect.” Reba agreed, comparing the match up to peanut butter and jelly – “So different, but blended together so well.”
Lameek tackled the song’s first verse before Nichols joined him on the chorus and took on a verse of his own.
Coach Michael Buble compared Daron to Sam Cooke and told Reba that if it were his choice, he would keep Daron. Niall agreed, saying that he would “lean” toward Daron based on the effortlessness of his voice alone.
When it came time to make her decision, Reba went against the advice of her fellow coaches and chose to keep Aaron Nichols!
“I had to choose Aaron. He did something tonight that he hadn’t done in rehearsals. He hit a high note with that gravel voice. I was like…that’s it. That wins the prize right there,” Reba said.
Watch Aaron Nichols and Daron Lameek’s incredible performance in the video below.