Kelsea Ballerini Steals Avery Roberson From Blake Shelton Following James Otto Cover On ‘The Voice’

Team Blake’s Avery Roberson and Ethan Lively faced off during Monday’s (March 29) Battle Rounds on NBC’s The Voice. 

The contestants took the stage to sing James Otto’s “Just Got Started Lovin’ You” and earned praise from each of the coaches. 

“You both make me feel like I’ve got the highest voice in the world,” Jonas joked before Legend chimed in saying, “I was trying to hit that note in my head.”

“I feel like half a man at the moment, really impressive performance from both of you,” Jonas added. “I was imagining that I was at Billy Bob’s down in Fort Worth, Texas, having a beer and line dancing, which is something I’ve actually done before.” 

“Really? I wish we had that video,” Shelton quipped.

Jonas went on to share that he felt this was a tough decision for Shelton to have to make. 

“I don’t know who I’d pick because you do have similar voices,” Jonas said before Shelton interrupted him saying, “but I think contractually you’re obligated to say who you would pick.”

“I think you’re a liar,” Jonas said, while Kelsea Ballerini, who is filling in for Kelly Clarkson, laughed hysterically. 

“I will give an opinion if you really want to know. If I was you, I would not advise Nick how to do his coaching and I would probably go with Avery,” Jonas said.

John Legend was equally impressed by their performance. 

“I haven’t been to many honky-tonks in my day, but it just felt like it was an inviting performance,” Legend exclaimed. “The song did have that low note, and I felt like Ethan had that robust low tone. It’s amazing to me that you’re only 17. I think in this moment Ethan did a little bit better but this song played to his strengths.”

“First things first, we’ve got to get you honky tonkin’ at some point,” Ballerini told Legend. “I’m making that my new personal life goal.”

“Second of all, I feel like I got serenaded. I’m blushing, I’m flattered. I really enjoyed it and it made me want to go down to Broadway and have a drink so that in itself is country music and I love that.” 

Shelton used the opportunity to compliment each contestant and explain his decision. 

“It is a tough song, it pushes you up there as much as it pushes you down there, you know. For me, it does anyways,” Shelton shared. “But I didn’t learn that about you [Ethan] until we started and was like woah, you made Nick feel like half a man.”

“Avery,” he added, “I mean you came in high demand, Ethan had one chair, me, you had all four coaches trying to get you and it was because of your ability to connect with a lyric. That’s what I’ve always used these battle rounds for, is to push people and get them out of their comfort zone. And Avery I’m going to tell you right now, I saw you come alive up there but great job man, seriously.” 

Ultimately, Shelton advanced Ethan Lively to the Knockouts but there was a twist – Ballerini chose to use Clarkson’s steal to bring Avery Roberson to Team Kelly. 

“That was my first steal and it felt good,” Ballerini gushed. “I just felt like I got to be the good guy here.”

The “Hole in the Bottle” singer explained that she had been texting Clarkson about using the steal the entire time. 

“I’m over here texting with Kelly [Clarkson] and she’s like ‘you have to get him for me’ and I was like ‘I’ll do my best’ and I’m really excited because you’re so talented.”

Click above to watch. 

The Voice airs on Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.