Adam Levine is one of the most experienced coaches on The Voice, but even he had to give credit to one of Season 30’s newcomers after Queen Latifah pulled off another major Blind Audition victory.
The moment came during the September 28 episode after 31-year-old surgical technologist Chari stepped onto the stage and delivered a powerful performance of Oleta Adams’ “Get Here.”
Chari’s audition became one of the night’s biggest performances, with Adam, Kelly Clarkson, Riley Green and Queen Latifah all turning their chairs.
Adam was especially impressed. He remained standing after the song ended and told Chari that sitting down after hearing her perform would almost feel disrespectful.
He then went even further with his pitch.
Adam told Chari that there is a certain quality he has learned to recognize in singers capable of winning The Voice — and said he hadn’t heard it from anyone this season until her audition.
He openly told Chari that he believed she could win the entire competition and urged her to join Team Adam.
Kelly and Riley also fought hard for her, but Queen found a way to connect Chari’s everyday career with what she had just done onstage.
Playing off Chari’s work in surgery, Queen praised the “surgical precision” of the performance and told her how much she admired the way she made such a familiar song feel personal.
Queen’s pitch eventually became even more emotional. She explained that when she accepted the coaching role, she had hoped she would find an artist exactly like Chari — someone incredibly talented who deserved a bigger platform.
That connection proved difficult for Chari to ignore.
After hearing all four coaches make their cases, Chari chose Queen Latifah, handing the first-time coach one of the biggest four-chair victories of the season.
Even Chari joked that Queen’s style helped seal the decision, mentioning her flawless hair while admitting Adam had made the choice extremely difficult.
Losing Chari clearly hurt Adam, but instead of dismissing Queen’s victory, he offered perhaps the biggest compliment a rival coach could receive.
Adam said Team Queen was “stacked” and admitted that he believed Queen Latifah had the best team at that point in the competition.
It was a remarkable statement considering Queen entered Season 30 as a first-time coach competing against two former champions in Adam and Kelly. But after landing artists including Chari, Bryan Jaymes, Morgan Lett, Mia Knight and several other standout singers, Queen has quickly shown she can compete with anyone in the red chairs.
There are still Blind Auditions left and the Battles could completely change the competition, so Adam’s comment wasn’t a prediction about who will ultimately win. But after watching Queen beat him for one of the season’s most impressive four-chair singers, even Adam had to admit that Team Queen had become a serious force.
