The Voice Season 30 is almost finished with the Blind Auditions, and the October 5 episode showed just how difficult the coaches’ decisions are becoming as their teams rapidly fill up.
Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine, Riley Green and Queen Latifah entered Blind Auditions Part 5 with only a handful of openings remaining, meaning talented singers who might have received an easy chair turn earlier in the season suddenly faced much higher standards.
And the night ended with one of the season’s biggest surprises: a traditional country singer who appeared perfectly suited for Riley Green ultimately chose Queen Latifah instead.
KAYLEIGH MATHEWS GETS ALL FOUR CHAIRS
Kayleigh Mathews, 31, from Tucson, Arizona, stepped onto the stage with Vince Gill’s “When I Call Your Name.”
Adam Levine turned first, but it didn’t take long for Kelly, Riley and Queen to follow.
By the time Kayleigh reached the heart of the song, all four coaches were facing her.
Queen was particularly affected by the performance, describing the experience as spiritual and telling Kayleigh that she deserved every chair that had turned.
Riley also seemed to have an obvious advantage.
As the only country star on the coaching panel, he told Kayleigh that hearing the Vince Gill classic transported him back to growing up in Alabama and praised her for taking on such a difficult country song.
Kelly heard something different in Kayleigh’s voice, comparing elements of her sound to female country stars she has admired for years.
Adam, meanwhile, argued that working with someone outside the obvious country lane might actually help Kayleigh stand out.
Then came the decision almost nobody expected.
Kayleigh chose Queen Latifah.
The result gave Queen another four-chair artist while leaving Riley without a singer many viewers likely assumed would automatically join his team.
NINA HOWLAND CREATES ANOTHER FOUR-CHAIR BATTLE
Kayleigh wasn’t the only contestant to convince every coach to turn.
Nina Howland, 24, performed Bonnie Raitt’s “Love Me Like a Man” and immediately caught Kelly Clarkson’s attention.
Kelly revealed that the song is actually one she loves singing herself and enthusiastically tried to convince Nina that they were a natural match.
Adam, Queen and Riley also turned, creating another four-way recruiting fight.
Nina eventually revealed that Kelly had been her idol and preferred coach before she ever walked onto the stage.
She ultimately chose Team Kelly, giving Clarkson another major four-chair addition just as her remaining spaces were disappearing.
BRANDON DIAZ RETURNS 15 YEARS LATER
Another emotional story belonged to Brandon Diaz.
Brandon had previously auditioned for The Voice approximately 15 years earlier and returned to the competition hoping for another opportunity.
This time, he earned his place and joined Team Queen, making his return one of the more personal moments of the episode.
THE COACHES ARE BECOMING MUCH PICKIER
With the Blind Auditions nearly complete, simply delivering a good performance is no longer enough.
Heading into the October 5 episode, Adam still had five team spaces available, while Kelly, Riley and Queen each had only four.
Their First In advantages had also already been used, meaning the coaches could no longer automatically claim a singer simply because they were first to turn.
Every strong contestant therefore triggered a genuine recruiting fight — while other singers had to perform knowing coaches might hesitate simply because they had so few spaces remaining.
MORE SINGERS FIND THEIR TEAMS
The episode also saw several other artists earn places in the competition.
Luke Cope joined Team Queen, while Keiyana Osmond and Brandy Neelly became additions to Team Riley.
Kelly added Matthew Chiu along with Nina Howland, while Adam secured Marilyn Hucek, Dakota Cohen and Luke Curran.
By the end of the episode, Queen had assembled a particularly varied roster that included singers such as Chari, Mia Knight, BigCountry, Brandon Diaz and now Kayleigh Mathews.
ONE FINAL NIGHT OF BLIND AUDITIONS REMAINS
Season 30 has six Blind Audition episodes in total.
Part 5 aired October 5, leaving Blind Auditions Part 6 on October 6 as the final opportunity for singers to earn a place on one of the four teams.
After that, everything changes.
The Battles begin October 12, when teammates will finally be paired against each other and the coaches will have to start sending singers home.
That makes the final team spots especially important.
Four-chair turns such as Kayleigh Mathews and Nina Howland may have produced some of the loudest reactions during the auditions, but once the Battles begin, even the singers every coach wanted will have to prove themselves again.
And after Queen Latifah managed to convince a traditional country singer to turn down Riley Green, Season 30 has once again shown that the most obvious coach-contestant pairing isn’t always the one that wins.
