Team Adam Levine’s Battle Rounds opened with exactly the kind of matchup that makes choosing a winner painful.
Connor Closs and Cal Cook went head-to-head on The Voice Season 30 with a demanding performance of Sombr’s “Homewrecker,” turning the Battle into a showcase of soaring falsettos, vocal runs and rapid shifts between registers.
And one particular high note caught Kelly Clarkson completely off guard.
As Connor climbed into the upper part of his range, Kelly could be heard blurting out an excited:
“Wow!”
The studio audience responded just as enthusiastically while Adam watched from his chair with a huge smile.
The pairing made sense from Adam’s perspective.
Both singers had shown during the Blind Auditions that they were comfortable working in higher registers, but their voices are noticeably different.
Connor, 23, from Middletown, New Jersey, originally earned chair turns from Adam and Riley Green after performing Hozier’s “Too Sweet.”
Connor ultimately chose Adam, partly because he believed Levine understood the kind of falsetto-heavy vocal style he wanted to develop.
Cal Cook, 28, from Salt Lake City, had a very different beginning.
He performed Dijon’s “The Dress” during his Blind Audition and received only Adam’s chair.
But Adam appeared thrilled to have him, praising the detail in Cal’s tone and the distinctive choices he made throughout the performance.
Now Adam deliberately put those two unusual voices against each other.
Cal opened “Homewrecker” with falsetto ad-libs before Connor entered, and the singers spent the rest of the song trading sections and pushing into increasingly difficult high notes.
Rather than sounding like two contestants fighting for space, their voices frequently complemented one another.
That wasn’t lost on Riley Green.
After the performance, Riley joked that Connor and Cal sounded so good together that they could almost become an actual duo. (Black News UK)
Kelly had plenty to say as well.
She praised the overall energy of the Battle but seemed particularly impressed by the technical difficulty of what Cal was doing.
Kelly pointed out how Cal could climb extremely high vocally and then fall back into his chest voice without the transition becoming obvious or awkward.
She jokingly compared his breath control to Celine Dion.
Connor earned a different kind of praise.
Kelly highlighted his vocal runs and what she described as the appealing roundness of his tone, suggesting that even when both contestants were reaching for similar high notes, their voices remained easy to distinguish. (Billboard)
Queen Latifah noticed something similar.
She praised Connor’s runs while pointing out how quickly Cal’s voice grabs attention when he begins singing.
That left Adam with exactly the problem a coach wants — and hates — to have.
Two singers had taken one difficult song and showcased completely different strengths.
Adam praised both artists for navigating the demanding arrangement while also leaving enough space for each other to have standout moments.
When the performance ended, he enthusiastically shouted, “Let’s go!”
For Connor, the Battle reinforced what Adam originally heard during his Blind Audition.
His upper register had been one of the main reasons Adam turned his chair.
For Cal, it proved that receiving only one chair during the Blinds didn’t necessarily mean he belonged behind contestants who earned multiple turns.
Once the Battles begin, those old chair counts matter considerably less.
What matters is what happens when two members of the same team are standing onstage at the same time.
And Connor and Cal made Adam’s first major Team Adam decision anything but simple.
The published preview confirmed the performance and the coaches’ reactions, but the reliable reports available when this was checked had not yet revealed which singer Adam ultimately selected to advance.
What was already obvious, however, was why this Battle attracted so much attention.
Connor delivered the high note that made Kelly Clarkson shout “Wow!”
Cal showed off the effortless register changes that left her amazed.
And by the time the final note ended, Team Adam’s first falsetto showdown had turned into one of the Battles where either elimination was going to hurt.
