The Voice Battles are underway, ladies and gentlemen.
If you’re unfamiliar with the format, Coaches Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys select participants for a duel of sorts.
Selecting pairs from among their 12 team members, the celebrity mentors use a musical “battle” to decide who will stay in the competition.
Each coach can only pick one winner of each battle, but are also given two steals, with which to grab a defeated artist from another team.
Makes sense, right? Let’s get into it then!
With the help of advisers Sammy Hagar (Adam), Bette Midler (Blake), Charlie Puth (Alicia) and Joan Jett (Miley), the battles are underway.
The first of the night saw Team Alicia’s Christian Cuevas and Jason Warrior fight it out with a rendition of Adele’s smash hit song “Hello.”
Alicia chose Christian, but Adam moved in for the steal!
Speaking of Adam, his team members Natasha Bure and Riley Elmore were up next, and both suffered from a serious case of the nerves.
The singers performed “Cry Me A River” by Michael Buble, and Adam picked Riley, sending Candace Cameron-Bure’s teenage daughter home.
Ali Caldwell and Courtnie Ramirez from Team Miley were on tap next, and wow. Their battle on “Hit or Miss” by Odetta was so impressive.
After a tough deliberation, Ali got the nod and moved on to the Knockout Round (the subsequent, but not identical, elimination format).
Not surprisingly for Courtnie, though, she was very much in play, and bith Blake and Alicia both went in for the steal, with Keys winning.
Dan Shafer and Sundance Head of Team Blake were next up in a rocking rendition of the Bad Company classic, “Feel Like Making Love.”
Who felt the love after the fact?
Sundance rose above the competition and earned a ticket on, with Andrew DeMuro and Billy Gilman from Adam’s team next to battle.
The Maroon 5 frontman gave them a tough task in taking on Michael Jackson’s “Man In The Mirror,” but they were largely up to the challenge.
Adam chose Billy to move on.
The final duet of the night was for a spot on Team Alicia: Lauren Diaz vs. We McDonald, belting out a rendition of Janis Joplin’s “Maybe.”
Alicia picks We, but it’s not over for Lauren, who chose Miley over Adam as both coaches tried desperately to steal her services.
The surviving members after night one of the battles, including the contestants who were stolen and crossed over to new teams:
Alicia: Christian Cuevas, Courtnie Ramirez, We McDonald
Adam: Jason Warrior, Riley Elmore, Billy Gilman
Miley: Ali Caldwell, Lauren Diaz
Blake: Sundance Head