Moving into the final night of the battles during Season 21 of The Voice, Blake Shelton was the only coach left with a steal. If an artist loses a battle, another coach can use their steal to welcome the artist onto their own team. Each coach gets only one steal during the battles, so they have to be selective with when they use it.
After being on The Voice for all 21 of its seasons, Shelton is all-too-familiar with how the steal works. He was taking his time to make sure he used it on the perfect artist for his team.
That perfect artist emerged during a battle between two members of Team Legend: Jonathan Mouton and Paris Winningham. The duo performed a song titled “Here and Now” by the late R&B/soul singer Luther Vandross.
“Here and Now” was released in 1989 and was a #1 hit on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It also peaked at the sixth spot on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.
The song led Vandross to his first Grammy win. He took home the award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 1991.
Mouton and Winningham delivered their cover of “Here and Now” during the final Voice battle of the season. They both gave their performances their all, leaving their coach John Legend with a difficult choice to make.
After much thought, Legend named Winningham as the winner of the battle. “Picking a winner was almost like a coin toss. My only slight preference for Paris is something about his energy. I like that bounce that he has. That kind of energy’s really infectious,” he said.
But that wasn’t the end of Mouton’s journey on The Voice.
As Mouton was expressing how grateful he was to be a member of Legend’s team, Ariana Grande turned to Shelton and said “You have to,” in reference to his steal. Shelton knew she was right, and pressed his steal button to welcome Mouton onto his team.
The look on Mouton’s face was one of pure shock. He couldn’t believe his eyes!
“You’re not leaving!” Shelton told Mouton with a smile.
When explaining why he chose to use his steal on Mouton, Shelton said, “Jonathan’s voice is unbelievable. He’s just a very tasteful and talented vocalist. He’s an incredible addition to Team Blake.”
Check out the video below to watch Mouton and Winningham’s outstanding battle. Stay tuned to the end to watch the surprising moment when Shelton used his steal on Mouton!