With only 8 Voice hopefuls left in the Season 17 competition, the semi-finalists are pulling out all the stops in hopes of earning a spot in next week’s finale. During night one of the semi-finals, the remaining contestants each performed twice….once by themselves and again with one of their fellow competitors for a performance of an ’80s hit.
Coach John Legend was well represented during Monday’s semi-final round with three artists still in the race. Arkansas native Marybeth Byrd is the closest thing to country that Team Legend has, and her latest performance didn’t disappoint.
After narrowly avoiding elimination last week, Coach Legend decided it was time to take Marybeth back to her country roots with a cover of Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats.” The song, which is notoriously hard to sing, gave Byrd a chance to show off her country vocals and her feisty side.
Following her performance, Blake Shelton praised her ability to tackle the tough vocals. Coach John Legend agreed saying, “I almost didn’t recognize you. You were like a new artist.” He added that it was Byrd’s best vocal performance since being on the show.
Later in Monday night’s episode, Byrd joined fellow southerner Jake Hoot for a cover of the 1982 Academy Award-winning song “Up Where We Belong” by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. The song seemed a more comfortable fit for Byrd, whose voice perfectly complimented Hoot’s. The duet was one of the highlight’s of the night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npTUyvC_tWE
Hear Marybeth Byrd sing “Before He Cheats” in the video below. Tune in to NBC Tuesday night (December 10) to see if her performance was enough to earn her a spot in next week’s finale.