08-05-2025
‘The Voice' Season 27 Episode 12 recap: Kelsea and Adam narrow their teams from 5 to 2 in ‘Playoffs Premiere'
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The Voice Season 27 advanced to the "Playoffs" stage of the competition on Monday. In this round, each coach brings their team of five to the stage for a single performance that will determine which two move on the live shows. By the end of the round's 20 performances, only eight artists will remain in the competition. Mega Mentors Sheryl Crow and LeAnn Rimes assisted Team Kelsea Ballerini and Team Adam Levine in the rehearsals leading up to the April 28 episode.
Michael Buble, Adam Levine, Kelsea Ballerini, John Legend, and Carson Daly on The Voice (Photo credit: Tyler Golden/NBC)
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Team Kelsea
The five performances for Team Kelsea were Iris Herrera with "White Horse" by Chris Stapleton, Jaelen Johnston singing "If You're Reading This" by Tim McGraw, Alanna Lynise singing "Nobody Gets Me" by SZA, Tinika Wyatt with "I Can Only Imagine" by MercyMe, and Darius J on "Hey Ya!" by Outkast. During rehearsals with Sheryl, she was impressed by the "huge voice" of Iris and backed up Kelsea's advice for Jaelen to not rework the song too much because he wants the audience to recognize it. Sheryl recognized that Alanna "deeply feels" a song when she performs it, was in love with the "beautiful" song choice Tinika made to inspire people, and agreed that "comparison is the thief of joy" and that Darius should be proud of how unique he is.
Following their stage performances, John Legend told Iris that her voice was "shredding," Adam appreciated that Jaelen is "different within the category [he] exists in," and John said that Alanna has the "right voice, right approach, and right musicality" to be a superstar. Michael Bublé thanked Tinika for her "rich and textured and gorgeous" performance and was excited and "inspired" by Darius for putting a retro spin on an unexpected contemporary song.
Alanna Lynise on The Voice (Photo credit: Greg Gayne/NBC)
Kelsea thought that Iris did "the best [she's] ever done it," loved that Jaelen "stayed true to the heart" of his song choice and thinks country music will be proud of him, and recognized and appreciated all of the hard work that Alanna put in to making her performance perfect. Kelsea was grateful that Tinika "used [her] space" on the stage to worship and said that she "blessed a lot of people" and said she's "like a moth to a flame" with Darius because he "makes everyone feel like a warm hug." Faced with the decision to choose only two to represent her team in the live shows, Kelsea picked Iris and Alanna to advance.
Iris Herrera on The Voice (Photo credit: Greg Gayne/NBC)
Team Adam
The five performances for Team Adam were Lucia Flores-Wiseman singing "In My Life," Conor James doing "Pink Pony Club" by Chappell Roan, Kolby Cordell with "Finesse" by Bruno Mars, Ethan Eckenroad on "The Night We Met" by Lord Huron, and Britton Moore with "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane. During the rehearsal sessions, LeAnn warned Lucia about the notes she was "squeezing" off in the vocal, coached Conor through moving lyrics around to find room for his breath, and wanted Kolby to be "playful and flirt" by mixing up the melody in new ways. LeAnn wanted Ethan to focus on projecting his voice by making sure his "voice is supported by air" and urged Britton to find the "dynamics" in his performance because he was "beautifully sitting in one area" otherwise.
Following their stage performances, John noted that Lucia's gift was "shining through" her and said she "deserves to have a major career" and referenced Conor being in his element with his song choice because it felt like he was on stage in a musical. Michael called Kolby "one of the great contenders" that could win the whole show and Kelsea likened Ethan's voice to Benson Boone and Hozier in that rock Americana style. Michael loved Britton's interpretation of his song because it showed his range.
Lucia Flores-Wiseman on The Voice (Photo credit: Greg Gayne/NBC)
Adam called Lucia's artistry "refreshingly yours" because she's a "singular" artist on her own level, thought Conor made a good choice with his song because he "established his own identity," and said that Kolby's performance "shot up" to the top of the pack in the whole competition. Adam acknowledged that Ethan chose a "simple" song but did a great job on it and told Britton he chose a difficult song and still managed to put his mark on it. When it came time for Adam to choose two artists to advance, he picked Lucia and Kolby to represent his team in the lives.
Kolby Cordell on The Voice (Photo credit: Greg Gayne/NBC)
The updated teams are:
TEAM LEGEND — Ari Camille, Bryson Battle, Olivia Kuper Harris, Renzo
TEAM BUBLÉ — Adam David, Angie Rey, Barry Jean Fontenot, Jadyn Cree, Kaiya Hamilton
TEAM KELSEA — Alanna Lynise, Iris Herrera
TEAM ADAM — Kolby Cordell, Lucia Flores-Wiseman
The four-time Emmy Award-winning musical competition series The Voice is in its 27th season featuring five stages of competition: Blind Auditions, Battle Rounds, Knockouts, Playoffs and Live Performance Shows. In the coaches' chairs, Michael is the defending champion after winning Season 26. He is joined by John, in his 10th season, and Kelsea, competing for the first time. Adam rejoined the panel of coaches for his 17th season after taking a hiatus following Season 16.
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