The Voice: Gwen Stefani And Reba McEntire’s Most Surprising Picks Of The Night Involved Blake Shelton And A Christmas Album

Spoiler alert! This story discusses the fourth round of Blind Auditions on The Voice’s 24th season, which aired October 3.

If The Voice is trying to find a new rivalry now that Blake Shelton is out of the picture, apparently they need look no further than the two coaches he’s closest to on the Season 24 panel. After a swing and a miss trying to pit John Legend and Niall Horan against each other a night earlier, Gwen Stefani and Reba McEntire secured some heavy-hitters to their teams on the fourth night of Blind Auditions, with some surprising choices being made that involved one of Shelton’s songs and Stefani’s Christmas album.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this particular night of the competition was that some of the singers Gwen Stefani and Reba McEntire landed were arguably better fit for the other woman, and I can’t wait to see what that means for their coaching strategies. Let’s break down what happened:

Ms. Monet Chooses Team Reba After Revealing Special Connection To Gwen Stefani

Both Gwen Stefani and Reba McEntire turned for Ms. Monet’s version of “Higher Love,” and the No Doubt singer was relieved that she did after hearing that the 50-year-old background singer had provided vocals on her Christmas album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas. Stefani was excited for the chance to help Ms. Monet step into the spotlight. However, when it came time to choose teams, the artist was feeling McEntire’s wealth of experience, saying:

OK, I’m gonna say this, and it’s gonna probably shock everybody. Being in the industry for the length of time I’ve been in it, I’m ready to peak to that next level, and I think I can reach that next level with you, Miss Reba.

While it should never be surprising that an artist — even a non-country artist — wants to glean knowledge from Reba McEntire with her five decades of success, the fact that Ms. Monet had such a close connection to Gwen Stefani made it a pretty unexpected choice.

One shouldn’t feel too sorry for Blake Shelton’s wife, though.

Bias Snubs Reba McEntire After Auditioning With A Blake Shelton Song

Reba McEntire and Gwen Stefani found themselves going head-to-head again in Tuesday’s episode, when country singer Bias from Tennessee caught their attention with his version of Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country.” The coaches dubbed it the “Queen of Country” vs. the “Queen of Shelton,” and Gwen reminded The Voice hopeful that her name was actually “Gwen Shelton.”

This caused an eye roll from Reba, but apparently Bias was picking up what Mrs. Shelton was putting down, because the contestant chose Team Gwen. None of the four panelists could hide their astonishment that she’d beaten out Reba-freaking-McEntire for a country artist, seemingly based solely on her husband. The “Fancy” singer admitted she thought she’d won that battle, and as far as Gwen Stefani playing the Blake card, Reba pointed out:

I’ve known Blake longer than Gwen’s known Blake!

Reba McEntire makes a good point there, but that doesn’t seem to matter. I think it’s safe to say that we all underestimated Blake Shelton’s influence on the show, if we’re at the point where his wife is going to start getting all the country artists in his absence. I guess Gwen Stefani was on to something with her constant name-dropping in the season premiere.

I’m really intrigued to see how these latest moves play out, but we’ll have to wait a bit, because the Blind Auditions aren’t over yet. Tune into NBC at 8 p.m. ET next Monday, October 9, as The Voice coaches work to fill up their teams.