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Kelsea Ballerini’s 'Voice' elimination move didn’t go over well with fans — but she’s got a defense ready

Not everyone was happy with Kelsea Ballerini’s Super Save on 'The Voice'—but she’s got a bold explanation that might just win you over

From time to time, 'The Voice' coaches find themselves in a difficult spot on the NBC singing show. In the May 12 episode of 'The Voice', judges Adam Levine, John Legend, Kelsea Ballerini, and Michael Bublé were thrilled to learn about the new Super Save option. This twist allowed each coach to bring back one eliminated contestant. Levine selected Connor James, Bublé chose Kaiya Hamilton, Legend picked Olivia Kuper-Harris, and Ballerini brought back Derby singer Jaelen Johnston. For context, Johnston had previously been eliminated when Ballerini opted for Iris Herrera and Alanna Lynise instead, a decision that left fans disappointed.

During an interview with Parade which took place after the episode aired, Ballerini defended her decision to choose Herrera and Lynise initially by saying, “As much as I represent country, I want to represent good music and I want to represent artists that are storytellers, and I believe Alanna and Iris to be two of the best on the show that do that. My goal as a coach was never to only support country artists, it was just to support great artists.”

Speaking of her decision, the 'Love Me Like You Mean It' hitmaker further elaborated, "Sometimes there’s an artist that just has such a slam dunk of a performance on that stage that it’s undeniable, even if that’s not what you thought going into it, and then sometimes you really buy into the growth that you’ve seen of the artist and you believe that they can continue to show up well. If Jaelen were to win, I would not be surprised at all. Then everybody would be like, ‘Kelsea, we told you so.’ And I’d be like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m a newbie here.’”

In a separate interview with People magazine, Ballerini stated that it was difficult for her to decide when asked to pick her artists for the Live Shows. Additionally, Ballerini also mentioned that she was glad that she got the opportunity to bring back Johnston through the Super Save option. "He's the only country artist on the show still, and he's such a storyteller and he has grown so much even in his rehearsal for this, for this show. He's just been working his butt off and he's so talented, so I'm glad I got to," Ballerini said. 

While shedding light on his decision, Levine went on to say, "There's no right or wrong answer, right? So someone's going home, someone's gonna be disappointed, and I can't make a decision for anybody other than what I think is best." Eventually, the talented artists who have made it to the finale of 'The Voice' Season 27 are as follows: Lucia Flores Wiseman from Team Adam, Renzo from Team Legend, Jadyn Cree from Team Bublé, Jaelen Johnston from Team Kelsea, and Adam David from Team Bublé. And now, these top 5 finalists are ready to take over the stage for one last time during the grand finale set to air in two parts on May 19 and May 20, respectively.