Kelsea Ballerini cried not once but twice when a 'Voice' contestant sang a special song
Kelsea Ballerini isn't afraid to show her vulnerable side in front of the cameras! In the March 31 episode of 'The Voice,' the 'Love Me Like You Mean It' hitmaker got teary-eyed while listening to her contestant Angie Rey's amazing rendition of Cody Johnson's song 'Dirt Cheap.' At first, Ballerini got emotional during the rehearsals for the Knockouts. Then, Rey stopped her performance midway to console her coach by hugging her. With tears in her eyes, Ballerini told the group, "I love this song; sorry, guys." Following that, Ballerini revealed the reason behind her emotional breakdown. "I got emotional because my dog is super sick. But that is the thing about country music: it does talk about real life and the things that are hard to talk about," Ballerini said, as per People magazine.
In August 2024, Ballerini revealed that her dog Dibs, whom she adopted in 2015, was diagnosed with cancer. As per Today, Ballerini took to her Instagram Story and penned, "The last few days we have discovered that Dibby has inoperable cancer in his heart. He's not in pain, and luckily, it hasn't spread further. We're going to start him on the 'big' meds to try to make sure he can have as many comfortable and happy days (weeks, months) left as possible."
View this post on Instagram
During the rehearsals, Ballerini gave some feedback to her contestant, Rey, on her performance. At that point, Ballerini told Rey not to "overpush" in the chorus and that "less is more." During a private confessional, Ballerini gushed over the track and exclaimed, "This song, there's going to be a lyric that gets every single person that's watching this. I mean, obviously it got me for a lot of reasons, but I think it will get everyone."
In the knockout round, Rey was seen competing against Iris Herrera, who performed "Jolene" by Ray LaMontagne. After the performance, the two contestants shared a warm hug. When Ballerini was asked to offer her feedback on Rey's performance, she stated that she was "going to cry again on TV." Then, Rey told Ballerini, "You're so graceful in the way that you deal with things, and you just cry; we all cry; that doesn't mean you're not graceful, and you're a great coach."
With tears rolling down her eyes, Ballerini said, "You were just so lovely, and I really appreciated you kind of reining back a little bit and showing more of that storytelling side of your voice because that's a big part of singing country music. I just think you're amazing." In addition to this, Ballerini also offered some valuable feedback to Herrera by saying, "Iris, your voice is so unique, and it's so pretty and lived in and beautiful, and it's a storyteller voice."
When the host of the show, Carson Daly, asked Ballerini to share her final decision, the 'Peter Pan' songstress said, "I hate this. I'm so inspired by both of you. The winner of this knockout is Iris. I was very proud of both of them. Iris just feels further along in her vocal journey. Watching her get vulnerable and emotional is the reason why I picked Iris, and I already have some song ideas in my head for the playoffs, so you have to really lean in to that grit." However, Rey's journey on 'The Voice' didn't end there, as coach Michael Buble hit the steal button for her.