Kelsea Ballerini broke down mid-performance on ‘The Voice’ — and the contestant gave her exactly what she needed
Things can often get emotional on 'The Voice,' as songs can often invoke feelings that might tug at heartstrings. Something similar happened with Kelsea Ballerini, who is acting as a coach for the first time on the show. The show's knockout round premiered on 31st March, where the judges were once again forced to divide their teams into duos and choose one to keep, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. Ballerini broke into tears during this round while Angie Rey was preparing for the song 'Dirt Cheap' by Cody Johnson.
Rey then went on to talk about the meaning of the song: "This song is about the idea that memories are worth a lot more than just money. My parents worked so hard to make our house our home. I remember us playing games, and we danced together in the kitchen, and we planted flowers together. That's the value of memory." As Rey finished talking about the song, Ballerini shared her thoughts on Rey's storytelling abilities as she said, "This song doesn't have too much of a dynamic, so she was forced to make it all about the story."
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As Rey continued singing, you could see Ballerini had something on her mind as she listened with a straight face. However, as Rey sang "... body's buried," Ballerini's face dropped as she broke down in tears. Rey noticed this as she said, "I can't do this with you crying." She rushed to Ballerini and embraced her with a warm hug. In behind-the-scenes footage, Rey poured her heart out about her coach as she started, "What I love about Kelsea is that she is just real and authentic and sees vulnerability as a strength." This was probably the reason Rey rushed to comfort the country music singer, as she sensed her distress and wasn't scared to be vulnerable with her.
As Ballerini calmed down, she opened up about why she was crying. "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." That said, Rey delivered a phenomenal performance during the Knockout rounds. However, she lost the Knockout round to Iris Herrera on Team Kelsea. Before Ballerini chose Iris, she stated how tough the decision was to choose Iris over Rey.
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She started "Iris just feels further along in her vocal journey," Ballerini explained. "Watching her get vulnerable and get emotional was the reason that I picked Iris. I already have some song ideas in my head for the playoffs of how to really lean into that grit." Michael Bublé saved Rey from getting eliminated and brought her into his team, as reported by Fandom. As of writing, Michael Bublé's team has five members, as each of them will compete for a spot in the live shows.
