The #1 entertainment program of 2021 finally returned to screens tonight, with an epic opening performance of Panic! At the Disco’s High Hopes by The Voice coaches Keith Urban, Rita Ora, Guy Sebastian and Jessica Mauboy to set the tone. Pulling no punches, the coaches dialled up the world-first Battle Pass and the infamous Block button on a night of electrifying four-chair turns and standing ovations.
Nineteen-year-old Ally Eley from Victoria was the first artist to take to the stage, wowing the coaches with her incredible four-chair-turning performance of Wheatus’ Teenage Dirtbag, before joining Team Guy.
The four-chair turns continued with 23-year-old Victorian Lachie Gill’s chilling performance of JP Saxe and Julia Michaels’ If The World was Ending.
Not risking losing Lachie, Rita blocked Guy. “I’m coming in hot; I’m coming in strong. I don’t want to hear it, Guy. You are no longer in the running,” declared Rita after the bold move that saw Lachie join her team.
Twenty-eight-year-old Victorian mum, Thando Sikwila, was blown away by a standing ovation from the coaches after her sassy interpretation of Chaka Khan’s I’m Every Woman. “I want to challenge what I know of myself as an artist and what I can do. Life is too short to rest on your laurels,” shared Thando before choosing Team Keith.
Dad of six, Danny Phegan from NSW, was the next artist to join Team Keith after adding his country edge to Niall Horan’s This Town.
Twenty-three-year-old Asha Newman from NSW took a gamble singing Rita’s RIP, but was rewarded with a four-chair turn from the coaches and effusive praise from Rita. “I’m smiling so hard right now. It was so effortless and so pure. You stripped it all back and really told the story. Your voice sounded perfect; it was so pure. You smashed that,” Rita said before welcoming Asha to her team.
Singing for her mum who was seated in the audience, Queensland’s 24-year-old Faith Sosene moved Jess to tears with her emotional performance of Celine Dion’s Because You loved Me.
“That was unbelievable. You really moved every single person in this room and the rest of Australia,” Jess proclaimed before awarding Faith the season’s first Battle Pass, fast-tracking her through the competition.
