Wisconsin singers Anna Grace, Raine Stern advance on ‘The Voice’
Two singers from Wisconsin competed during the last Battles episode of the season on NBC’s “The Voice” Monday night.
And both of them are moving on to the next round.
Milwaukee native Anna Grace, on Kelly Clarkson’s team, and New Glarus native Raine Stern, representing Nick Jonas, won their Battle rounds, singing Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” and Harry Styles’ “Adore You,” respectively.
Anna Grace’s Battle round
Ahead of her performance for the judges and coaches, Grace and her Battle round competitor, Washingtonbased singer Ainae, rehearsed for Clarkson and “Despacito” singer Luis Fonsi.
“Anna looks very shy, but when she sings, that control and those runs and that style, that approach, it’s so incredible,” Fonsi said.
Aside from church, Grace hasn’t performed anywhere but on “The Voice” stage. But her blind audition that aired last month made her an early frontrunner, prompting a rare four-chair turn from Clarkson, Jonas, John Legend and Blake Shelton.
As Grace explained on Monday’s episode, “the worst time in my life brought me to the best time of my life.” Grace suffered from a severe blood infection in 2017, and on Monday’s episode, she said she “went into septic shock out of nowhere” three times.
“I remember going home thinking, ‘I’m going to die if this happens again,’ “Grace said on Monday’s episode. After her recovery, the once-shy singer took her second chance at life to focus more on music, and is fulfilling a longheld dream of being on “The Voice.”
“Anna Grace is far more talented than she even knows,” Clarkson said on Monday’s episode. “But I don’t think she’s as confident as she needs to be.”
Clarkson herself wasn’t present for Grace’s Battle due to illness. (She tested negative for COVID-19.) But country star Kelsea Ballerini, acting on Clarkson’s behalf, chose Grace as the winner.
“Anna is really pushing herself and I know she can take notes, and I’m excited to see her growth on the rest of the show,” Ballerini said.
Raine Stern’s Battle round
Stern first appeared on “The Voice” season 20 premiere early last month, with Jonas, Legend and Shelton all competing after her blind audition to recruit the Madison-based musician to their team.
Ahead of her Battle round, Stern and her competitor, Andrew Marshall from Massachusetts, rehearsed for Jonas and singer and actor Darren Criss.
“I will sign up for the first semester of swag lessons that you decide to give, if I can reserve my spot now,” Criss told Stern on Monday’s episode.
Singing “Adore You,” Stern said she drew inspiration from her girlfriend Lydia. “Everything is just so compatible I can’t even believe it,” Stern said Monday. “In my mind I am singing this song for her.”
After her Battle performance, the judges all praised Stern’s style and talent. “There’s a magic that surrounds you,” Jonas said, while Legend said losing out on having Stern on his team “was one of my big heartbreaks of this season.”
But the coaches unanimously agreed that Marshall delivered the better performance.
Nevertheless, Jonas picked Stern as the winner — while Shelton used his lone steal of the Battle rounds to recruit Marshall to his team.
“That was not Raine’s best performance,” Jonas said Monday. “But I believe in her and I know she can do better, and I had to go with her because I want to see that.”
“I’m just kind of mind-blown right now and kind of getting emotional honestly,” Stern said after winning the round. “I’m going to show Nick what I’m capable of.”
Grace and Stern will next move on to the Knockout rounds of the competition, which begin airing April 19.
They join several other singers from Wisconsin who have done well across 20 seasons of “The Voice,” including John Holiday, an associate professor at Lawrence University’s Conservatory of Music in Appleton who made it to the finals last season, and Barron native Chris Kroeze, who placed second on season 15 in 2018.
Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
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