Bryan Olesen and John Legend

Music star John Legend got emotional as he applauded his mentee’s performance on The Voice. John explained that he could feel the emotions pouring from Bryan Olesen’s singing

John Legend welled up with tears as he addressed Bryan Olesen’s ballad performance during The Voice finale.

Bryan, who made it to the finals after the fans voted to save him, performed Benson Boone‘s Beautiful Things as part of his last couple of performances on the show. During Part 1 of the finale on Monday, he received raving reviews from the judges. When they returned to the performance during Part 2 on Tuesday, Bryan’s mentor, John, yet again sang his praise.

“You know, I was so moved by it because it feels like, when you’re singing it, you know what it means to lose something,” John said as his voice wavered. “And I felt that. I really felt it. I really felt it.”

John said he could feel the emotions communicated in the song

John didn’t get into the specifics of what this loss was for him, but Benson’s song is about love. The artist told Billboard previously: “It was inspired by a relationship that I had just gotten into — for the first time in my life, I felt like I was extremely out of control of the way this relationship would turn out. Meaning like, in the past, I feel like I’ve always known that I could be the one to end a relationship. This one felt very different. It was the first time that I’d really been actually, genuinely terrified to lose something.”

The All Of Me singer previously attempted to break up with his wife Chrissy Teigen, but she wouldn’t let him. He confessed to The Guardian in 2020: “I was really stressed and busy. I was just like ‘I’d just be happier single right now,’ and she was like ‘No.’”

Bryan previously received backlash for his George Michael performance

Chrissy responded on X, formerly known as Twitter: “11 years later, baby. It wasn’t a typical breakup. He was on tour and his voice hurt and he was being a whiny face about everything and so yeah, I was like ‘no.’”

Bryan’s performance stood out to fans, but his second of the night, a rendition of Freedom! ’90 by George Michael, fell flat as fans trashed him online. One fan wrote: “I would like Freedom… from Bryan’s mangling of a George Michael classic.”