This week, Coach Reba McEntire pit a 4-Chair Turn against a 1-Chair Turn—with dazzling results.

The Battles are always a showcase for fireworks on The Voice. It doesn’t matter how far apart the two singers who face off per round are in terms of musical style: Put them on stage together, and they’re going to bring out the best in each other.

Nowhere has that been more apparent in Season 26 than in the showdown between Team Reba’s Danny Joseph and Deon Jones.

In rehearsals for the Battles, Coach Reba McEntire made the decision to pair the two men together and have them sing James Brown’s soul classic “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” It’s a showstopper of a song from the jump, and it seemed like the perfect place to put both voices.

“Danny’s got that gravelly, rock ‘n’ roll, hardcore singing style, and Deon is sweet and pretty,” McEntire said. “I thought ‘Well, that would be a great marriage right there.'”

She added, “This is a 4-Chair versus a 1-Chair, but they’re goin’ toe-to-toe.”

The Voice Season 26 Battles: Danny Joseph vs. Deon James

Deon Jones and Danny Joseph sing together on The Voice Season 26 Episode 9

Deon Jones and Danny Joseph on The Voice Season 26 Episode 9. Photo: Casey Durkin/NBC

As McEntire mentioned in the rehearsals, Joseph chose her as his Coach after winning a coveted 4-Chair Turn, while Deon was selected by McEntire and McEntire alone. That might suggest a difference in quality, but when the two singers took the stage, they matched each other note for note in an electric showdown that left the Coaches “blown away.”

“Danny, everything about your style, you’re just so original and such an incredible singer,” Gwen Stefani said. “Deon, same thing. I love your tone so much. It sounds so vintage to me, like it sounds like the records that you heard growing up. Every time Danny would do something so eccentric and animated, you would come in and be like ‘No, watch this,’ and you had your own character. So together it just worked so well.”

 

Snoop Dogg echoed Stefani. “That song is deep, and the way you guys sung it, y’all sung it with the same conviction and the same passion that James has,” Snoop said. “Like Gwen said, it wasn’t just singing, it was performing.”

Ultimately, McEntire chose Joseph as the winner.

“The reason I like Danny so much is he’s different, and that just stands out to me,” she said.

After offering his thanks to McEntire for the opportunity, Jones went to give his former Coach a hug and head home, only to receive a surprise when Stefani hit her Steal button, keeping him in the game as the newest member of Team Gwen.

“I had to steal Deon,” Stefani said. “I couldn’t let him go home. It seems like he could do almost anything with his voice.”