Tears were flowing during the season 26 premiere of The Voice on Monday, September 23. Snoop Dogg got rather emotional following an interaction between Reba McEntire and a contestant.
The touching segment began when contestant Kendall Eugene took the stage for his blind audition. He performed a rendition of Morgan Wallen‘s “Don’t Thank Jesus” for his big moment on the show. It was clear that the audience was enjoying his performance as they cheered him on. Sadly, none of the coaches ended up turning their chairs.
“This sucks because when it came to the choruses, it was believable, it was heartfelt,” Gwen Stefani told Kendall, 37, after the performance. “I didn’t press because in the beginning, even though I loved the tenderness of your voice, there was a lot of tuning things going on. I just think you should come back.”
“Obviously, I’m a rookie doing this, but I feel like you very obviously have ability and I openly wonder if you chose a different song with a different range would I have turned the chair? Probably,” coach Michael Bublé told Kendall.
Viewers could tell by Reba’s facial expression that she had regrets about not turning her chair.
“Your style is totally different than anything we’ve heard today. I liked everything about it,” the songstress, 69, said, to which Kendall replied, “You should’ve turned.”
“I was going to say that exact same words,” Reba admitted.
“Which leads me to why I didn’t turn, I’m like, I can’t beat her when it comes to him. It was a beautiful song,” Snoop, 52, chimed in.
“I don’t understand why I did not turn around,” Reba remarked. “We’ve got this new thing this year, that is a Coach Replay button. I’m going to use mine.”
She hit the button, and the audience screamed with joy. The coaches were all left surprised that she hit her button so early on in the season but were so happy with her choice. Kendall started crying once he realized he would be moving on in the competition.
“Wow! Go give that man a hug,” Snoop told Reba. As Reba made her way up to the stage, Snoop pulled his glasses above his eyes to wipe tears away.
When the camera panned back to Snoop a second time, he was still wiping tears from his face. “I believe in you,” Reba told Kendall while giving him a big hug.
“I love that song that Kendall was singing. And after the song was over, I felt kind of numb. I knew in my heart I wanted him on my team,” Reba said. “I’m so glad, for the very first time we have a Coach Replay button. It’s the second chance for the coaches when we realized we missed this moment.”
“When I see a man cry, it makes me cry,” Snoop admitted.
The rest of the premiere episode was full of amazing performances. After Ben Fagerstedt’s performance of Michael’s song “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” no coaches turned around. However, Snoop got emotional seeing Michael and Ben interact, with the singer promising to help the hopeful kickstart his career.
“That’s what this show is about, to make these people better at what they do, whether they make it to the show or not,” Snoop said. “That’s our job as coaches.”
