The Voice Season 27 continued on Monday with the second batch of Blind Audition performances. Going into the episode, John Legend had already used up his one block (against Adam Levine) and first-time coach Kelsea Ballerini activated her single-use “Coach Replay.” Up until this point, returning champion Michael Bublé remained on everyone’s good side by avoiding either special button, but that was all about to change. In fact, by the end of the night it seemed as though Michael wasn’t the one holding back from the other coaches, but that they might actually instead be afraid of going up against him.

But before Michael could get into hot water with the other coaches, he slipped into an awkward situation of his own by failing to turn his chair for an artist he’s a fan of on social media. As explained by Hayden Grove in his introductory package, he had posted TikTok duets with Michael at a time when he was allowing others to sing alongside him. Their interaction led to Michael following his account and then, at a show in Pittsburgh that Hayden was attending, Michael gave him a shoutout by name and encouraged the crowd to also follow him. For that reason, ahead of his audition, Hayden predicted the possibility that Michael might not recognize his voice, but insisted that he’d at least recognize his face.

“A great voice is a great voice is a great voice” — Adam Levine

For his audition, Hayden performed “Mack the Knife,” a song that Michael knew within two beats of the track. A few lines in and Michael was already declaring that the singer had a good voice, but Kelsea smartly clocked that he wasn’t going to be turning his chair. Adam, likely having not seen how protective of jazz standards Michael can be, thought it might be a good time to use a block on Michael, but Kelsea talked him out of it. After unsuccessfully screaming at Kelsea to use her block and being convinced Michael wasn’t going to turn, Adam decided he’d go in for Hayden himself. And even though at times it looked like Michael might change his mind and hit his button, Kelsea was correct and he never did.

As soon as the chairs were all turned, Michael immediately recognized Hayden’s face, but gave no indication that he thought he’d made the wrong choice. He told Hayden and that others that the reason he didn’t turn his chair is because he can hear in Hayden’s style that he uses vibrato in places that the creators of jazz standards never would. After a brief vocal lesson, Michael acknowledged that Hayden is someone who can “dominate” in the competition and because he believes in his talent so much, vowed to Adam coach him. Adam was appreciative of the gesture and assured Hayden that with his “great voice” it won’t matter that his official coach doesn’t know as much about jazz as Michael, stating that they’ll “have a blast ‘coz [he has] a tremendously great voice.”

“I used my block, I used it the right way. I used my block, I got you on my team today” — Michael Bublé

Later in the night, Michael met another jazz-influenced artist that he wasn’t immediately sold on. When none of the coaches turned their chairs for Ricardo Moreno‘s dual language rendition of “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” Kelsea admitted that she thinks none of them turned because they all thought Michael was going to. The insinuation was that when an artist auditions in Michael’s jazz lane they should all hover back until they know what decision Michael is going to make. In this case, Michael held off just as long as they did, but then had a change of heart. When speaking to Ricardo, Michael said he “heard so much that he liked” that he just had to pull his trigger on the “Coach Replay,” changing his mind and bringing Ricardo over to Team Bublé.

Then, a few auditions later, Michael used his block on Kelsea to secure country artist Braxton Garza to his team based on his audition of “Pretty Little Poison.” Kelsea exclaimed that Michael’s move was “brutal” because she sees him in a “pocket” of music that is bigger than country music and it’s a pocket that she’s inspired by.

By the end of Episode 2, Michael used up his two special moves and brought two artists over to his team. Adam pulled in Hayden as well as four-chair turn Britton Moore based on his audition to “Yellow.” Kelsea’s additions were Tatum Scott with “vampire” and Jaelen Johnston with “Where the Wild Things Are.” John added three: Bryson Battle with “A Song for You,” Jordan Allen with “Old Time Rock & Roll,” and Ari Camille with “I Wanna Be Down.”

The teams so far:

TEAM LEGEND  (4 of 12 full) — Ari Camille, Bryson Battle, Jordan Allen, Renzo

TEAM BUBLÉ (4 of 12 full) — Braxton Garza, Carlos Santiago, Jadyn Cree, Ricardo Moreno

TEAM KELSEA (5 of 12 full) — Angie Rey, Dan Kiernan, Iris Herrera, Jaelen Johnston, Tatum Scott

TEAM ADAM (5 of 12 full) — Britton Moore, Darius J, Ethan Eckenroad, Grace-Miller Moody, Hayden Grove

The four-time Emmy Award-winning musical competition series “The Voice” is in its 27th season featuring five stages of competition: Blind Auditions, Battle Rounds, Knockouts, Playoffs and Live Performance Shows. In the coaches’ chairs, Michael is the defending champion after winning Season 26. He is joined by John, in his 10th season, and Kelsea, competing for the first time. Adam rejoined the panel of coaches for his 17th season after taking a hiatus following Season 16.