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How a “Super Hot Husband” Helped The Voice's Niall Horan Land Brailey Lenderman
Gwen Stefani tried to use Niall Horan's status as a heartthrob against him, but Lenderman wasn't concerned.
It’s been a recurring theme throughout this round of Blind Auditions on The Voice that Niall Horan is a bit of a heartthrob. More than one contestant has been a little starstruck upon meeting him, revealing that they’re a former Directioner or that they had a crush on him. Gwen Stefani hoped to use that to her advantage when she tried to get Brailey Lenderman to join her team. But, thanks to Lenderman’s “super hot husband,” Stefani’s gambit was ineffective.
Lenderman, a 33-year-old Nashville resident who is originally from Georgia, explained that she, like many contestants, got into music at a young age, writing songs when she was just 12. (“Were they good songs? No, but it was the start of something that was going to be bigger,” she joked.) When she first moved to Nashville, she was singing country music but was told that she needed to lose at least 25 pounds, that labels wouldn’t look at her unless she dressed a certain way and even that she was already “too old” despite only being 24.
Brailey Lenderman's Blind Audition earns a Two-Chair Turn on Season 24 of The Voice
“I had an identity crisis,” Lenderman said, explaining that it all made her self-conscious and that she stopped enjoying music. But, then she went independent, and she found that being free from the labels allowed her to find joy in music again and make what she wanted to make, which she described as “singer-songwritery coffeeshop pop.”
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Lenderman performed Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy,” earning Chair Turns from Stefani and Horan. Reba McEntire and John Legend, both of whom only had one spot left on their teams, explained they were being selective. McEntire noted some “pitch problems,” and while Legend was grooving while Lenderman was singing, he said he “felt like there were some weird choices for some of the notes,” but that he could tell there was a lot of character in her voice.
That left Horan and Stefani vying for Lenderman.
“The issue with picking a song that big is, you thought about the word ‘makes’ so much that sometimes the rest of the sentence was forgotten about a little bit because you’re just like I need to hit that first note in the chorus,” noted Horan, though he was not concerned about Lenderman’s long-term prospects. “That’s just audition nerves. You will not have that issue further down the line.”
For her pitch, Stefani cautioned that Lenderman shouldn’t risk getting sidetracked by Horan’s attractiveness or his accent. “You don’t want a Coach that’s going to make you distracted,” she cautioned.”
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But, although Lenderman had asked her husband to understand if she happened to put her arm around Horan at some point, she was resolute in her choice.
“I already have a super hot husband, so I don’t think I’ll be distracted by Niall,” she said.
“She’s an insane talent and her voice is so good,” Horan said, after meeting said husband.
“She’s right, the husband is a good-looking man,” Horan reported back to the other Coaches. “They call him Hot Tom.”
How far will Lenderman go? Find out by watching The Voice Mondays and Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC and next day on Peacock.
