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Hear the “Crazy Runs” That Got “Incredible” Kara Tenae 3 Chair Turns
A little California love from Gwen Stefani made Team Gwen the obvious choice.
Kara Tenae has gotten a couple of small breaks in her budding musical career — but none as big as her California-girls bonding moment with Gwen Stefani after earning a three-chair Coaches’ turn and joining Team Gwen on The Voice.
“I picked Gwen because she’s going to stretch me in areas that I probably can’t even imagine,” the Riverside, California native explained after her dynamic R&B rendition of Ella Mai’s “Boo’d Up” wowed the gang during Blind Auditions as Season 24 of the show gets underway. Every Coach except John Legend, in fact, smashed their big red buttons in grooving approval of Tenae. Niall Horan, in fact, was hooked right from the start.
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“You started off really subtle and nice, and then went off on these crazy [vocal] runs — [which is] just when Gwen and I turned,” enthused Horan. “Really nice tone; great song choice… It was so impressive to watch!”
Kara Tenae sings “Boo’d Up” by Ella Mai for The Voice Season 24 Blind Auditions
Tenae’s talent inspired stiff competition among the three Coaches who turned. Reba McEntire’s pitch was especially hard to ignore, with the Queen of Country saying, “I was blown away. It comes from your inner soul. I could see you coming down in your diaphragm and it just coming out past your heart. And it touched me so deeply. Your vocal range is incredible… Shoot, if I could do those [vocal] runs like her, I’d put an album out! — Reba Does the Runs!’’
Meanwhile, Stefani used her California-bred music cred to win Kara over, shouting out a big “Cali girls!” salute before getting to the real heart of the matter.
RELATED: Every Blind Audition on The Voice Season 24, Broken Down by Team
“I think that I’m good at helping people find the actual emotion of the song but also showcase their talent,” she said. “You have so much style; you’ve got swag; you’ve got personality; you’ve got stage presence — you have it all! If you want to work with me, you have another ‘girl.’ We can bounce off each other and, like, get to the next level!”
Call it Cali cohesion or perhaps something else, but that’s precisely the stuff Kara needed to hear to woo her over to Team Gwen. “You’re all doubting me, but nope: Here we are — I’m baaaack!” Stefani bragged after landing Tenae as a late addition to her squad: “It feels really good to beat Reba and Niall. I’m super excited to have Kara on my team. She’s a full-package deal: She’s gorgeous, she has a beautiful voice, she has cool style!”
How far can Kara Tenae go with Team Gwen? Find out by watching The Voice Mondays and Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC and next day on Peacock.
