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How Mary McAvoy’s “Shockingly Beautiful” Voice Battle Showed Her “Heck of a Range”
Snoop Dogg pushed McAvoy out of her comfort zone and into the Knockout round.
In tonight's episode of The Voice Season 26, Coach Snoop Dogg paired 35-year-old Bostonian Mary McAvoy with 26-year-old Texan Michael Alexandersson in an another amazing Battle, where two Artists from the same Team go head-to-head in a sonic scuffle.
“I paired Mary and Michael together because I felt like taking Michael’s crooning ability and putting it with Mary’s soulful style that she hasn’t really tapped into yet, and I feel like this is going to help her,” Snoop said. “That’s what Coaches do, we take you places you’ve never been.”
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After handing out candy during rehearsals, Snoop put the duo to work singing “I Only Have Eyes for You” by The Flamingos. It was a perfect song for the mid-century vocals Alexandersson is known for, but a bit more of an artistic stretch for McAvoy.
“The song’s not really in my genre, but I’m definitely familiar with the song because of my dad,” McAvoy said. “Being a kid, he would sing Frank Sinatra songs to me before I’d go to bed at night, it’s kind of where I started realizing I had such a joy and love for music.”
The Voice Season 26 Team Snoop Coach Battle: Mary McAvoy vs. Michael Alexandersson
Snoop’s stated goal was to make both Artists stretch, and he succeeded. “To be able to win this Battle you definitely have to have stage presence, and then you have to complement rather than overshadow,” Snoop said.
The performance was unlike anything else we’ve seen on The Voice this season. On paper, the vocal tones of McAvoy and Alexandersson should clash, but they found a shared space to lay their interpretations of the song over one another. The result was a song that was as arresting as it was interesting. But the winner of this musical matchup would ultimately come down to how Snoop felt about each Artist’s prospects for the future.
“Mary, your vocals are incredible. Boy, you’ve got a heck of a range there, girl,” said Reba McEntire. “Michael, I love the moves, the hair toss. Snoop, if I had to choose one, I think I’d go with Mary, because of her vocal range.”
Michael Bublé also complimented McAvoy’s vocals, stating that she might have shone even brighter with a different song, but he was more enamored with Alexandersson’s moves. Given their shared genre preferences, it’s not all that surprising that Bublé would lean toward Alexandersson.
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“Michael, [I] loved hearing you sing that, dude. Your voice is really clear and smooth. I loved your movement, you did this thing with your shoes and I was like ‘I’m going to steal what he just did.’ Mary, I think your voice was held back with that song. I think if you had another song you would have really blown it away even more,” Bublé said. “I would lean toward Mike because I would love to hear what you can do with the ‘50s stuff.”
“I think that Mary, your voice is shockingly beautiful. I can’t imagine walking and being able to have the support that you have in your voice to do those long, beautiful notes so effortlessly,” said Gwen Stefani. “It was stunning… that was such a cool duet, I loved it.”
Then came the moment of truth. With rehearsals over, the performance in the bag, and comments from the other Coaches heard, there was nothing left for Snoop to do but make a decision. “This is the hard part because I think they both did exactly what I expected them to do. It’s all about what I think is needed for the remainder of the Team, for me,” Snoop said.
“The winner of the Battle is … I gotta check in with the gangster Holy Ghost … Mary McAvoy,” Snoop said, pausing to confer with the ephemeral spirit of music before handing down a verdict. “I just felt like Mary gave more… certain things she was doing were hitting my spirit. She can go places that I don’t think he can go.”
The only question left is whether one of the places McAvoy can go is all the way to the finale.
Catch new weekly episodes of The Voice on NBC Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. Miss an episode? Not to worry — stream it on Peacock the very next day!
