How Stee’s “Actually Perfect,” “Truly Flawless” Voice Won His Battle Round
Get ready for a Latin pop battle that led to a super-hard decision for John Legend.
Finding the right pairing for a battle is always tough for a Coach on The Voice, especially when we're talking about the kind of vocal powerhouses that earned 4-Chair Turns in their Blind Auditions. This week, Coach John Legend chose to pair two of his 4-Chair team members for a duet that would showcase both of their talents to the max, and the results were so good even Legend almost couldn't choose a winner.
For a battle in Episode 9 of The Voice, Legend chose to pair vocalists Stee and Willie Gomez, both of whom wowed the judges in the Blinds with their performances. To test their skills, Legend picked a song that he'd personally dueted on previously: "Tacones Rojos," aka "Red High Heels."
RELATED: An Official Recap of Team Legend on The Voice Season 24
"Willie in the Blinds did Latin pop, Stee did pop," Legend explained. "I feel like 'Why not do a duet of a song that I did with my friend Sebastian Yatra?' Sebastian actually won Best Pop Song at the Latin Grammys. [It's] the perfect song to bring their styles together."
As they melded their styles in rehearsals, with help from Legend, both Gomez and Stee found that they were facing tough competition even as they worked to support each other in perfecting the performance.
"To me, collaboration and duet is a new thing," Gomez explained in rehearsals. "Stee is a strong performer, and that can be a little intimidating. It's definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone in this round."
Stee added, "I got a steep competitor. No room for error at this point, so I honestly have to impress John and show him 'You can bet on me, man.'"
Stee and Willie Gomez Sing "Tacones Rojos" by Sebastian Yatra on The Voice Season 24
As expected, the battle of the two 4-Chair winners was spectacular, with both Stee and Gomez showing off their vocal ranges and their dance skills as they belted out the song. The Coaches were, understandably, immediately impressed.
"Stee, your voice is incredible," Reba McEntire said. "I love your stage presence and your moves. And Willie, you're great, you sing in both languages, which is...I can't do that. I can barely sing in English. Bad English and Good English, that's all I can do. I guess if I just had to help you out and just pick one, I guess Willie, you'd be it."
Coach Niall Horan echoed McEntire's pick of Gomez to be the battle's winner, but couldn't help noting that both performances were knockouts.
"That's what it looks like when two 4-Chair turns go against each other in a battle," he said.
Though both McEntire and Horan picked Gomez as the winner, Coach Gwen Stefani leaned the other way, praising Gomez but heaping even more love on Stee.
"Stee, your voice is perfect," Stefani said. "It's actually perfect. You have so much control over everything you're doing, I couldn't keep my eyes off you ... For me right now in this moment, if I had to choose, I guess I would lean towards Stee."
When it came time to make a decision, Legend said that even as he was speaking about making the choice, he still hadn't made up his mind. It was a battle that came down to the absolute final seconds, and while Legend loved both his vocalists, he chose Stee in the end.
"I just feel like Stee is such a great vocalist, and this is The Voice," Legend told his fellow Coaches after the battle.
Unfortunately, with limited Saves and Steals in their arsenal, the Coaches didn't make the immediate decision to keep Gomez around. That said, Stee is still hanging in there for another round of battling, and his perfect voice will be tested again soon.
Keep up with every battle on The Voice, Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC, and streaming next day on Peacock.
