‘The Voice’: Jubal And Amanda Get Engaged On Stage, Join Team Pharrell

Caila Ball-Dionne | September 29, 2015 5:17 am

Fair warning: Monday (September 28) night’s episode of The Voice was not for the weak of stomach. There were tears. There were hugs. There was an actual – albeit incredibly-produced looking – proposal…and it wasn’t even between Gwen Stefani and Pharrell (though one can dream).

Yes, the Voice love extended even farther than Blake Shelton and Adam Levine’s equally produced bromance during the Blind Auditions last night, and prompted more eye rolls than an ill-advised Adele cover. In between all the mushy stuff, a few contestants made it through to the next round. Here are there deets:

Morgan Frazier, 22 – Tennessee

Country gal Morgan Frazier kicks off the night with Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me.” Fortunately for anyone who has terrifying flashbacks of said song being performed in a karaoke bar, she changes it up and gives the tune a country love ballad twist. Gwen turns around first, but Blake seals Morgan’s fate when he turns around at the very end.

“I could tell that you had a real honesty in your voice,” says Gwen. “What can he do for you that I can’t do for you?”

“That voice was fragile, powerful, absolutely one hundred percent country from her heart,” says Blake, who then scoffs at Gwen’s assertion that she went to an Emmy Lou Harris concert. “Gwen, in her lifetime, has been to a country concert. I put on country concerts.”

Feel that burn, Gwen? Despite Adam’s outspoken support, Gwen loses Morgan to Blake.

Amanda Ayala, 17 – New York

Up next is Amanda Ayala, a teenage rocker who joined her first band when she was 12. Amanda sings Mountain’s “Mississippi Clean,” and has a raspy voice with an impressive range. Blake, Pharrell and Adam keep Amanda on pins and needles, but all turn around at the last moment.

“You had a very beautiful tone,” says Pharrell. “If you’re on the first floor, how do we take it to the second level?”

“I’m so impressed that you’re 17 years old and you want to do classic rock,” says Blake, who tries to convince Amanda she’d be lost in the shuffle on another team. “These guys have hundreds of people on their team that are just like you.”

“First of all, you’re not allowed hundreds of people on your team” says Adam, calling Blake out on his first #BlakeMath of the season. “You’re 17 now. I know the progress that you’re going to make when you’re 18. I want to help you make that progress.”

Not afraid to be one of his “hundreds,” Amanda picks Adam.

Jeffrey Austin, 24 – Illinois

Completely over his day job, publicist Jeffrey Austin gets back on stage for the first time since his theater acting high school years. Jeffrey sings Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down,” and though his impeccably enunciated words betray a stage actor background, it’s so good that it’s a surprise only Gwen turns around.

“That was like a perfect performance,” she says. “You have so much in that voice of yours. I just thought it was a really, really beautiful performance.”

Don’t let the one-chair turn fool you: Jeffrey could be a force to be reckoned with in later rounds.

Lyndsey Elm, 22 – California

Lyndsey Elm wants to work with Pharrell so much that, perhaps subconsciously, she dons a Pharrell-esque forest ranger hat in her Blind Audition. Crossing team loyalties, she sings former Team Blake advisor Meghan Trainor’s “Lips Are Movin” with a jazzy, stripped-down performance. Gwen leads the charge in pressing her button, and eventually the other three coaches join to give Lyndsey a four-chair turn.

“Now that I’m a mother, I know what it’s like to nurture somebody and support somebody,” says Gwen. “It’s just something that’s so fulfilling.”

“Songwriting is something that I like to do too,” says Pharrell, trying to appeal to the burgeoning writer in Lyndsey.

“I love basketball then I quit basketball to play music,” Adam tells the former high school athlete (really reaching for straws on this one).

“The way that you jazzed it up and slowed it down really takes it to another place, that’s really impressive to me,” says Blake.

Despite her initial Pharrell leanings, Lyndsey joins Team Gwen.

Manny Cabo, 45 – New Jersey

Freelance fashion photographer Manny Cabo steps out from behind the camera for his Blind Audition. Although he has performed in a number of bands throughout his life, his music career has never paid the bills. Despite a lack of evidence that reality television pays the bills for non-Kardashians, he is hopeful that The Voice will help him strike it big for himself, his wife and his daughter.

Manny’s performance of Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again” is on point right through the screaming falsetto at the end. Adam lip-syncs from his chair, while Blake plays air guitar from his. Yes – it’s embarrassing for everyone involved. All four coaches turn around for Manny, and fight hard for the rocker.

“You just literally turned this place into a hair band concert,” says Blake.

“Your voice just kept going into different dimensions, and it was just undeniable,” says Pharrell. “It’s been a long time since we’ve heard a voice with such dynamics.”

“Your dynamics was just what was so impressive,” Gwen agrees.

“You brought me to a place that is literally the roots of where everything started for me” says Adam. “You look 20, you sound 20, you act 20.”

Life lesson: age flattery gets you everywhere. Manny joins Team Adam.

Madi Davis, 16 – Texas

Choir singing teen Madi Davis has performed in cathedrals in France, which is just about as opposite on the class spectrum as the gaudy red Voice stage. Nonetheless, that experience prepared her for her Blind Audition of Carole King’s “It’s Too Late,” which earns her spins from Pharrell and Gwen.

“It’s voices like yours that really excite me,” says Pharrell, adding, “I did win last season.”

“It’s not a generic voice that you have. Nobody could teach you how to have that style,” says Gwen “The fact that you’re 16 is mind-blowing”

Then the two basically rush the stage to compliment both Madi and one another. After that love fest is over, Madi breaks Gwen’s heart by picking Pharrell.

Chris Crump, 31 – Texas

Although pop singer Chris Crump claims his wife was “so cool about it” when he left his wedding reception to go to a local Voice audition, there is no way that the incident doesn’t get brought up in every fight during their marriage. A lifetime of “…and you didn’t even make it past round one” is on the line when Chris sings Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.” Though it’s a little mumbly and quiet, all four coaches turn around.

“When you go up into your upper register…it really hits you in the heart,” says Blake.

“I did hear a couple of transition things in there, but I think half of your brain was finishing the song, and the other half was like ‘dude I’m so excited’,” says Pharrell.

“I think you have the ability to really speak to a large audience,” says Adam.

“Every song that I’ve ever written has been from my heart, and that’s what I connected with in your performance,” says Gwen.

After a short consideration, Chris joins Team Blake.

Tyler Dickerson – Tennessee

…and then there were tears. Every time Tyler Dickerson relays the story about how he was dropped from John Rich’s (of Big & Rich) music label when it folded, which was followed by a car accident, he breaks into tears. Listen: it’s not the happiest story, but there have been way more tragic accounts on The Voice where the contestants manage to keep themselves together. Just saying.

Tyler at least holds himself together for The Black Crowes’ rendition of “Hard To Handle,” and gets Blake to turn around. Blake actually remembers him from his Nashville singing days, and even recalls how people thought of Tyler as the next Travis Tritt.

“What in the hell is wrong with you three?” Blake marvels at his uncontested – and continuously tearful – pickup.

Jubal And Amanda – Oklahoma

The season’s first duo closes out the night, and boy is it a doozy of a pair. Jubal Lee Young and Amanda Preslar – better known as duo Jubal And Amanda – are way in love and even finish each other’s sentences, which is a lot to handle for anyone with a sensitive gag reflex. The pair sing The Eagles’ “Seven Bridges Road” and earn turns from Gwen and Pharrell. Then all hell breaks loose. (Watch at the very top.)

Jubal gets down on one knee, and proposes to Amanda on national television – which is basically the world’s largest Jumbotron. It brings up so many questions, such as, what if she had said no? What if no one had turned for them? Is this some crazy strategy to win affection and votes in later rounds? How many producers knew about this prior? Was an actual Jumbotron not an option?

Anyway, Amanda says yes, and they pick Pharrell as their coach. Honestly, Gwen looks relieved, because any reality television proposal that doesn’t happen on The Bachelor is pretty uncalled for.

Un-engaged and un-televised:

Three contestants make it to the next round…just not to the television. Pharrell picks up Riley Biederer and Daria Jazmin, and Adam picks up Cassandra Robertson. Now you know.

The Blind Auditions continue tonight, and they’re going to have to top a live proposal. On-stage wedding? Live birth? Real-time divorce? Only time will tell.