Kelly Clarkson is already in love with one of her newest contestants from The Voice.
During the Monday, February 23, season premiere of The Voice: Battle of Champions, viewers at home were introduced to New York singer Jonah Mayor.
“I’m known in the band as the sexy, muscular, long-haired, sensitive but determined boy band member,” Mayor, 31, said before performing in Italian. “I’m taking a big risk with my blind audition.”
Quickly after Mayor began his rendition of “Il Mondo,” Clarkson, 43, immediately turned her red chair.
“Can I have a hug? You are my favorite performance thus far,” she said. “You are so incredible. What a gift! Oh my God! That was so sexy!”
Although fellow coach Adam Levine acknowledged it was going to be hard to persuade Mayor to pick his team, he did his best to praise the New Yorker.
“Jonah, I think you’re super awesome, and I think you are going to do great things. I think what you do is so singular, and there isn’t going to be anyone like you,” the Maroon 5 frontman, 46, shared. “You absolutely are the complete package in terms of performer and singer. There’s so much power in your voice. There’s a lot of presence in you.”
Kelly Clarkson Trae Patton/NBC
Although John Legend didn’t turn his chair for Mayor, he described the contestant as a “charismatic, super-gifted person.”
“It was gorgeous, flawless, beautiful,” Legend, 47, added of the audition. “I was thoroughly impressed by what you did.”
Before Mayor could officially pick which coach he wanted to be part of for season 29, he heard one final convincing argument from Clarkson.
“You sang, I think, three syllables and I was like, ‘Choose me, pick me, love me,’” she said while comparing Mayor to Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli. “I’m down for the ride. I have won the most.”
Jonah Mayor Griffin Nagel/NBC
After careful consideration, Mayor picked Clarkson, leading the former American Idol winner to profess her admiration even more.
“I love you. I’m so in love with you,” she said. “I want to help you so much just so everyone can hear that beautiful gift in all the languages.”
In a confessional interview, Clarkson added, “I love Jonah. I do love people that can sing opera. I love people that just have those full-body voices, just a nice glass of wine, a good red. This season, I’m really adamant about finding people in different genres and he is literally perfect for my team. I was so afraid I was going to lose him to Adam. I would have cried.”
During the season premiere, viewers also learned about The Voice’s new triple turn competition. During the blind auditions, the coach with the most artists on their team who received three-chair turns will earn a special advantage to use later in the competition.
“It really just depends on what artists are coming out and who they’re inspired by and want to work with,” Clarkson said on the show.
Watch the competition unfold when The Voice airs on NBC Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. Stream new episodes the next day on Peacock.
