‘The Voice’ season 23 Live Finale, Part 1 recap: Top 5 perform for America’s votes

John Benutty and Denton Davidson
·7 min read
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Monday night on “The Voice,” the Top 5 artists perform a ballad and an up-tempo song in front of coaches Chance the Rapper, Kelly Clarkson, Niall Horan and Blake Shelton to compete for the title of The Voice. Carson Daly hosts the “Live Finale, Part 1.” The winner will be revealed in the “Live Finale, Part 2” on Tuesday.

Below, read our minute-by-minute “The Voice” recap of Season 23, Episode 16 to find out what happened Monday, May 22 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. Then be sure to sound off in the comments section about your favorite artists on NBC’s long-running reality TV show, which coach you’re rooting for and who you think will ultimately join “The Voice” winners list for this 23rd season.

More from GoldDerby

TEAM BLAKE: Grace West, Noivas

TEAM NIALL: Gina Miles

TEAM CHANCE: Sorelle

TEAM KELLY: D.Smooth

SEE ‘The Voice’ finale predictions: Who will win Season 23?

Keep refreshing/reloading this “The Voice” live blog for the most recent updates.

8:00 p.m. – “Previously on ‘The Voice’!” In Episode 15, the semi-finals took place with Team Niall losing Ryley Tate Wilson, Team Chance dropping Ray Uriel and Team Kelly saying goodbye to Holly Brand. That left just five artists still in the competition. But enough about last week — it’s finally time for the live finale to start!

8:02 p.m. – The night started with Grace West‘s uptempo choice “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” for Team Blake. Ahead of the performance, Carson talked to Grace about what it means to her to be on Blake’s last team. She said it’s weird, especially because she’s his final country artist in the many years of the series. Blake says that Grace “honors the tradition of country music” and that’s why he believed in her as an artist. In rehearsal the two of them worked on adjusting Grace’s approach to the song so that she sings more of it in her full voice.

8:08 p.m. – Kelly thought Grace was really good and agreed with Blake’s advice to go in to the song with full voice. Blake added that Grace was able to flow through the uptempo ballad to show something that she hadn’t been able to yet and that was a smart decision for her in such a short season.

8:11 p.m. – D.Smooth was up next with “My, My, My” representing Team Kelly. He and Kelly had a good time with Carson rehashing the strategy of song selection through the competition. Kelly pointed out that as long as D.Smooth connects to the song that he can turn it into something special.

8:18 p.m. – Chance called the performance once of his favorites in the show because of the improvisation and the choreography. Kelly called D.Smooth “already a star” because he knows how to interact with the band before and during the performance as well as with the audience when he’s performing.

8:25 p.m. – The sisters of Team Chance’s act Sorelle read letters they wrote to each other to express their gratitude for the way they’ve inspired each other. That moment preceded their performance of “Million Reasons” that Niall called a nice moment for them individually. He liked that they scaled it back and called it one of their best performances. Chance said the harmonies were tight and echoed Niall’s appreciation for hearing each of them individually.

8:35 p.m. – Team Blake’s second artist Noivas received a letter from his wife and kids to support him on his finale performance of “Cold.” They urged him to “dream big” and “change the world.” Kelly called it “great song selection” because his voice is suited to the country, soul and rock vibe of the track. Blake pointed out that he thinks the audience likely sees Noivas as a country artist anyway because of the way he sounds so the song made sense and he “killed it.”

8:45 p.m. – Team Niall kicked off their night with Gina Miles sitting down with her coach and Carson to discuss how they overcame her nervousness by committing to her growth as an artist and choosing songs that gave her confidence. For one of her finale songs they chose “Style” because it’s something new from Gina and would give her a story to tell even in the uptempo pace.

8:52 p.m. – Chance called it an amazing performance and said he’s excited to see what original work she comes out with after the show. Niall was excited by the performance, calling her a superstar for being able to chance it up to a pop song after doing the darker, haunting songs in past weeks.

8:58 p.m. – Grace returned to the stage after reading her letter from her grandpa. In the note he spoke about the honor of passing down his guitars to her and seeing her create a music career with them. On her performance of “She’s Got You,” Niall said she saved her two best performances for the finale and that the jump she did from the top to bottom of her range was impressive. Blake said he thought everyone was doing really well, but then Grace came out with this and was “unbelievable.”

9:08 p.m. – The competition continued with Carson speaking with Blake and Noivas about the opportunity Blake had to steal Noivas back and then his breakout moment with “Come Together.” Noivas said that he went with “Fly Away” for his uptempo performance because it’s one he did with his band in college and can be a full circle moment for him. Blake told him in rehearsal that he loves the energy of the performance and that this is a chance for him to show the audience everything he has.

9:15 p.m. – Chance applauded Noivas for the great song choice and called him a star. Blake said that performance “started the finale” and that he did what she said he was going to do and “killed it.”

9:20 p.m. – Before we got back to the finale performances, Alex Newell brought Broadway to the “Voice” stage for the first time with “Independently Owned” from the Tony nominated show “Shucked.” Alex was followed by a special performance from Lewis Capaldi with his new song “Wish You the Best.”

9:32 p.m. – D.Smooth received a letter from his little sister that explained how unexpected his turn to music was when he was already excelling at sports. A bonus visit and hug from her was just what he needed before his final performance of “What You Won’t Do for Love.” Kelly reiterated how cool D.Smooth is and acknowledged that he changed up the song because he wanted to and it worked out really well. She says it’s amazing that he’s a writer, producer and singer and does it all when it comes to his performances.

9:43 p.m. – The penultimate performance came from Sorelle who sat down with Carson and Chance to let us in on the secrets of what it makes their artistry work. They chose “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” for their final finale song. Chance liked the choice because it represents the unbreakable bond they have as siblings working together in the trio.

9:49 p.m. – Blake reminded Sorelle that they always sound like a finished record when they perform live because of how tight their harmonies are. Chance was smiling ear to ear, proud of his team for their “pitch perfect” performance.

9:54 p.m. – Gina read a letter from her dad that described how proud of her he is. He recalled first performance ever and expressed the pride to see her grow on the show. She closed out the show with “Nothing Compares 2 U” in his honor. Niall was glad she chose that song because it created a special moment on the show and it won’t be easily forgotten by the audience.

SEEexclusive predictions: Who will win ‘The Voice’?

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