-Kelly, I hope you're ready. Here we go.
-What's up, Usher?
-What's up? Hey!
-Our mega mentor this season is Usher.
They don't know you're here.
They don't know who they're going against.
-Oh.
-I paired Desz and Sid
because they're both soulful
Come on out, y'all!
-I knew it! -What? Come on.
-[ Laughing ]
-Desz is incredible.
Her personality is straight-up fire,
and she chose a really great song to showcase that.
What are you singing for us today?
-I'm doing "Make It Rain" by Foy Vance.
-Okay. -Sid is a very soulful singer.
As a pianist, he can create th emotion through what he plays.
-These two singers are so undeniably gifted.
So this is going to be really hard,
and I really hope somebody gets stolen.
-I paired Bailey Rae versus Lauren.
Hello. -Hey!
-Surprise! -Surprise.
[ Laughs ]
I thought Bailey picked a really good song.
"Let Me Down Easy" by Billy Currington.
What I love about the song is you don't have
to be a country fan to love the song.
She does the twang,
she does the slides into the notes.
And she delivers it beautifull and authentically.
So what is the record you've chosen that represents you
and that you want to get to the lives with?
-I chose "Cry Baby" by Janis Joplin.
-Ooh. -Ooh, Janis.
-Lauren's voice is impressive to me.
And I think her selection of song was spot-on.
Hey, it's a make-or-break moment.
And you should sing a song that means something to you.
-I'm so happy you two are paired together.
It's going to be a really beautiful knockout.
This pairing is going to come down
to who goes out there and delivers a performance
that's so compelling that I have to choose them.
-I paired Jim Ranger and Jus Jon
because even though they're in different lanes
musically, they both have the most
soulful sounding voices on my team.
-It's gonna be fun. -Yeah.
-[ Laughs ] -That's Jim.
-[ Laughs ]
-That's Jus Jon.
-Ah! -Hey!
-Jus Jon's gonna be singin "Finesse" by Bruno Mars.
This is a fun song for Jus Jon
to really showcase what he can do vocally.
What are you singing?
-I'm singing "Humble and Kind, Tim McGraw.
-Okay. -"Humble and Kind."
Jim just has a comfort that you can't teach.
It just comes from being connected to the songs.
It's genuine. Jim is a gem.
It's really left up to this guy. He's really the lucky one
'cause he has two incredible talents to pick from.
-This is going to come dow to who lays it all out
on the line and who pours everything they have
into this performance.
-I paired Joseph and Van because they both have unique tones.
Boom!
-What?! -Yeah.
-Are you serious, dude?
-Joseph picked "lovely" by Billie Eilish and Khalid.
It's a really emotional song
He has strength, but he also has vulnerability.
And his tone is just so beautiful.
So what song are you doing
-I'm singing "Human" by The Killers.
-Van Andrew, man, he has a talent.
His voice is incredible.
I think he has the opportunity to go all the way.
Good work, fellas. -Thank you so much.
-Gwen is left with a really complicated decision.
We'll see.
-Kelsie and Madeline are very different,
and I kind of wanted to se which one would rise to the to
in this scenario.
Alright! -Aah!
-Our mega mentor -- U-S-H-E-R.
-Nuh-uh.
-Kelsie chose "You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette.
And the cool thing about Kelsi
is literally I can give her any note,
and she's a very good student.
She has such a great instinct.
Madeline, why did you pick this song?
-This is actually my mom and I's song.
She, like, played it for m in the car one day,
and we both were sobbing.
-Madeline is singing "Die from a Broken Heart"
by Maddie & Tae.
And the key thing here is that she relates to the song.
It's something personal for her.
-I went through something like this before
I wrote a song about it called "Burn."
-Whoever can embody the messag of their songs is going to win
-I paired Ian and James together
because they both have these crazy voices
that you don't expect from these artists.
Let's bring them out. -Oh, my goodness.
-That's James. -Oh. Oh, my God.
-That's Usher. -Hello.
-Man, this is amazing.
-That is Usher standing in front of me.
-I think that James has a real shot.
When he belts, man, it's like it rings out.
And this is a song when his drum background
is only gonna benefit him.
-So what song you gonna be singing?
-"Beautiful Crazy" by Luke Combs.
-Oh, yeah.
-Ian has something really special
with the raspiness and the raw nature of what he offers.
I think that's one of Blake's top guns.
-You're the reigning champ for a reason, Blake.
-I appreciate you saying tha in front of Usher.
-If you win, it'll be because of the note
I've given you here today.
[ Laughter ]
-Carter and Chloé are the youngest on my team,
so I put them together to kind of see who can take the heat
-Oh, my God!
-Usher's here! -Yes! Oh, my gosh.
-Hi! -Hey!
-Carter's doing the song "You Say,"
and I think it is an excellent choice for him.
It shows the range in his voice.
It has lyrics that you can relate to in this moment,
in this setting, for his age
Chloé, what song are you going to do?
-I'm singing "Weak" by SWV
-It's special to you, I can tell.
-Yeah.
-One of Chloé's real talents
is the variety that she has in her voice.
She can be really soft. She can go in her head voice
She has a really strong chest voice.
-You have to go out there and win her over.
-Another torturous moment for me.
I think that I'm going to have a really hard decision.
-You are magical.
-What on God's earth is happening?
-Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
-What the heck?
-There you go!
We got a Knockout steal!