Yahoo Movies Chance the Rapper uses The Voice 's first Playoff Pass on Manasseh Samone
The Battles have begun on season 23 of The Voice!
And while yes, it's true that this second round of competition is a brand new experience for our first-time coaches Chance the Rapper and Niall Horan (and a final go-around for Blake Shelton on his way out, of course), more importantly, there's something brand-new going on for the audience, too. It's called "The Playoff Pass" and it's basically the Coach's Save on steroids. This season, each coach will have one steal in this round, but instead of using a save to move both artists in one battle into the Knockout Round, they'll have one Playoff Pass at their disposal, meaning that they can basically give one of their artists a bye into the Playoff Round, skipping the Knockouts altogether. All of this means that on each team there will be one Battle in which there is a winner and then there is A Winner. A Playoff Pass is a golden ticket.
Casey Durkin/NBC Manasseh Samone competes on 'The Voice'
It's no surprise that we get to see this shiny new Voice game piece in action on The Battles Premiere night. In fact, there's build up to it all night long, so you know it's coming at the last performance of the evening. That performance belongs to none other than Team Chance. For his second Battle of the evening, Chance pairs sister trio Sorelle and their super-tight harmonies with powerhouse vocalist, and operatically-trained singer, Manasseh Samone, who you might remember had auditioned for season 22 of The Voice but had failed to turn any chairs in the Blinds; season 23 is Manasseh's comeback story.
It's always tough pairing an artist with a group act, but Chance finds both Sorelle and Manasseh to have a Gospel feel to their singing and thinks putting them both on Adele's "Someone Like You" will be able to play to both of their strengths. By the end of their rehearsal, he's telling them that they should go record and release this as a cover, it's that good. He also very explicitly explains the Playoff Pass to them, so going into this evenly matched Battle, Sorelle and Manasseh probably knew not to stress too much.
Evans Vestal Ward/NBC Chance the Rapper uses first Playoff Pass on 'The Voice'
Their performance is the best of the night — and the first to earn a standing ovation from all four coaches. "No one's heard that song like that," Kelly Clarkson tells the four women before singling out Manasseh to (quite rightly) tell her: "You're the reason why this show exists." Blake notes that he's never heard any group act sing with the attack that Sorelle did. The sisters' harmonies were so tight it was "almost hard to believe it was live." Niall, like Blake, would give the win to Sorelle and their "wall of harmonies" but he also notes that Manasseh and some of those unbelievable runs were "goosebump stuff."
There's no clear act on top, and their coach Chance praises the performance as a whole as "masterful." You can tell he doesn't want to lose either, and he won't have to, it's now just a matter of who he wants to award with the free pass to the Playoffs. He loves Sorelle's sound and their confidence and poise on stage. He declares them the winner of the Battle. Of course, while they for sure deserve to move on to the Knockouts, we know that means Manasseh is the big winner of the night. Just as she begins thanking her coach for bringing her on to his team in the Blinds, Chance presses his button without hesitation — he's giving his one Playoff Pass to Manasseh. Confetti rains down from the rafters and host Carson Daly declares it "a Voice first."
Chance credits not only Manasseh's insane vocals but her Voice story thus far as reason enough to give her the first Voice Playoff Pass. From rejected in the Blinds to sailing into the Playoffs? Now, that's a journey right there.
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