VIDEO: The Voice SA – Dramatic steals

Coach Karen Zoid created drama this Sunday in the penultimate Battle Rounds of The Voice SA Season 2, stealing one of coach Bobby van Jaarsveld’s singers at the very last possible moment, and one of Coach Lira’s as fast as she could!

During this intense stage of the competition, the coaches pit two of the singers in their team against each other on the boxing ring-styled stage to fight it out in order to remain in the game. While the winners of the Battles automatically proceed to the next round, The Knock-Outs, the only lifeline for the others is a possible “steal” from one of the other coaches. Unfortunately, each coach is only allowed two steals –  a very difficult task indeed, taking the level of talent into consideration.

At the start of this week’s episode, coach Kahn Morbee had already exercised both of his steals. So, all eyes were on coach Bobby who had one more steal up his sleeve as well as coaches Karen Zoid and Lira, who have strategically saved theirs for unique singers who they want to take all the way to the top.

Bobby’s first Battle of the evening

Coach Bobby van Jaarsveld set the scene for heartache and disappointment when he paired deep-voiced veteran singer Dawie de Jager, 33, with the bright-eyed 18-year-old Richard “Rick” Jansen from Pretoria, to perform David Grey’s Babylon. Bobby was torn, because he was such a fan of Dawie’s bands Klopjag and Die Tuindwergies, but he also knew what a find the young Rick was. In the end, he chose Dawie, the singer whom he believed fulfilled the show’s demand for uniqueness and authenticity. After Rick said his goodbyes, however, coach Karen decided to save the day. Completely surprising Rick and his supporters, Karen’s buzzer sounded up as he was leaving the stage to go home, meaning that viewers will get another chance to see the fresh-faced youngster again in the Knock-Out Rounds.

Coach Karen’s second steal

Lira paired the Friendly City’s Amanda Faku, 23, and Spha Mdlalose, 28, from Cape Town, and assigned them Fireflies, from Owl City. Coach Karen thought both of the ladies have incredible voices, but only one could advance to the next round. Coach Lira reassured newcomer Amanda, who had never performed before this competition, that she belongs on the stage. “I do wish I could keep both of you,” she anguished, “but I have to make this decision based on who I think will make the best of this opportunity.” And that person, for Lira, was Spha. But coach Karen wasn’t going to let the talented Amanda slip away, and she hit that steal button before coach Lira’s words were even cold. “The first minute I heard your voice in the Blind Auditions I knew I was listening to a superstar,” she told a tearful Amanda.

Lira poaches from Kahn

While coach Karen exhausted all of her steals on Sunday night, Lira used hers sparingly, but still managed to poach an incredible talent from last year’s winning coach, Kahn. That happened when early audience favourite Craig Lucas, 24, from Elsiesrivier battled Dylan Pretorius, 31, from Pretoria. Kahn thought these singers were perfect for what he called “anthemic rock”, so he chose the Muse version of the classic Feeling Good for them. It was a powerhouse duet but Kahn described Craig as “the love child of Freddy Mercury and John Legend” and couldn’t resist picking him. So Lira grabbed the opportunity to get Dylan into her team.

In one of this week’s other fierce Battles, the laid-back Andrew Snyders, 37, outperformed music giant Sheldon De St Pern, 41, from Illovo Beach in KZN for a place in #TeamLira with a classic from their youth, Peter Frampton’s I Love Your Way.

Kahn’s tough call

Then, coach Kahn had his work cut out for him when Kirby Jo, 23, from Cape Town and Leote “Lee” Taylor, 31, from Pretoria made Bruno Mars’ Locked Out of Heaven their own. The coaches sympathized with Kahn Morbee on his difficult choice. “Kahnnie, ek kahn-nie vir jou sê nie,” Lira even said. Even though he thought that Lee is the more complete performer, he gave it deep thought … and chose an overwhelmed Kirby to progress further in his team.

And when Karen pitted Chico Muya, 24, from Durban against the boyish PJ Pretorius from Secunda, 26, she noted that both of these singers come across as quite young, so she chose a mature love song for them to perform, Bruce Springsteen’s Secret Garden. “It’s going to require a lot of emotional maturity,” she warned them. But the young gentlemen delivered in spades and left the coaches scratching their heads. “My mind is blown, that was so delicate, that was mesmerising,” Lira swooned. But when it came to crunch time, Karen opened the next door for PJ.

Following the penultimate Battle Rounds, Lira has two spots left open on her team, while Kahn only has one more position to fill on his. Coach Bobby has the emptiest spaces remaining on his team, with three spots left, and, given Karen’s two steals tonight, she has two positions left going into the final Battle rounds.
The winner of the second season of The Voice SA will take home the following fantastic prizes:

• A recording contract with Universal Music South Africa;
• R250 000 cash from Dialdirect;
• A Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch, a Samsung Galaxy A8 smartphone, a Samsung Gear VR, a Samsung 360 camera, a Samsung iconiX set and a 65 inch KS9500 Samsung SUHD TV;
• A Subaru Impreza 2.0 Premium CVT;
• R100 000 Truworths fashion.