Jaelen Johnston & Kelsea Ballerini's Smokey "Whiskey Lullaby" Duet Is Country Perfection
Jaelen Johnston and Kelsea Ballerini's beautiful duet gave just about everyone goosebumps during The Voice Live Finale.
Is someone chopping onions in here? For his final performance on The Voice stage, cowboy Jaelen Johnston sang a duet with his Coach, Kelsea Ballerini, and the pair chose one of country's saddest songs. And they more than did it justice.
During the first hour of the Finale Live Results show, Johnston and Ballerini performed "Whiskey Lullaby," a duet made famous by Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss in 2004. The song tells the story of a man who, separated from the woman he loves, drinks himself to death. Then she, overcome with guilt and despair, follows suit. Hey, no one ever said country music was all upbeat! The song was written by Jon Randall and Bill Anderson, but it was Paisley’s idea to turn it into a duet.
The way Johnston and Ballerini's voices blended was simply perfect, and the audience was rapt.
Johnson has been breaking hearts throughout his time on The Voice. In the Battles round, Ballerini assigned him "Neon Moon" by Brooks & Dunn, and after his performance, she told him, "Jaelen, you sing like you've had your heart broken, and I mean that in a good way," adding that, whoever hurt him, "I'll kill her."
Jaelen Johnston made it through thanks to the super save
Besides his good looks and gravelly voice, one other thing that helped Johnston through was Ballerini choosing him for her "super save" after he was initially sent home following the Playoffs.
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"Coaches, lend me your ears. I come with great news, great joy," Host Carson Daly told the Coaches backstage after Michael Bublé and John Legend had rounded out the Top 8 with their picks during the May 5 episode of The Voice Season 27. "We’ve always intended to keep the best Artists on this show for the longest amount of time," Daly explained, telling all four Coaches, "We’re going to allow each of you to bring back one Artist."
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Ballerini was barely able to process the news. "I am overstimulated," she said. Later on, she was of course happy about it. "We love a good plot twist," she said, joking, "I feel like Santa Claus. Ho ho ho. Gimme the phone. It’s Christmas." And off she went to call Johnston!
