Meridian native Holly Brand moves on to the Playoffs

Published 2:37 pm Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Meridian native Holly Brand is pleased with her Knockout performance on Monday night’s episode of NBC’s “The Voice,” which blew away the coaches and landed her as one of the final 20 acts going into Season 23’s Playoffs.

She gave a lively performance of the LeAnn Rimes version of the country classic “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” which was made famous by both Bill Monroe and Patsy Cline. She surprised the coaches with her a cappella beginning and yodeling in the middle, before finishing off the song with a whistle note.

“That was probably my favorite performance that I have done on the show so far, so I was really excited for everybody to see it,” Brand said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “That is a song I have been singing really since I was a little kid, so it was one I was not super stressed about. I could just go out there and have a good time.”

Her team coach, Kelly Clarkson, as well as long-time coach Blake Shelton and freshmen coaches Chance the Rapper and Niall Horan, were all clearly impressed with Brand’s yodeling and ability to hit whistle notes.

“Niall talked about how he thought that the coaches really got to see what Holly was all about, and I really thought that was an accurate statement,” Brand said. “That’s really all that you can hope for when you sing a song like that is for people to really see who you are and what you’re about and kind of what you want your artistry to look like.”

Brand’s competitor in the Knockouts was fellow Team Kelly member Rachel Christine, who performed a version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon.”

All four coaches noted Brand was a tough act for Christine to follow, but the latter battled through and gave a great performance.

“That was crazy,” Chance said of the duel.

“Holly, you completely blew me away,” he said. “The whistle note at the end was just a crazy cherry on top; you had already killed the whole thing, and I was just like, ‘He’s dead already!’”

Horan, too, leaned toward Brand for the Playoffs, complimenting her whistle note and commenting on how difficult it is to execute.

While Clarkson called the decision the toughest for her so far this season, she gave the Knockout win to Brand. Christine also got a chance to move on to the next round when coach Blake Shelton pushed his button to steal her for Team Blake.

Brand is now one of the five remaining acts on Clarkson’s team for the Playoffs. Clarkson now has to narrow down her team to two acts.

Earlier in Monday night’s episode, Brand, 22, was left speechless after she and Christine got to meet this season’s “mega mentor,” country music legend Reba McEntire.

“I didn’t even know we were gong to have have a ‘mega mentor’ to right before rehearsal. I didn’t even know who it was, and then I walk in and she’s sitting right there. Like she’s the queen of country, really an icon of country music, and to be able to sing a classic country song for her was amazing,” Brand said of meeting McEntire.

“She loved the yodels, so I was excited about that. She was just so sweet, and I loved being able to have an opportunity to be able to work with her even if it was for a short period of time,” Brand said. “That is an opportunity a lot of people will never get to have, so to have that was really just an honor.”

The next round of competition, called the Playoffs, will kick off Monday night May 1 with Team Blake and Team Chance. Team Kelly and Team Niall’s rounds of the Playoffs are scheduled to air Monday, May 8.

“We all sing a different song, so it is almost like a five-way Knockout. Then, the coach will pick two to move on,” Brand said of the Playoffs.

Clarkson said the other competitors should be concerned about Brand because of her talent and her competitiveness.

“I think she just stands out,” Clarkson said on the show. “I would be afraid of her in the finale if I were all the other singers.”