Camila Cabello worries about a decision on the final night of ‘The Voice Season 22 Battle Rounds. As The Voice Season 22 Battle Rounds came to a close on Tuesday, new coach Camila Cabello was faced with a decision that many of her more experienced Voice predecessors had struggled with: Should she choose a Battle winner based on past promise and future potential, or should she go with the flow and simply choose the better singer in this case? She chose the former strategy for her two “emotive singers,” Andrew Igbokidi and Zach Newbould, a decision that was both surprising and controversial.
At first, it appeared that four-chair contestant Andrew would blow 19-year-old Zach off the stage on Tuesday. But the former Season 22 standout sabotaged himself by arriving at rehearsal tense and throat-tightened, second-guessing his every note. “I think it’s nerves, but I’m just going to flush it out,” Andrew insisted, but despite multiple pep talks from Camila and her guest adviser Charlie Puth, he couldn’t seem to regain his confidence.
Camila tried to get Andrew out of his head so he could fully, bodily connect with a “sad emotional piano version” of the Whitney Houston classic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” telling him: “I think you’re being too hard on yourself. .. You have to remind yourself, ‘I don’t have to be perfect. I will probably mess up because I’m human and that’s normal.’”
Charlie added, “You’ve just gotta own it. Even if you go off-pitch a little, who cares? Just own it! Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, and all the greats never were unbelievably pitch-perfect. It’s not going to be human if it’s perceived as ‘perfect.’”
Sadly, though, Andrew the perfectionist still looked terrified when he got onstage. “It almost seemed like something was holding you back. Every time there was an opportunity to get to a note, it just didn’t quite land. I just think you’re better than what happened here today,” Blake Shelton told Andrew.
“You have this incredible talent, but I think that your hypercriticism of yourself is keeping you from accessing the freedom and the fun to go to that next level,” Camila lamented.
All of the coaches, including Camila, thought Zach was the more “consistent” contestant who “really shinned,” but Camila chose Andrew anyway. This outcome surprised Andrew more than anyone else. “I don’t think he knows how good he is, and I just want to pull that confidence out of him,” she explained. Some viewers didn’t agree with her logic.
“I wish I had another Save!” admitted Camila. “If I had another Steal, I would have stolen Zach,” Gwen Stefani added.