The Voice Season 27 Episode 9 Recap - Knockouts begin as judges mentor their teams one-on-one

The Voice Season 27 Episode 9 dropped on NBC on March 31, 2025. The episode featured the first phase of the Knockouts being started and the artists moving up the ranks towards the Playoffs.

The series features five stages, two of which are finished. The first one was Blind Auditions, followed by Battle Rounds. Right now, we are in the Knockouts phase, which is a predecessor to the Playoffs. Finally, the season will end with Live Performance Shows, ultimately crowning the winner of The Voice.

As for the judges, we saw Kelsea Ballerini, Michael Bublé, John Legend, and Adam Levine return to the big red chairs. With the knockouts, their power of 'save' is gone.

The judges are only provided with a 'steal,' where they can take an artist into their teams if their coach has rejected them. But without a save, they cannot save both members at once. It was revealed by the host that after this stage, there will only be 16 contestants left for the Playoffs.

Viewers saw the coaches connecting with their team members because there is no mentor this time. The Knockouts also allows artists to select what they want to sing about. Previously, for the Battles, their coach was the one selecting the tracks for them.

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The Voice Season 27 Episode 9 Recap - John Legend plays a strategic game

Voach John Legend decided to pit his two team members, BD.ii and Kolby Cordell, against each other. He admitted that both these artists were excellent and thus, he does not want them to go home.

But given the fact that he can not save them, too, his strategy was to manipulate other coaches into using their steal button, so that both of the artists get a chance to continue on The Voice.

During his performance, BD.ii picked up 'Back at One' by Brian McKnight while Kolby selected 'Lately' by Stevie Wonder. They both tried to take up tracks that are not what they usually would go for. Kolby generally performed untempo tracks while Brian says the song is "out of his comfort zone."

By the end of their performances, it was sure that John's plan had worked because Adam talked about stealing either of them. Bd.ii was chosen as the winner by John and Adam, and Michael jumped at the opportunity to get Kolby in their teams. At the end, the artist decided to go with Adam.

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The Voice Season 27 Episode 9 Recap - Angie Rey goes against Iris Herrera

Team Kelsea was up next in the knockout round, and she selected Angie Rey and Iris Herrera. The former decided to go with 'Dirt Cheap' by Cody Johnson while Iris picked 'Jolene' by Ray LaMontagne.

By the end of their performances, Kelsea decided to go with Iris on her team. This gave Michael Bublé a chance to steal her. He claimed he had a vacancy for a country singer on his team, which is now fulfilled.

Later, we saw Adam picking Lucia Flores Wiseman from his team during her knockout against Grace Miller Moody. Then, during his team's second knockout, he selected Ethan Eckenroad over Trevor Dawson.

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The Voice Season 27 drops new episodes weekly on Mondays at 8 PM Eastern Time on NBC. Later, the episodes can be streamed online via Peacock.