While Kelly Clarkson has been out sick, her friend and fellow superstar, Kelsea Ballerini has been filling in until she feels better on The Voice.
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At the start of the season 20 Battle Rounds, Carson Daly announced Kelly was sick and Blake Shelton chimed in to joke, “she tested positively for dummy.” While thankfully, Kelly is not seriously sick, and viewers have gotten a taste of Ballerini’s coaching style as she subs in for Clarkson.
This week Ballerini made her final Battles appearance and assured Team Kelly, “I want you to know that Kelly, she is like Oz! She’s in this room, she’s watching, she’s texting me… I’m an expansion of her.”
Additionally, Ballerini shared a tender moment on set with one of Clarkson’s The Voice mentees and spoke about how sitting in Kelly’s coaching chair served as a full-circle moment for her. Kelsea said, “I always wanted to be Kelly Clarkson when I grew up.”
Team Kelly member and 21-year-old pop singer, Ainae shared that while she has struggled from lack of confidence she always wanted to be like The Weeknd. Ainae tells Kelsea, “When I went to see The Weeknd at a concert, looking at how The Weeknd was performing, I was like, ‘this is what I want to do.’”
In return, Ballerini told Aniae about how she had a similar moment. “I was reading about you, and I was reading that you love music and you had this moment at a Weeknd show — like, your ‘aha moment.’ And I had that moment at a Kelly Clarkson show,” explains Kelsea.
She continues, “I was in the Pacific Coliseum in Knoxville, she was singing ‘Behind These Hazel Eyes,’ and I was just like, ‘I have to do this with my life.’ So, I want to say to you guys that whether you’re singing in a coffeehouse or in an arena, you can give someone that moment, like I had with Kelly, and like what you had with The Weeknd. And that’s just a really cool gift to give someone.”
WATCH MORE: Kelsea Ballerini tells us which Leading Lady of Country would make the best President
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