The Voice recap: The Comeback Artist competes for a spot in the Top 13

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Published on November 9, 2021 09:34PM EST

Welcome to the Big Cut. Tonight, season 21 will be going from 20 (well, technically 24 if we include our four Comeback Artist hopefuls) down to just 13. Prepare your goodbyes because people are going home.

As a reminder, the process is as follows: Each team currently has five members. The two members with the most votes from the overnight audience vote automatically move forward. Then, each coach will save one more of their artists from the remaining three. Out of the two artists left, the one with the most public votes will sing for the Wildcard spot. But wait, there's more! The Voice loves rules! And twists! And this season we have the Comeback Artist. Each coach got to select one artist from their team who was eliminated in an earlier round — Team Ariana's Vaughn Mugol, Team Kelly's Aaron Hines, Team Legend's Samara Brown, and Team Blake's Hailey Green — to compete by way of a Twitter vote for a chance to sing in the Wildcard Instant Save round.

TEAM KELLY

Audience Vote: Girl Named Tom & Jeremy Rosado

Coach Save: Gymani

Wildcard Round: Hailey Mia

Eliminated: Katie Rae

TEAM LEGEND

Audience Vote: Jershika Maple & Joshua Vacanti

Coach Save: Shadale

Wildcard Round: Samuel Harness

Eliminated: David Vogel

TEAM ARIANA

Audience Vote: Jim and Sasha Allen & Holly Forbes

Coach Save: Ryleigh Plank

Wildcard Round: Bella DeNapoli

Eliminated: Raquel Trinidad

TEAM BLAKE

Audience Vote: Wendy Moten & Paris Winningham

Coach Save: Lana Scott

Wildcard Round: Peedy Chavis

Eliminated: Libianca

WILDCARD INSTANT SAVE ROUND

Team Legend: Samuel Harness, "Before You Go" by Lewis Capaldi

Now, this is the Samuel Harness we've come to know and love this season. The guy knows how to sing Lewis Capaldi songs, okay? His vibrato and ability to convey emotion with his voice are perfect for these types of pop ballads. Both Carson Daly and Coach Legend agree that this is the best Samuel's sounded on this show. John Legend can't say enough about "the clarity of [Samuel's] voice" and the "sense of urgency" he performed with in this high-pressure moment. It all came together.

Team Ariana: Bella DeNapoli, "Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilera

Ariana's pop princess is back doing her thing, and while this is a fun song choice, I wish Bella had saved "The Sweet Escape" from last night for this moment. It was her season's best and a song she could really make her own. Taking on a Christina song is a tall order and just begs for comparisons to the original. Coach Ariana loves it though, calling it "fun" and "phenomenal" and once again applauds her Italian sister for her growth over the season. Will it be enough for the one remaining spot though?

Team Blake: Peedy Chavis, "Stranger in My House" by Ronnie Milsap

Peedy Chavis is using this last chance to show us a different side of himself — we're still getting a throwback, but it's much more serious and emotional than we've seen Peedy before, and it's on a country song to boot (pun intended, y'all). I don't know, I miss the performance value, guys!! Coach Blake applauds his artist for continuing to show us "new layers" to his voice and tells Peedy that they've never seen a performer "quite like [him]" on this show before.

Team Kelly: Hailey Mia, "Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perri

Can our little teen with the huge voice win over enough voters for the Instant Save? Unlike Peedy, Hailey's sticking with what has served her well on this show so far and gives us another big, emotional pop ballad. She's been so great at conveying the story of the song and that's no different here. Coach Kelly, in tears, is "completely shocked [Hailey Mia's] in this place right now," but she continues to be unbelievably impressed with the amount of soul and emotion her youngest artist carries in her voice.

Comeback Artist: Vaughn Mugol (Team Ariana), "Lay Me Down" by Sam Smith

Ariana Grande's fans did their thing and brought smooth pop singer Vaughn Mugol back for one more shot. Now his job is to remind everyone why he should stay. Um, he does. He isn't taking this chance lightly and the way he moves between his chest voice and falsetto on this Sam Smith song is... uh, very good. He leaves it all out there and Coach Ariana, who is so pleased to see him back, says he's "never sounded better." What more can you do as a Comeback Artist?

And just like that, Carson Daly returns to inform us which of these five artists just won the Wildcard Instant Save round. Joining the already announced top 12 next week is... Team Kelly's Hailey Mia!

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