“The Voice” has changed up the format for its newest season.
Now, when multiple coaches on the show are fighting over a singer during the blind audition round, a new feature gives the coach who turned their chair around first a major advantage.
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Instead of waiting for the contestant to listen to all of the coaching pitches and make a decision, the coach who turned first can simply hit the First In Button and claim the singer for their team.
It’s a significant feature, but one the coaches have to use wisely. Each of the four coaches only gets to use the First In Button once.
And recently, Kelly Clarkson chose to use it on a 32-year-old singer from Herriman, Utah.
Utah singer Johnnie Kapua tries out for ‘The Voice’
Johnnie Kapua made his “Voice” debut with a performance of Bruno Mars’ and Lady Gaga’s “Die With a Smile,” which won a Grammy last year for best pop duo/group performance.
It only took a few seconds for Clarkson to turn her chair, quickly followed by first-time “Voice” coach Queen Latifah.
As Kapua performed, his wife and two children stood off to the side of the stage cheering him on and mouthing the words to the song.
Clarkson was visibly impressed throughout the performance, and gave Kapua a standing ovation.
“Why did y’all not turn?” she said to her fellow coaches Adam Levine and Riley Green.
“I feel like I’m going to be kicking myself because you might be a problem down the line,” Green told Kapua, who is originally from New Zealand.
For the contestant, the choice was ultimately between Clarkson and Latifah.
“I thought you sounded beautiful. That is a big song,” Latifah said after the performance. “I thought there were a couple of spots where you might’ve got a little loose with your breath.”
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“I was terrified,” Kapua interjected with a laugh.
“Those are very coachable things,” Latifah continued … The rest is about getting everybody else out of your head — including Bruno — and let’s see Johnnie shine, and that I can help you with.”
Clarkson’s pitch started a bit more unconventionally.
She shared that she and her kids love to watch the movies “Sing” and “Sing 2.” Listening to Kapua perform, she said, reminded her of the character Johnny from the films. And when she found out that Kapua’s first name was Johnnie, she got even more excited to have him on her team.
“You sing with such soulfulness,” Clarkson said. ‘You have a different cadence to your vibe and your style, and I really dig it.”
Before ending her pitch and allowing Kapua to mull it over, Clarkson decided to hit her First In Button and snag the singer for her team.
Kapua’s audition has roughly 450,000 views on “The Voice” YouTube channel.
Who is Johnnie Kapua?
Kapua began singing and playing guitar in high school and eventually competed in a national singing competition in his native New Zealand, according to a news release “The Voice” shared with the Deseret News.
After graduating, music faded behind work, marriage and fatherhood. Kapua would rarely perform unless his wife, Kat, volunteered him first.
His wife — who was eight months pregnant at the time of “The Voice” filming — is actually the one who signed him up to audition for the show, Kapua told the coaches.
“I’ve just always been so proud of him, and I’ve always really believed in him,” Kat Kapua said with emotion during the episode. “He just never really believed in himself, I would say.”
Now, “The Voice” gives Kapua the chance “to represent his culture, honor his wife’s support and show his children that fear should never decide how far a dream can go,” per the news release from the show.
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New episodes of “The Voice” Season 30 air Monday nights on NBC.