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DEK of Hearts captivated the crowd (and the coaches) with their rendition of an emotional Lady A ballad during the Knockout Rounds on The Voice.
The trio — made up of Dylan Kelly, Emily Clapp and Kollin Baile — took the stage with “What If I Never Get Over You.” Lady A released the hit breakup single in 2019: “What if I'm tryin', but then I close my eyes/ And then I'm right back, lost in that last goodbye?/ And what if time doesn't do what it's supposed to do?/ What if I never get over you?”
“DEK of Hearts, I grew up with the Singing McEntires and y’all’s harmony — and y’all aren’t even kin — is so good,” Reba McEntire reacted to the performance.
DEK of Hearts earned a four-chair turn during their Blind Audition earlier this year. they “performed a pitch-perfect rendition of ‘Heads Carolina, Tails California,’” by Jo Dee Messina. NBC notes that DEK of Hearts had only been performing a group for about 14 months; however, “their three-part harmony is so well-tuned that they got chair turns from all four Coaches before the first verse was over.”
DEK of Hearts ended up on Team Niall Horan, and competed against country artist Kaleigh Clark in the Knockouts.
“I think this is what it looks like when two four-chair turns get into a Knockout together,” Horan said. “DEK, that wall of sound that you make is just so beautiful. There’s not many vocal groups you hear these days where all three can sing. This is a complete 50/50. I have no idea what I’m going to do.”
“I love to encourage,” McEntire said of The Voice in an interview with iHeartCountry earlier this year. “I can’t tell anybody, ‘Don’t do this. Go get a job. You’re not suited for this.’ But the way that we get to do the – I don’t say critique – advice, it’s helpful advice. It’s not tear-down. We want to lift up. We want to inspire. We want to encourage, not tear down. They get enough of that out there in the world.”
The Voice airs at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on Mondays on NBC. It’s available to stream the following day on Peacock.
Watch DEK of Hearts’ performance here, and scroll below to see who Horan selected as the winner of the Knockout round (warning: spoiler).
“This is a complete 50/50. I have no idea what I’m going to do,” Horan said. Ultimately, he decided, “the winner of this Knockout is DEK of Hearts.
“I honestly think that was the toughest decision that I’ve made on The Voice,” Horan said. “Kaleigh is an incredibly talented singer. I just have a feeling about DEK. They just bring something to the show and to music that makes me excited. And when they sing together, it’s special.”
Horan also used his “Mic Drop” for DEK of Hearts, nominating them to sing for millions of people at the upcoming Rose Parade on New Year’s Day. He said DEK of Hearts brought their performance to a new level after the Knockouts.