After years of cutting background vocals for the likes of Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Queen Latifah, Ms. Monet set out to go solo as a contestant on The Voice. She earned chair turns on Tuesday (Oct. 3) from Reba McEntire and Gwen Stefani —and high praise from Niall Horan and John Legend— with a dynamic, high-note-filled rendition of Steve Winwood's "Higher Love."
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When listing off her credits, Ms. Monet surprised Stefani.
"You did a Christmas album in 2017, right? I sung backgrounds on your Christmas album," Ms. Monet said before singing a snippet of Stefani and Blake Shelton's holiday duet "You Make It Feel Like Christmas."
"That's me and Blakey," Stefani exclaimed before joking about how foolish she'd look if she hadn't turned for the audition.
"Now that you say that you're a background singer, it kind of excites me because I think that's the one thing I feel that I could help you with," Stefani added. "It's frustrating, I think to have a voice that's that good and never really have your star shine by yourself, in front, and I think a lot of that just has to do with letting your full personality and your individuality come through. I would love to bring that out and make you shine. "
McEntire stressed her love for background vocalists, adding that she hopes Ms. Monet's run on The Voice enforces that the singer "deserves the spotlight."
"Wow, that was wonderful. I love your range, your energy," McEntire added. "You seem very polished and you sang your butt off, so way to go on that."
Horan was no less complementary.
"God, that was incredible. The only reason I didn't turn is I didn't feel like I could be of help," he said. "I mean, it's such a technical voice, and there's so much power and control, and that first note there in the chorus is a tough one to hit. It's insane."
Despite Stefani's strong pitch, Ms. Monet chose Team Reba.
