Idol Chatter & Voice Views

And then there was just one.

One duo remaining on The Voice that is.

Miranda Dawn and Chris Hawkes with Josh Murley during rehearsals for their battle round match on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

The battle rounds have always been a major stumbling block for duets who make the show.

In five previous seasons, only two made it past that round: Midas Whale and The Swon Brothers, both from Season 4.

This year, three duos made the show. Alaska and Madi and the Brothers Walker fell prey to that old battle round jinx.

Only Dawn and Hawkes survived. They defeated Josh Murley in a Team Adam battle round Monday night when the trio performed “Stuck in the Middle.”

Then again, defeated might be the wrong word. Josh performed so well he wound up being stolen by Shakira.

Chris Hawkes and Miranda Dawn during their battle round match Monday night on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Which was the goal all along, Chris Hawkes told former contestant Caroline Pennell in a video interview filmed after the battle.

“We were working really hard to sound like a close, tight unit,” Chris said. “To make it hard on him to make a decision.”

Because here’s what we didn’t learn on the show. Josh is from Kerryville, Texas. Dawn and Hawkes are based in Austin.

Chris Hawkes, partner Miranda Dawn and Josh Murley were friends before the show. They met a few years ago. Heck, they’d even jammed together.

“To be on the same show was like, ‘wow,'” Miranda said in a conference call Tuesday afternoon. “To be on the same team was like ‘wow.’ To be in the same battle …”

“It was like triple ‘wow,'” Chris said, finishing the thought.

So instead of approaching the battle as a competition, they focused on turning in the best possible performance.

As evenly matched as the battle was, coach Adam Levine made the strategic choice in choosing to keep Dawn and Hawkes on his team.

Their performance of “I’ve Just Seen a Face” did better on iTunes than any other song from the blind auditions. Heck, it was still sitting at 37 on the iTunes rock chart Tuesday afternoon.

Just 12 spots behind was their new performance of “Stuck in the Middle.”

Josh Murley with Carson Daly, just before being saved by Shakira on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Of course, where Josh was concerned, Adam’s decision led to a few anxious moments.

Heck, he was walking off the stage before Shakira pushed her button to save him.

“I thought I ran into something or kicked something over,” he joked about his reaction when he heard the buzzer go off, indicating a steal.

“It was definitely a relief,” he said.

As for the reaction from Dawn and Hawkes …

“Perfect,” Chris said.

“Friends don’t make friends go home,” added Miranda.