Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Chris Kroeze and Michael Lee listen to feedback following their knockout round match on The Voice Season 15. (NBC Photo)

Michael Lee and Chris Kroeze had finished their knockout round performances on The Voice, both receiving well-deserved praise from the show’s coaches.

Then Blake Shelton did something fans of the show had never seen before.

He pulled out a coin and flipped it to determine the winner.

It might have seemed like a flip reaction to a serious decision, but Blake also knew he wasn’t going to let either singer go home.

So right after Michael was declared the knockout round winner, Blake pushed his save button for Chris so that he could take both veteran musicians to the live playoffs.

“We didn’t know going into it that it was done deal save situation,” Michael told Voice Views. “We just knew that we had to do our very best to move on.”

Chris, however, had an inkling.

“When Blake pulled out the coin, I had a good feeling that both of us were safe,” he said. “Not for sure by any means, but I felt good about it… It was pretty wild.”

Chris put his own spin on Cam’s “Burning House” for his knockout round performance. It’s a song he’d never performed in public.

“‘Burning House’ is a song that I’ve always wanted to sing, on any platform, so why not The Voice?” he said.

Michael countered with a rousing rendition of “Whipping Post,” a song he saw the Allman Brothers perform at the first concert he ever attended. He was 4 or 5 at the time, he says, and B.B. King was the headliner and the performer he most wanted to see.

“I’ve never really performed it before (The Voice) besides random requests from fans,” he said. “I’ve always been an admirer of the song and just how dark the song can get, so I wanted to emote that and convey that pain.”

In the live playoffs, Chris and Michael will be two of six singers performing for Team Blake Monday night. During Tuesday’s results show, two will advance based on fan voting. Then each coach will get to save a third singer.

Oh, and about that coin toss …

The knockout round was filmed in June. When the Top 24 returned to L.A. recently to begin rehearsing for the live playoffs, Michael said Chris showed up with his own coin from home “cause he wanted a rematch.”

See also …
Team Adam Live Playoff predictions
Team Adam social media leaders
Team Blake Live Playoff predictions
Team Blake social media leaders
Team Jennifer Live Playoffs predictions
Team Jennifer social media leaders
Team Kelly Live Playoff predictions
Team Kelly social media leaders