Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Colton Smith and Patrique Fortson perform a Blake Shelton song on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

About that song choice — yeah, you might say Patrique Fortson and Colton Smith were a bit surprised.

Jennifer Hudson paired two of her most fashion conscious singers for a battle round match that aired Monday night.

Then she threw them a major curve, asking them to pull off Blake Shelton’s country hit “God Gave Me You.”

“Our initial reaction was definitely shock,” said Patrique, 38, of Atlanta, Ga. “I think both of us enjoy country music, but both of us are such soulful singers, that that particular song kind of pulled us out of our wheelhouse.”

“It was very important for both of us to put our own stamp on the song and also make the
performance more of a duet than a battle.”

And therein was the beauty in Jennifer’s strategy. The soulful version of the Blake Shelton tune that Patrique and Colton wound up performing was so different from the original, it made a big impression.

Jennifer opted to move Patrique on to the knockout round. But Colton advanced as well when he was stolen by Blake Shelton.

Blake said anyone who delivered that superb of a vocal on one of his song deserved to be rewarded.

“When we were working with Jennifer and Halsey, they were kind of like, if you both tried to make the outcome of the song solid, and not try to outdo each other, then you’re both going to shine and you’re
both going to be successful,” Colton, 21, of Nashville, told Voice Views during a conference call with the media.

“And that’s something they really instilled in us and that’s kind of what we took into our rehearsals and how we kind of approached the battle and approached our twist on the song. And Blake said really, really nice things about that, and that was super awesome.”

But even then, Colton’s save came at the last second. In fact, he was walking off the stage, thinking he was headed home when Blake hit his save button.

“Even watching (the pre-taped battle) again last night, I was like holding my breath,” Colton said. “It felt like an eternity. I was shaking.”

We’ll next see Patrique and Colton during the knockout round, which begins Monday, Oct. 29 on The Voice.

The battles conclude Monday and Tuesday on NBC.

See also …
Videos from Night 1 of the battles
Videos from Night 2 of the battles
Michael Lee talks about battling a friend in the battles
Sandy Redd talks about being stolen, joining Team JHUD

Patrique Fortson and Colton Smith listen to feedback while rehearsing for their battle round match on The Voice. (NBC Photo)