Idol Chatter & Voice Views

York’s DaNica Shirey performs during the battle round on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

What could she do for an encore?

Nothing short of turning in one of the best battle round performances The Voice saw this season, one that turned out so well the show used it to promote last Monday’s episode.

She and Toia Jones performed Beyonce’s “Halo.” DaNica was declared the winner, meaning she advanced to the knockout round with Team Pharrell Williams. Toia was stolen, meaning she’s in the knockout round, too, with Team Adam Levine.

How good was their performance?

Adam probably put it best: “Doing a Beyonce song is literally like trying to slay a dragon,” he said. “You guys slayed the dragon, and then you just slapped it in the face to make sure it knew it was dead.”

When I talked to DaNica last week, she gave much of the credit for the performance to Pharrell and his co-mentor Alicia Keys, both for the song selection and for the critical advice they doled out during rehearsals.

“Halo” is a song the 25-year-old DaNica said she’d performed many times before, usually in the company of her dad, her former music manager who died of cancer. His passing left her without her biggest supporter, she has said, robbing her of much of the confidence and motivation she needed to continue to pursue a career in music. Prior to her blind audition for The Voice, she hadn’t stepped on stage for more than three years.

So the song, DaNica said, was one she could relate to.

The advice came during an emotional rehearsal — part of which we saw on TV. Both Toia and DaNica wound up breaking down in tears after Pharrell told them they were performing like background singers instead of stars.

“I used to be super confident, and I had lost that when my dad passed away,” DaNica said. “Both of us (during rehearsal), we weren’t believing in ourselves. (Pharrell) just tried to say, ‘If you don’t believe in yourselves, how will others believe in you?’

“When she (Toia) started to cry, I started to cry. I felt exactly what she was feeling. We had doubted ourselves for so long.

“That was my one breakthrough,” DaNica added. “I hadn’t felt a certain way singing since my dad passed away. And after we finally opened up, after we finally just let it all go, I felt the way I used to feel (when singing). I felt my old confidence back. (Pharrell) brought that out in me.”

The results showed on stage and elsewhere.

The video of “Halo,” as performed by Toia and DaNica, has 5.6 million views on The Voice Facebook page.

“That made me cry, too,” DaNica admits. “A friend pointed it out to me. It had 4.1 million views in one day. I had tears running down my face. All of this is just so unreal. I can’t believe it.”

Best of all, no one was eliminated in her battle. She said she and Toia grew close while rehearsing and performing together, and she was thrilled when her former teammate was given second life on the show by being stolen after their battle.

“I wish they would have shown it on TV,” DaNica said. “As I was walking out (after the battle), I heard the save button go off and I jumped up and down and screamed. Someone asked me what happened. I’m like, ‘She was stolen.’ I was so excited. She is so talented.”

Next up for the remaining Season 7 Voice contestants is the knockout round. Once again, they’ll be pitted against a teammate. But this time, each singer will perform a solo.

Their coach will decide who advances. The loser goes home. Unless stolen, of course.

The winners and those stolen advance to the top 20 out of an original cast of 48.

Check back Monday night for live blogging when the knockout rounds begin.