or the third night of Battles on Season 26 of The Voice, Coach Gwen Stefani paired Jose Luis and Austyns Stancil for a musical matchup set to the tune of Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down.” It’s a gentle song full of piercing emotion, perfectly suited for Stancil and Luis’ vocal styles.

How to Watch

Watch The Voice Mondays and Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC and next day on Peacock.

During the Blind Auditions, Luis belted out a rendition of “Traitor” by Olivia Rodrigo and Stancil delivered a wide-ranging performance of “Ooo Baby Baby” by Smokey Robinson. They both earned a 4-Chair Turn from the Coaches, ultimately landing on Team Gwen. Now, in the Battles, the best of the best are going head-to-head for a shot at the Knockout round. Fortunately, after a Battle winner is crowned, the Coaches have an opportunity to Steal the runner up before they leave the show for good.

 

“I put you guys together knowing that one of you is going to get stolen,” Stefani said during rehearsals. “It’s going to happen.”

The Voice Team Gwen Battle: Jose Luis vs. Austyns Stancil

Austyns Stancil and Jose Luis on The Voice Season 26 Episode 9. Photo: Casey Durkin/NBC

During rehearsals, Stefani Coached Stancil on his stage presence, focusing on staying connected with the audience. That direction paid off big during the Battle, when both Stancil and Luis came out swinging, metaphorically. The pair of them maintained a chemistry which sold the song, each holding space for the other to shine. Stefani leaned over to her fellow Coaches asking, “What am I going to do?” before the song was even over.

“Wow, that was fantastic. Jose, incredible; Austyns, just incredible! I loved the way you played off the audience and I loved your choreography,” said Reba McEntire. “Everything was just so polished and perfect, like you guys have been singing together forever. I absolutely loved it.”

“There was a couple of moments where I thought I caught the gangster holy ghost. This is a Battle, right, but it didn’t feel like it. It felt like you guys were together, working with each other, allowing each other to have that space to show your vocal abilities,” said Snoop Dogg. “I’m happy for both of you and I know that whichever one of you don’t make it, I’ll be taking you.”

Neither Snoop nor McEntire gave any actual guidance on who they would pick, satisfied to swoop up whomever was leftover when the dust had settled. Michael Bublé was of a similar mind. “That just looked like you guys were having so much fun, you lit this place up. It almost speaks more to who Gwen Stefani is. If this doesn’t show you the kindness and the goodness of Gwen Stefani, to gift one of you to us. Gwen, I love you and thank you,” Bublé said.

“Austyns, you came out so cool tonight. You listened to my notes about your facial expressions, and everything landed perfectly. Jose, you have this gift, your voice is so powerful and so expressive that you could do anything with your voice in the whole world. It’s impossible to choose somebody, you both could win The Voice,” Stefani said, before naming Jose the winner of the Battle.

“It was such a tough decision, but I had to go with Jose. His dynamics, his emotions, his voice has so much range I just wanted to see more of what he could do,” Stefani said.

But don’t worry about Stancil, he got a rare triple Steal, with all three Coaches clamoring to add him to their Teams. But you’ll have to wait for Tuesday night’s episode to find out which Coach picked him up!

Where can you watch The Voice?

Catch new episodes of The Voice Mondays and Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET on NBC. Every episode also arrives on Peacock the next day, so if you missed it the night before, you can always catch up.