“I thought that was a good opportunity to mess around with her a little bit,” Brayden said.
For his first song of two on the season 22 The Voice finale, Team Blake Shelton’s Brayden Lape performed “Humble and Kind” by Tim McGraw, which he dedicated to his hometown who he explained had supported him all his life. Keep in mind, he’s only 16.
Then it was time to critique his performance and coach Gwen Stefani started to say, “I was thinking what would I say because I was thinking I was your No. 1 fan on the show.”
Related: The Voice’s Top 16 Artist Bodie Reveals Why He Chose Blake Shelton Over Gwen Stefani As His Coach
When she paused for a second, Brayden, who was a one-chair turn, interrupted her to ask, “Then why didn’t you turn?”
A flustered Gwen said, “What are you talking about? I don’t know. I can’t remember that far back, but I will say this. I always believed in you since the beginning that you had something special. Even outside of your voice. It’s just this thing that I can’t put my finger on, but I was right. Look, you’re in the finals.”
After the show, Parade got a chance to talk to Brayden to ask him what he was thinking when he confronted Gwen.
He explained, “After the show last week, one of my friends reached out to me and told me that I should have said that at one point. So, this week, I was just waiting until she was, ‘I’m such a big fan,’ and then I could mess around with her. I like to have a good time up there and mess around with everyone. I thought that was a good opportunity to mess around with her a little bit.”
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Then Brayden went on in a humbler manner. “It’s been an awesome journey so far. I couldn’t be more thankful for everything, but you’ve got to have fun sometimes.”
But how did he know she had a sense of humor?
His explanation was, “If she’s liking Blake, she does.”
A perfect example of what he meant by that is that before his performance in his clip package, Blake had been messing with Brayden and tightened his microphone stand so tight that Brayden couldn’t adjust it to his height. He’s 6 feet tall, and Blake had lowered the mic, so it was the right height for a child—and Brayden got that his coach was messing with him. So, he probably felt turnaround was fair play, only he did it with Blake’s wife.
For his second and final competitive performance on The Voice, Brayden performed “Wild as Her” by Cory Kent.
The winner of The Voice will be announced on Tuesday night at the end of the two-hour special, which will include guest appearances by Kane Brown, Karol G, Kelly Clarkson, Maluma, One Republic, Adam Lambert, BRELAND, and last year’s winner, Girl Named Tom, and will start at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
Next, Who Will Win The Voice Season 22? After Watching Every Episode, Here Are Our Predictions