The Voice

It's the final night of the battles

at universal studios Hollywood,

and Gwen is the only coach with a steal left.

It's so hard.

The grass is always greener. Like, another one's gonna come.

No matter what you do, you will end up kicking yourself.

If you take a steal on the next battle, you'll be upset later.

Mm-hmm. And if you wait till later,

you'll be upset that you didn't use your steal earlier.

Daly: While our coaches head to their chairs,

let's meet pharrell's last battle pairing of the season.

21-year-old Brittany Butler from Boston, Massachusetts,

versus 19-year-old Ricky Manning from cape coral, Florida.

Brittany was introduced to jazz as a young girl

by her late grandfather,

and she always knew music was in her future.

Being awarded that full-tuition scholarship to berklee

was everything.

We're both slightly weirdos.

You're a weirdo, too.

Thank you.

We need more different people in the world.

I pick pharrell.

After graduating high school,

New York street musician Ricky Manning

gave himself one year to pursue a career in music.

convinced pharrell and Blake to push their buttons.

Whoo!

There was this diamond in the rough.

I heard a guy enjoying the moment.

I know what to do with that.

I'm gonna pick pharrell.

Ah! Hi.

Brittany: When I walked in and saw Alicia keys,

I was like, "oh, my God!"

Her album "songs in a minor"

was one of the soundtracks to my childhood.

It was so crazy.

I put you guys together

'cause you're like major r&B soul, like, scary.

Really? Thank you. And you're like major, like, jazzy, scary, whoa.

This song is very unique.

I gave them "on Broadway" by George Benson.

I think the song is great because it's about how hard it is

And they can bring two really interesting takes to this song.

Ricky: Brittany went to one of the best music schools in the country,

so I got a little nervous.

We're just kind of opposite.

God, I love your tone so much. Mm-hmm.

What I say to both of you guys is, feel.

And I think I want you to learn it in the way that George sang it,

but I want to know who Ricky is.

And the same with you. Mm-hmm.

I know it's a little out of your box,

but it kind of isn't because it's jazzy. Yeah.

I'm really gonna have to infuse my jazz influence into this song

and make it the best I can.

Alicia: The precision is really important.

Hit every note,

and then when you choose to kind of veer, you know...

When you start doing that type of swag on it, that's money.

Then there's another part of this layering of this song

that's about life.

You may not have gone through this yet.

Maybe that is now.

This song is about this guy moved to New York

and he's struggling and suddenly it clicked in my head...

I moved to New York, and I did this.

I can definitely relate.

You're ice, and you're fire.

You're, like, trying out for the X-Men.

There's no need of holding back.

This is an incredible moment.

Use it.

Daly: With their battle fast approaching,

Brittany and Ricky meet with pharrell

and his adviser, Alicia keys,

for a final rehearsal with the band.

Alicia: Towards the end, there's a very specific scatting part...

There we go.

That fits really perfectly in Brittany's world.

Ricky, on the other hand...

He doesn't really feel comfortable scatting.

Do you have a nickname? Uh, no.

When you scat, it sounds like skittles to me.

You're like, "okay, cool, time to unplug."

And you just ... it's just skittles.

And then you can't get sheepish when she starts to do that.

Alicia: You don't need to scat.

Yeah. You'll find it.

Can we jazz it out a little bit more?

Little bit of jazz, little bit of r&B.

Yeah!

Brittany is a great jazzy personality.

There's no one like her in this competition.

I think Ricky's voice is super soulful.

He should use that to his benefit.

Your tone is sounding crazy on this, too.

Thank you.

Brittany can let loose,

and I have to learn to.

If I connect to it,

hopefully get me through to the next round.

Daly: Both Brittany and Ricky enter the battle ring,

but only one will remain on team pharrell.

While your operating systems, if you will,

are completely different,

the person that just lets go

is probably the one that I'll have to go with

'cause both of you guys are great singers.

Ricky: Winning this battle will prove to myself

that I was right

in taking a year off to do music professionally.

Brittany: I'm going to school for an opportunity like this.

This is everything that I've worked towards.

Daly: Coming up,

Ricky and Brittany give a showstopping performance...

This is super tough for me.

Daly: The artists continue to sing their hearts out...

And one artist

will secure the final steal of the battle rounds.

Whoa! What a steal! That was awesome.

Daly: Welcome back to the battle rounds.

Entering now from team pharrell,

the college student from Boston with a classic jazz sound,

Brittany Butler...

Versus the subway street musician at a crossroads,

Ricky Manning!

Yeah! Yeah, Ricky!

This battle begins right now.

Damn!

Mm.

Daly: Give it up for Brittany and Ricky! Whoa!

All right, coach pharrell,

you've got a tough decision coming up in a few minutes,

whew! Daly: But first, Gwen Stefani, what did you think?

Well, you guys both have such strong character personalities onstage.

I mean, just your whole facial expressions and...

Brittany, I thought you were really good.

You ramped up to the end.

You did a great job just being tasteful.

Ricky, your voice is really, really beautiful.

Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you, Gwen. Adam levine.

Brittany, I feel like this was definitely on par with what we heard before,

so, you know, you're great.

Ricky, I think I-I saw a huge leap from then to now,

and as a coach, that's what we like to see.

Also, dude, you look so much like joaquin Phoenix

that I think that...

If he saw you on the street,

I feel like he'd be like, "is that me?"

I'd go with Ricky because I just saw, like, a vast improvement.

Thank you so much. Blake.

You both seem like very knowledgeable vocalists,

especially you, Brittany,

just the way you approach singing

and your style and your accuracy.

Ricky seems to be more apt to just let it fly,

and in this situation,

I think it shines a brighter spotlight on Ricky's approach.