The Voice narrowed down to its top eight singers after the Tuesday, November 29, results show, sending home Austin Allsup and Courtney Harrell. And how about Miley Cyrus busting out a voice-changing performance of dad Billy Ray Cyrus‘ 1990s hit “Achy Breaky Heart”? Not to mention that insane performance with godmother Dolly Parton and Pentatonix. Wow-sauce.
In a taped segment with her fellow Voice coaches, Miley played “Odd-O-Tune” — Name That Tune with voice distortion — opposite Alicia Keys, led by Hollywood Game Night host Jane Lynch. When Keys appeared to be searching for the title of “Achy Breaky Heart,” Blake Shelton said, “You don’t know that song, in front of her? That’s going to hurt her father’s feelings.”
Cyrus joined Parton on stage for a catchy performance of the country legend’s 1973 hit “Jolene,” joined by Pentatonix. The group’s show lit up Twitter with fan accolades for the song. Satisfied viewers described the performance as “beautiful,” “magical” and “amazing.”
Miley also mentioned her mother, Tess, later in the show, when she teared up during Aaron Gibson’s performance. “Now you see it runs in the family because I’m crying,” Miley said.
Scraping by with the Instant Save was Gibson, who ranked in the bottom three with Allsup and Harrell. Gibson, who has been Instant Saved the past three weeks, got a strong endorsement assist by Adam Levine — which may have helped put him over the top with real-time Instant Live voters.
“No disrespect to any other people on the show because they’re all wonderful, but I, in my heart, believe that Aaron is the guy that should be moving forward. I believe that he is the one,” Levine said before five minutes’ worth of voting began. “To see you go, to me, would be a huge loss, too big a loss to deal with.”
With Gibson escaping, hopes were dashed for Allsup and Harrell, as their respective performances of “Tennessee Whiskey” and “Bless the Broken Road” didn’t sway voters.
An emotional Harrell thanked coach Shelton for his support, while Allsup thanked his family and told them he loved them.
“Blake, I came here to face my biggest fear — of being seen and not being heard and even rejected,” Harrell told his coach in the show’s closing moments. “Tonight, I am free, and I thank you.”
Looking strong in the home stretch is country singer Sundance Head. His take on Tom T. Hall’s “Me and Jesus” topped the iTunes 200 chart after Monday’s show. Also dominating the iTunes charts was Brendan Fletcher, who scored the No. 2 most downloaded song (behind Head) with his version of Cyndi Lauper‘s “True Colors.”
Check out fan tweets below.
This is amazing #Miley #DollyOnTheVoice and #Pentatonix is like a dream come true https://t.co/A2gdCPbAYW
— RebeccaLeigh??? (@RLeigh81) November 30, 2016
.@blakeshelton #VoiceResults Sorry to see Austin go, great talent.
— Michele Bohnen (@EVmissy) November 30, 2016
.@aliciakeys #VoiceResults Alicia, PLEASE let the producers know, that it is seriously a shame that Courtney has gone home!
— Gregory Gilbert (@ggilbertphx) November 30, 2016
What an absolutely STUNNING performance by the one & onlys @MileyCyrus @PTXofficial @DollyParton My jaws still on the floor it was beautiful
— The Double Bs (@BrianneBrunton) November 30, 2016
The best #VoiceResults show ever. We got to hear @PTXofficial and @DollyParton. PTX any chance we can get @NBCTheVoice
— Jeff Edwards (@AvgJsportsfan) November 30, 2016
Tell Us: Did the right singers make it to the top eight? And will Aaron Gibson ever get out of the bottom three?
The Voice airs next on NBC Monday, December 5, at 8 p.m. ET.
