Jayme Deerwester
USA TODAY
Published 4:00 p.m. UTC May 23, 2018
Spoiler alert: This recap reveals the winner of Season 14 of The Voice.
One night after American Idol crowned its first champion since its resurrection on ABC, it was NBC’s turn, naming the winner of The Voice‘s 14th season.
Kelly Clarkson, the inaugural American Idol champ who officially joined the Voice coaching panel this season, claimed her first win with 14-year-old Brynn Cartelli, the youngest champion to date.
The two African-American finalists, both coached by six-time winner Blake Shelton, were cut first: Spensha Baker, a 24-year-old aspiring country singer from San Antonio and Kyla Jade, a Nashville-based gospel singer who was encouraged to audition by none other than past and future Voice coach and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson.
That left the two white teenagers — Cartelli, from Longmeadow, Mass., and Britton Buchanan, from Sanford, N.C. — coached by Alicia Keys to contend for the title.
Viewers have long raised questions about who is more likely to win a singing show, going back to a stretch on the original Idol when white men won eight out of nine competitions. On Idol this season, some fans took to social media to express displeasure with the earlier than expected departure of a couple of talented black singers.
Cartelli was crowned after two hours of non-competition performances featuring the finalists with former contestants and their favorite artists.
Cartelli performed a medley of Issues and Jump with Julia Michaels, who wrote Walk My Way, the original dance-pop song the high schooler performed Monday night.
Runner-up Buchanan, an aspiring bluesy rock singer/songwriter, was joined by another North Carolinian, Ryan Adams, for To Be Without You.
Baker performed a duet with country star Kane Brown on What If and Jade teamed up with Hudson for Queen Latifah’s I Know Where I’ve Been.
There were also guest performances from Season 13 winner Chloe Kohanski, Jason Aldean, Dua Lipa, Halsey and Big Sean and Florence and the Machine.
Clarkson, who said she had no idea she would be looking at a 14-year-old when she first turned her chair around during the blind auditions, vowed to keep checking on Cartelli until “she’s at least 30, whether she wants me or not.”
Host Carson Daly also confirmed the return of Clarkson and Hudson as coaches for Season 15, joining Shelton and Adam Levine.
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