Two Washington ‘Voice’ contestants are receiving high praise, see how they performed

“The Voice” season 22 has begun with blind auditions, and two Washington residents have already earned spots on team Blake and team Camila.

The 22nd season of the singing competition premiered on Sept. 19 with four coaches: Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, John Legend and first-time coach, Camila Cabello.

The show begins with blind auditions, where contestants perform without the coaches being able to see them but only able to hear their voice. Coaches can decide to turn their chair around and see the singer, and try to convince the singer to join their team. If no coaches turn their chairs around during a performance, the singer is eliminated. After blind auditions, each coaches’ team of singers competes against the other teams until there is one winner .

Two Washington state residents have already earned spots on team Blake and team Camila, representing Lacey and Bothell as they continue to the next phase of the show: battle rounds, where coaches will choose two singers on their team to sing the same song and compete for a spot on the team.

Washington contestants on “The Voice”

Grace Bello from Lacey, WA has earned a spot on Camila Cabello’s team after having all four coaches turn their chairs and fight for Bello to choose their team.

The 21-year-old performed a “haunting rendition” of “Ghost” by Justin Bieber that earned her high praises, as “The Voice’s” Twitter account called the performance “epic”:

Gwen Stefani also praised Bello’s voice while trying to convince her to join her team as a coach throughout the season:

“It’s really rare that somebody will show that many sides of their voice or that they even have that many sides to their voice. You were able to get tender with your voice and really listen to the lyrics of what you’re saying, and that’s also rare for someone so young,” Stefani said.

Jaeden Luke from Bothell, WA also earned a spot on “The Voice” this season.

The 22-year-old singer performed “Make it With You” by Bread, and joined Blake Shelton’s team, although John Legend also turned his chair for the singer.

Before choosing Shelton’s team, Luke said he even tried to open for John Legend at a Washington concert but was not chosen to be the opener. Legend quickly responded, saying he didn’t know, and that he never saw Luke.

Legend went on to call Luke’s performance “transcendent” and “mesmerizing.”

Blake Shelton did win Luke over, complimenting his “bad-ass mullet” as asking Luke to do him the honor of filling the last spot on his team.

Luke was raised in Bothell where he began playing guitar and writing songs at age 9, according to NBC. Luke performs at local venues and wineries and has his original music available on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud and YouTube.

“The Voice” airs on NBC at 8 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays. Episode 8 will air Tuesday, Oct. 11 and will begin the Battle Rounds of the show.