One of the most awe-inspiring blind auditions so far in The Voice's 24th season left all four coaches vying to guide 20-year-old singer Laura Williams.
Williams' Tuesday night (Oct. 3) rendition of Lauren Spencer Smith's "Fingers Crossed" made the contestant sound ready for prime time, although she claims it was her first-ever singing gig.
"No one can command a stage and perform that well, with breath control, but you," Niall Horan said.
"You are one of the best I've heard," Gwen Stefani added. "The control you have, the character in your voice, I would have even thought maybe you wrote that song. That's how connected you were."
McEntire went as far as to call Williams a prodigy.
When it came time for the judges to recruit Williams to their teams, John Legend joked that Horan wanted to "pop the question." Horan rolled with the joke, taking off one of his rings as if he was going to drop to one knee and slide it onto Williams' hand.
An admitted One Direction stan who's seen the group live in concert, Williams ultimately chose Horan despite Stefani and Legend spiritedly waving around their team member swag.
Williams joined a Team Niall roster that so far features Sophia Hoffman, Alexa Wildish, Olivia Minogue, Julia Roome, Reid Zingale, Noah Spencer and LVNDR.
Horan credits much of his success so far, including his team win in Season 23, to his mentor, former coach Blake Shelton.
"I learned a lot from Blake last year sitting next to him," Horan told NBC Insider. "That's what they tend to do: stick everyone down beside Blake if you're new. I learned a lot from even just watching him. Nothing that he said. Just watching how he does it. I think that made a lot of difference to how I've been in the show this year."
