'The Voice' coach Snoop Dogg saves country contestant with new Coach Replay (original) (raw)

Snoop Dogg had a special connection to a contestant who didn't get a chair turn on The Voice season 26's second week of blind auditions on Monday.

After Gail Bliss, 61, performed a rousing cover of the SteelDrivers' "If It Hadn't Been for Love," Snoop told her "The spirit of my mother is in you right now." The "Drop It Likes It's Hot" rapper added that, "My mother's sister's name was Gail, which was one of my favorite aunties."

Snoop's mother, Beverly Tate, died in October 2021.

'The Voice' season 26 judges: Michael Buble, Gwen Stefani, Reba McEntire, and Snoop Dogg.

Trae Patton/NBC

Later, he explained that Bliss "had a look about herself, that it looked like she was a damn superstar."

The recording artist's hands had hovered over his buzzer throughout Bliss' performance, but he didn't push it. None of the coaches did. After the judges' chairs rotated to face the rejected singer and they heard more about her, Snoop explained that he had this season's new addition — a Coach Replay button — to use, and he'd be using it.

Bliss, the season's oldest competitor, was ecstatic and bounced with joy. Hailing from South Carolina, she explained in her introduction that she's a flight attendant who's been singing professionally for decades. Auditioning for The Voice was on her bucket list.

Snoop's fellow coaches, Gwen Stefani, Michael Bublé, and Reba McEntire, didn't turn their chairs around either. Snoop said he had held back during her song, because he thought McEntire was going to spin.

"My mother's family is all in you right now," Snoop said as he draped a Team Snoop necklace around her neck.

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When host Carson Daly Carson asked what Snoop's mother was saying to him with Bliss, he answered: "You need this woman on your team. You need some wisdom."

Just off his coverage of the 2024 Olympics, the music superstar said that he had a chill in his body.

"Snoop might be the most unlikely choice for me, but right now, he is my angel," Bliss said. "And I'm a sponge, and I am ready to go."

The "Gin and Juice" rapper told the other coaches that is was his mother's "southern hospitality roots and DNA in me that's connecting all of us."

The competition returns Monday, Oct. 7, with more blind auditions.