Jennifer Hudson Gets Her Mind Blown By a 'Voice' Hopeful -- Then Joins Him on Stage!
It may have only been the first episode, but Jennifer Hudson was left gobsmacked by a contestant on the season premiere of The Voice!
The American Idol alum made her debut as a coach on the NBC series on Monday and was so blown away by 26-year-old contestant Lucas Holliday that she took to the stage herself!
The Michigan singer's blind audition got off to a mellow start, with Hudson closing her eyes and slowly bopping her head as Holliday belted out “This Woman’s Work” by Maxwell. As the other coaches -- Adam Levine, Miley Cyrus and Blake Shelton – shared glances of approval with each other, audience members got up on their feet in encouragement.
Hudson then slammed down her red button, spinning around in her seat and appearing completely shocked at the sight of Holliday.
While Levine summed up the soulful singer's performance with a simple “Wow,” Cyrus offered “Amazing,” and Shelton compared him to Kelsey Grammer's title character from Frasier, Hudson remained open-mouthed and speechless.
“Somebody gotta be standing behind you,” she finally declared, getting up on her feet.
However, Levine couldn’t continue expressing his bewilderment as Shelton was still stuck on reminiscing over the NBC sitcom.
“You remember that episode of Frasier where you had…” he teased with a cheeky grin.
But it was back to business when the spotlight returned to Hudson, who remained so blown away by Holliday’s talent that she insisted they sing something together.
The pair then belted out a gospel tune, with Hudson even jumping out of her seat to join Holliday on stage.
Maxwell himself was just as impressed with the rendition of his 2001 hit, taking to Twitter to praise Holliday's performance.
"From ascension to this woman's work @lucasholliday you have my support in soul. @NBCTheVoice,” the singer captioned a video of the audition playing on his TV.
See Hudson's fellow Idol star Kelly Clarkson talking about The Voice in the video below.