Dylan Carter Makes ‘Voice’ Coaches Cry With Touching Whitney Houston Cover

The Voice/YouTube

Monday night (Oct. 16) marked the final round of Blind Auditions for Season 24 of The Voice, and the episode brought us one of the most emotional performances to date.

When 20-year-old South Carolina native Dylan Carter walked onto the Voice stage, he was hoping to earn one of the few remaining spots ahead of tomorrow night’s Battle Rounds. Seemingly unfazed by the pressure of the moment, Carter unleashed his talent on a cover of Whitney Houston‘s 2009 hit “I Look To You.”

The performance led all four coaches to turn their chairs, a moment that caused the singer to become overwhelmed with emotion.

Reba praised Dylan saying, “I love songs when you can take it spiritual or secular, either one. So much emotion, and I saw it and I felt it, and I heard it when you were singing. That’s the kind of songs that do that to me, too.”

Reba began to get choked up as she told the singer, “I saw you get so emotionally involved. And that’s when you know you’ve got a great song and a great singer, when it touches your heart.”

Niall Horan was the next to address Carter and said that he was “special.” Gwen agreed by saying, “From the moment you opened your mouth I was like, ‘This is my guy.” She added, “It’s weird to me that you’re so shocked to get four chairs.”

When it was John Legend’s turn, he told Carter that the emotions in the song seemed very real to him, and John quickly found out why.

“When I saw y’all turn around, I saw my mom. She passed back in October and she wanted me to sing it at her funeral,” Dylan shared, adding that he tried to honor his mom’s wishes but couldn’t make it through the song. “This was the best second chance. I just made her so proud. This was her dream before it was mine.”

The story brought John Legend to tears. He told Carter that he’s grateful to be able to work on The Voice where he can meet people like Carter.

“That’s very moving,” John said. “We are all very grateful we get to do this show and we get to meet people like you. And we get to give you the opportunity to perform this song in tribute to your mother. And we all felt it, too. I know your mother is proud of you.”

Reba, who lost her own mother in 2020, continued to fight back tears as she recounted the special role her mom played in her country music dream.

“When I had the opportunity to go to Nashville to meet with some folks, Mama took me. I kept saying, ‘Let’s pull over here. Let’s pull over here.’ And finally she said, ‘Reba, if you don’t want to do this, let’s turn around and go back home. But let me tell you something, if you do this, I’ll be living my dreams through you.’ And I said, ‘Shoot fire, mama. Why didn’t you say that at the beginning? Let’s go,'” Reba shared.

Ultimately, Dylan Carter chose to join Team Reba, filling the final spot on her team. Watch Carter’s emotional Voice audition in the video below.