New York City singer Nina Howland, 24, turned all four coaches’ chairs during her powerful Blind Audition on The Voice Season 30, instantly starting a battle between Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine, Queen Latifah and Riley Green.
Howland took the stage with Bonnie Raitt’s Love Me Like a Man, delivering a performance packed with bluesy attitude that convinced every coach to turn around.
Kelly Clarkson was quick to make her case.
“That’s my favorite Bonnie Raitt song,” Kelly told Nina. “It sounds as if you did her live version, not even the one on her record. Pick me!”
Riley Green also praised the performance, saying Nina had more attitude than any other singer he had heard that day.
“That had the most attitude by far,” Riley said. “That was awesome. I don’t think there was any way we weren’t going to turn for that.”
Kelly then reminded Nina that she has already won The Voice before and was ready to fight for another victory.
“Hi, I’m Kelly, your future coach,” she joked. “People ask me what do you sing in the shower? That’s the song I sing in the shower.”
Adam Levine was not about to let Kelly dominate the conversation.
“You have a big, beautiful voice that can kind of do anything,” Adam told Nina.
He also compared her powerful sound to past female winners he had coached, including Tessanne Chin. Adam said he believed Nina could bring the same kind of “big, powerful, beautiful, amazing, soulful, bluesy” voice that had worked so well for Team Adam in the past.
Queen Latifah then used their shared New York connection to make her pitch.
“Let’s go Knicks!” she shouted before asking Nina about her background.
Nina revealed that her entire family works in theater and that she grew up singing with her parents and brother around the piano.
Queen praised Nina’s control and confidence throughout the performance.
“One of the things I love most about this performance was your command of that song,” she said. “I believed you. You had command.”
Queen also told Nina that she wanted to see her perform again and again on her team.
Riley had the final word before Nina faced the biggest decision of the night.
“This is not an easy thing to do to come out here in front of everybody, in front of the coaches, and win everybody over, but you did,” Riley said. “You did a great job. Congratulations. Now you’ve got to pick.”
Beyond her four-chair turn, Nina already has a strong background on the stage. The 24-year-old is currently performing in the national tour of The Great Gatsby and has spent much of her career working in ensemble roles.
In her video package, Nina recalled auditioning at Radio City Music Hall with Hugh Jackman while performing Never Enough from The Greatest Showman.
“Doing that with Hugh Jackman was very telling for me that I needed to do this,” she said.
Nina explained that The Voice represents a major step toward becoming more of a solo artist and exploring a pop-focused career.
“This feels like the moment where I’m really committing to taking more of a pop route,” she said. “I think doing The Voice is a huge deal.”
With all four coaches fighting for her, Nina now has one major decision to make: which team will get the four-chair turn singer?
The Voice Season 30 airs Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and streams the following day on Peacock.