The Voice artist DeAndre Nico isn't afraid to stand up for himself and voice his opinion following his arguably unfair or unjust elimination from the show earlier this week.
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DeAndre, a 22-year-old from Port Arthur, TX, was ousted from The Voice's fifteenth season on Tuesday night before the semifinals after his coach, Adam Levine, seemingly swayed viewers to keep his other team member in the bottom three, Reagan Strange, on the show.
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Adam made a polarizing decision to rally votes and attempt to convince America to vote for Reagan instead of DeAndre although the 13-year-old from Memphis, TN, was unable to sing for the "Instant Save" at all due to illness.
When DeAndre and the other bottom-three contestant, Dave Fenley, belted out their survival songs with heart and passion, Reagan sat in the audience with her mother and did not have to perform.
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"It was just weird because I just felt like, um, not being rude, but I just felt like he sold me out," DeAndre told his local KBMT-TV television station in Beaumont, TX.
"And I just don't respect it, just being honest."
Fans of DeAndre went ballistic over his ouster because his "Instant Save" song, "All Of Me" by John Legend, was incredible and seemed to be enough to earn him a spot in the Top 8.
Many The Voice viewers were so mad, in fact, "#AdamLevineSucks" was trending on Twitter.
"We did our job, sick or not," DeAndre said of Dave and himself.
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"I just got over laryngitis! And when I came back, I still sang. It wasn't anxiety or none of that stuff. I know [Reagan] is a little kid, but it's like, man, you could've put some words in for me at all -- like, something! Something."
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After DeAndre sang the John Legend hit on Tuesday night's show on NBC, Adam called DeAndre an "exquisite singer" and admitted he was "perplexed" by the singer's placement in the bottom three to begin with. (DeAndre also landed in the bottom-two artists the previous week).
But then Adam's speech took a turn, and he decided to fight for Reagan instead -- who was wearing a robe in the audience and crying -- which left DeAndre standing awkwardly on the stage in disappointment.
"But I want to say this. There is an unbelievably talented little girl right now, who is not able to fight for her position on this show, and you [DeAndre] were fortunate tonight to be able to sing. And man, like a champ. This guy sang like a champ," Adam explained.
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"I cannot sing for Reagan... As much as I want to urge you all to vote for this man -- because he never should have been in the bottom -- I have a very special relationship with Reagan, and I have two little girls at home and the thought of breaking her heart by not urging everyone to give this girl a shot, to go and redeem herself next week, would be too far beneath me."
Adam went on to say that although he loves DeAndre and appreciated what he did on the stage Tuesday night, the coach wanted to see Reagan advance.
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"I honestly think you should both be here tonight, but I need to fight for my girl, and I've got to make sure that I represent her properly in this moment because she didn't have a chance to use her voice tonight," Adam continued.
"So I'm going to use it for her as best as I possibly can to make sure she can make it next week."
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At the end of the final commercial break, the vote was extremely close, as Reagan had received 38 percent of the vote to stay on The Voice, DeAndre had earned 37 percent of the vote, and Dave had received 24 percent.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski