Stephanie Rice on 'The Voice' Battle: I thought there was a strong possibility I could be going home

Stephanie Rice edged out Caroline Sky in her The Voice Battle this week for a big win heading into "The Knockout Rounds."


Stephanie from Houston, TX, and Caroline from San Anselmo, CA, were paired up by their coach Gwen Stefani to sing "The First Cut Is The Deepest." The girls have completely opposite sounds, as Stephanie boasts the rich and deep tone of a rocker, while Caroline sounds more like a young pop star.

"For me, going into the Battle, I was mainly trying to focus on the fact that music is not a competition, and even the name 'battle' invokes the feeling of competing," Stephanie told Reality TV World on Tuesday.

"And I was just reminding myself of why, you know, I was led to pursue music and why I still want to pursue music."

Stephanie made it known that the Sheryl Crow tune wasn't easy for her to master despite her obvious talent.


"The song in and of itself presented a lot of challenges to me vocally, and so that was nerve-wracking going in to the Battle, especially with how talented Caroline is," Stephanie explained of her confidence level going into the duet.

"She is honestly the most talented person that I've worked with, and so I knew that there was a strong possibility that I could be going home."

After the girls delivered an impressive performance, Gwen confessed her heart cracked in half over having to choose between them. On one hand, Gwen was curious about Stephanie, who has a lot of potential and star quality. But Caroline was one of Gwen's favorite people to work with because of how well she took direction.

Although she was seemingly torn, Gwen declared Stephanie winner of the Battle since she's "all heart" and has a very "distinct sound and style."

"When I look back [and] watch the airings, you know, I knew I felt nervous in that moment before they said who the winner would be. But my face definitely showed exactly what I was feeling. I thought that there was possibility that I would not be advancing," Stephanie admitted.


"And I wasn't ready for that. I really wanted to be able to advance and be able to pursue music continuously, and [winning] would give me a good opportunity to do that. And so when she said my name, I was pretty shocked. I was extremely happy."

Coach Blake Shelton, however, decided to steal Caroline for his own team due to her amazing voice. Caroline was thrilled she could resume competing on The Voice's twelfth season as a result.

"They didn't show this, but I actually stuck around [backstage]. I was supposed to be exiting to go do the post-Battle interview, and I refused," Stephanie revealed to Reality TV World.

"I stood there until Blake stole Caroline because I just knew there's no way Caroline was going to go home, because she's that incredible! So I couldn't be happier with the outcome of the Battle."






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski