Shakira's Offensive Remark on 'The Voice'

The Voice returned Tuesday for another hour-long episode of exciting blind auditions. While interest in American Idol continues to dwindle, The Voice is still earning strong ratings, thanks in part to its unique blind auditions concept. But the blind auditions can be kind of nerve-racking, don't you think? On last night's episode, a whopping nine contestants sang their hearts out on national television only to be SHUT OUT: no judges turned their chairs around. The shame, the embarrassment! I'm molting just thinking about it.

But tonight, I did my best to keep my nerves in check and just enjoy the show. And it was a good thing, too — there were some really great performances! But there was also one really strange moment where Shakira made a questionable remark about man-on-man love. Read on, you'll see what I mean.

Check out my picks for the night's most memorable performances below!

Audra McLaughlin — "Angel from Montgomery"

This 21-year-old college student from Philadelphia looks like a star. And thankfully, she sounds like one, too! Her powerful performance of Bonnie Raitt's "Angel from Montgomery" got Adam Levine to turn his chair around after just the first few bars. One by one, all of the judges turned around to watch Audra perform. Eager to get her on his team, Adam gushed that Audra was "beautiful," but both Usher and Shakira wanted to recognize her first and foremost for her impressive voice. At this point, Blake Shelton swooped in with another boring story about his wife Miranda Lambert and how he used to watch her perform that song "night after night." Blah, blah, blah. Somehow, Blake's yarn about his wife worked — Audra picked Blake!

Emily B. — "Wicked Game"

Emily B. (not to be confused with Mel B.) is a session singer — she makes her living doing background vocals for movies and other artists' albums. But now, she's ready to step out from behind-the-scenes and into the spotlight. And if you ask me, she's got the vocal chops to do it! Emily's killer take on Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" grabbed the attention of Shakira, Blake, and Usher (in that order). Usher complimented Emily for really making the song her own, while Blake asked, "What kind of artist do you see yourself as?" Emily quipped, "As long as I can get some of that soul into it, then I'm in it." Shakira then quickly jumped in, "Then I'm your coach!" But absolutely no one believed her. Usher, a little insulted, added, "I think I know a thing or two about soul!" Not wanting to feel left out, Blake simply said that he had a soul. Good one, Blakey. As the only judge who didn't turn around, Adam tried to help Emily by asking, "What does your heart tell you?" It told her to choose Shakira.

Morgan Wallen — "Collide"

An unfortunate injury turned this baseball player into a singer... and I guess that's a good thing? Morgan's affect is a little flat, so it was hard to tell exactly how he felt about auditioning (his mother and grandmother seemed way more into it than he did). Morgan has a surprisingly gravelly voice for someone his age that actually sounded quite strained throughout his performance of Howie Day's "Collide," but his unique vocal quality was enough to get both Shakira and Usher to turn their chairs around.

Morgan's performance, while decent, really wasn't all that memorable. But what WAS memorable was what happened after the performance, when Shakira took Usher's hand and said, "It's all about you and me now." Adam, feeling left out of their "love fest," decided to go over and pout while sitting on Blake's lap. Shakira took one look at the two men and remarked, "That's another type of love." Uh, I guess? What exactly did you mean by that, Shak Attack? It's possible that Shakira was just reacting to the strange sight of two men with giant egos consoling one another, but it's also possible that she was being a teensy-weensy bit homophobic. I don't know, it just rubbed me the wrong way. You be the judge.

Back to Morgan: Shakira commented that there just wasn't another voice on the radio today like his, but in the end, Usher's constructive criticism approach won Morgan over. And then, for reasons unexplained, Usher had a brief robot dance battle with Shakira. I think Shakira won?

Both Shakira and Usher ended the night with nine singers on their respective teams, while Blake and Adam have seven each.

Next Monday Night: Even More Blind Auditions!

Image: Tyler Golden/NBC