Before I saw the light, I thought NBC's The Voice was just another singing competition show. But slowly, I realized the coaches were way cooler, the teams were amazing, and the music was incredible. Most of all, the best covers on The Voice got me hooked, because these amateur singers have some great fresh takes on some well-known tunes. Sometimes, singers are gutsy enough to debut a cool new version during the Blind Auditions (causing many chairs to turn) and sometimes these stunning cover songs are performed with guidance from coaches Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguliera, and Pharrell Williams. Either way, there are so many amazing ones to choose from.
A lot of contestants like to play it safe and sing their covers mostly in the style of the original artist and they usually charm the audience, at home and in studio, by doing so. But in my opinion, some of the covers that stand out the most are the ones where the competing singer takes the song to a whole other level by putting their own spin on it — from recent hits like Drake's "Hold On, We're Going Home" and LMFAO's "Sexy And I Know It" to classics like and Britney Spears' "Toxic" and Paula Cole's "I Don't Wanna Wait," the new twists Voice contestants put on them are refreshing.
Here are the best covers, ranked. Yup, ranked — it was a hard job, but someone had to figure out which tunes rose above the rest.
10. RaeLynn, "Wake Up Call"
Maroon 5 meets country? No, I'm not talking about the Shevine bromance. Well, I am sort of. Shelton got his Season 2 singer to sing this tune originally made famous by Levine and his bandmates. But this cover has an irresistible country twist.
9. Blessing Offor, "Your Body Is a Wonderland"
John Mayer's got his jazzy and blues side, too, but Offor takes one of Mayer's pop hits and takes it to a groovy new level. This Season 7 cover will have you swooning in a whole new way.
8. Cassadee Pope, "Over You"
It's always tough tackling a song by one of the coaches right in front of them, but Pope does it with this stunning cover of a Miranda Lambert hit, written by Lambert and her husband Shelton. Pope displays remarkable passion and vulnerability in this track, which is a very personal one for Shelton — he and his wife wrote it about his brother who died in a car accident.
7. Melanie Martinez, "Toxic"
This Britney Spears track has never been so haunting. In her blind audition during Season 3, the young Martinez belted a chilling acoustic version of the pop song with a guitar and a tambourine at her feet. It's no wonder that her song "Carousel" was used as the theme song for American Horror Story: Freak Show last year.
6. Damien Lawson, "I Don't Want to Wait"
Call it the Dawson's Creek theme, reggae style. Lawson livens up this Paula Cole '90s classic with his powerful voice and an upbeat tempo that'll have you smiling and dancing along with him. I wonder what Dawson and Joey would think this Season 7 cover.
5. Jamar Rogers, "If You Don't Know Me By Now"
This Season 2 finalist takes a classic tune already very famous throughout the years by Simply Read and Patti LaBelle — and still finds a way to take it to a whole other level. Rogers slows the tempo down a tad, adding a nice amount of sexiness to his gorgeous voice.
4. Holly Henry, "The Scientist"
Slowly but surely, Henry's angelic pipes enticed all four coaches to turn around during her Season 5 blind audition. Coldplay never sounded so sweet.
3. Christian Porter, "Sexy and I Know It"
Porter impressed the coaches with this imaginative bluesy acoustic reworking of the boastful LMFAO hit from 2011. The Season 4 contestant gets bonus points for going all out with the "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle" part of the song and making it sound oh-so-sultry.
2. Matthew Schuler, "Cough Syrup"
Schuler's soulful start to this Young the Giant track inspired a stunning four-chair turn within 10 seconds of his blind audition in Season 5. His spirited cover keeps some of the sound of the original song, while also showcasing his incredible range.
1. Christina Grimmie, "Hold On, We're Going Home"
The 21-year-old New Jersey native unfortunately didn't win Season 6 of The Voice, but boy did she bring it with her incredible voice week after week, totally giving me chills. It was hard to pick just one of her covers, but her powerful piano cover of this Drake song edges out the others.
Her rendition of Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" for her blind audition is pretty amazing, too.
Image: Trae Patton/NBC
