Lila Forde Completes ‘Magical’ Blind Audition – Billboard

Sometimes, even a young artist can carry the weight of time, of life lived, in their vocals.

Lila Forde showed the world those talents when she stopped by NBC‘s The Voice on Monday night (Oct. 9) for her Blind Audition.

Performing at the keys, Forde has a vintage voice. It’s fused at the hip with soul and soil and a touch of country, the type we’ve all heard speaking to us from the radio over the years, wondering where on earth that came from.

For the younger generation, think Florence Welch and Freya Ridings. And some of us older fogies, Joni Mitchell and Carole King.

Like a hawk, Gwen Stefani swooped fast on that buzzer. John Legend turned next, then Reba McEntire and Niall Horan finished fourth, smacking that thing with his fist.

Following her performance of Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home,” and her four-chair turn, Forde gave a wide smile. For a moment, it looked as though emotion had sucked the wind from her sails.

“That song could not have been more perfect if you tried,” Niall Horan remarked. “You looked so comfortable up there at the piano. Your tone has so many parts to it.”

It was a performance “that reminded me of everything I love about music.” And then, yes, the first sales pitch.

Stefani stepped up her game by taking off her shoes, walking towards the contestant, and delivering her own pitch. “What the world needs, we want a singer-songwriter with a true point of view, that’s original, unique, that’s not trying to be anyone else,” she enthused. “And the way you performed it, the confidence, it’s everything I love. It was so good, so beautiful.”

The cover “was magical,” reckoned Legend, “what I heard was wisdom, you understood everything you were saying, every nuance…everything felt completely under your control.”

Speaking last, McEntire remarked, “you are an old soul. You’re mature beyond your years.”

Hailing from Seattle, the daughter of a musical mom, Forde plies her trade on the Los Angeles gig circuit. With four Voice judges beckoning her, begging for her, the choice was all Forde’s to make. And she selected Team Legend. Watch below.