While they have downtime between tapings, judges on The Voice have taken to playing karaoke sing-a-long versions of popular songs. For John Legend, this has evolved into an Instagram series called Trailer Talk, which has grown in popularity this season.
“I was thinking it would be cool to do something country and you had a great idea,” Legend said to Carrie Underwood.
“I know that this show is all about friendly competition amongst the judges, and I feel like because you can sing anything, I would love to hear your voice on something country, so I think we should sing a Blake Shelton song and you should show him how it’s done,” she replied.
The result is a magnificent duet between the pair of Grammy-winning, platinum-selling modern legends of Shelton’s iconic, 20-year-old mainstream debut single “Austin.”
“Damn y’all…,” wrote Shelton in stunned response. In a 2001 interview, Shelton once noted about his first single and first hit, “I’ve had girlfriends I’ve gotten back together with after we’d broken up, and it never worked out. But ‘Austin’ relates to all of those situations, whether it works out or not. It’s really about second chances.”
Upon releasing the updated 20th anniversary version of the single released this year, Shelton noted, “I remember the first time I heard ‘Austin’ on the radio. I was driving on [Nashville’s Interstate] 440, and I kept looking to both sides, trying to see if other drivers were singing along!” He continued, “At that time, the station had a slogan about how they played new artists and legends, and the DJ said something like, ‘Who knows… maybe this artist will become one of the legends.’ This song started it all for me.”