Karen Waldrup & Ryan Argast’s “Steamy,” “Passionate” Battle Had 1 Coach Saying, “Oh Man!”

“I’m mad I didn’t turn for you,” John Legend said. “It’s like, what was I smoking?”

As The Voice’s first-ever Coaching duo, Dan + Shay might just be specially equipped for the show’s Battle Round, which finds each Coach pitting two members of their team against each other in a duet. “There’s two of us, we’ve kind of been doing this our entire career,” said the duo’s Shay Mooney.

For Karen Waldrup and Ryan Argast’s showdown in tonight’s seventh episode of Season 25, the Battle was even more in Dan + Shay’s wheelhouse because they chose one of their own songs for the pair to perform.

Waldrup, a 36-year-old country singer from Mandeville, Louisiana, and Argast, who hails from Plainfield, Illinois, and has more of a rock style, sang “Save Me the Trouble,” a pre-breakup song from Dan + Shay’s 2023 album Bigger Houses.

“We didn’t just pick this song because it’s ours,” Mooney said to the duo. “You’re the only ones who are doing one of ours. So, no pressure, but we know you can handle it.”

“It’s a perfect blend of rock and country music,” added Dan Smyers, who explained that it’s also vocally complex — something that came back to bite Dan + Shay when they wrote it.

“It’s awesome when you do a high song, in theory, but then you’re like cool we’re going to have to sing this every single night for the rest of our lives,” joked Mooney.

It was actually Argast’s second time singing a Dan + Shay song on The Voice, as he performed “Speechless” during his Blind Audition. During rehearsals for the Battle Round, Argast joked that he was “thinking it was tryouts to be Dan + Shay + Ryan.”

Karen Waldrup and Ryan Argast appear in Season 25 Episode 7 of The Voice Photo: Trae Patton/NBC

The performance was very passionate, and towards the end of it, Waldrup and Argast were even getting a little “steamy,” as Chance the Rapper put it. John Legend began the evaluation by ribbing Dan + Shay for picking one of their own songs, calling it a “promo.” He noted that the rasp in Argast’s voice is his “superpower,” but said he needed to “watch the balance between yelling and singing.”

“I’m mad I didn’t turn for you,” Legend said of Waldrup, whom he didn’t turn for during her Blind Auditions. “It’s like, what was I smoking?”

“We were smoking the same thing,” Chance said, as he also wondered why he didn’t turn for Waldrup, who he said was a true talent.

Both Legend and Chance gave Waldrup the edge. Reba McEntire, who did turn for Waldrup but was blocked by Dan + Shay, said the country singer was “fantastic.”

When it came to naming a winner, Smyers praised both singers, noting that Argast had to sing another country song despite being more of a rock singer and that Waldrup had to interpret “a guy song.” Ultimately, Dan + Shay gave Waldrup the W, though.

“Ryan made this a very difficult decision, but in the end, I feel like Karen really has the stuff to be able to win this show,” Mooney said. “Her charisma and overall stage presence is really impressive.”