‘The Voice’ recap: Gwen Stefani gets warm welcome back in Season 9 premiere

With all due respect to former coaches Christina Aguilera, Usher, Shakira and CeeLo Green, the foursome sliding into the spinning red chairs on “The Voice” on Monday for the show’s ninth season is my very favorite musical-mentor panel.

More than any other coach combo, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams bring to the tasks before them -- the button pressing, the bantering, the battling for talent and the spirit-boosting for those who miss the bar -- the kindness and caring executive producer Mark Burnett boasted about Sunday night after the show won its second Primetime Emmy for reality competition program.

That’s not to say Levine and Shelton don’t get in their mutual funny-mean bro-pokes and Stefani and Williams don’t sometimes push their goo-goo-eyed “boo” routine right up to the brink of acceptability. But there’s just something about this judging panel that works.

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“It’s going to be a fun season,” Stefani, returning after a break for her second season, said at the outset of the premiere, before the coaches launched into a musical lovefest in which they covered one another’s songs: Stefani brought a reggae inflection to Shelton’s twangy “Neon Light,” while Shelton did a faithful version of her band No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak.” Williams performed Maroon 5’s “Sugar,” and then that band’s lead singer, Levine, returned the favor with Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” a song co-written by and featuring Williams. Then everyone sang together and hugged it out.

“The connection with the other coaches has definitely gone to another level this season,” declared Stefani, whom the other coaches welcomed back with warmth, flowers and, in Shelton’s case, a little baggie of something made by his dog.

Oh, that Blake.

But enough about the coaches. What about the contestants? Here are the singers who made it through on Monday’s blind auditions.

Mark Hood: This energetic 24-year-old performer from Chicago, whose big claim to fame was being cast as a dead guy on a TV show, came in with his cap set for Shelton and then turned all four chairs and earned a standing ovation with his riffy rendition of “Use Me.” Levine complimented Hood on his “infectious energy” – “You high-fived the stage!” he exclaimed – and begged him to join his team. Stefani, off to a shaky start, said she wanted to be around someone with “that kind of energy and … love of life” while working on her own record, admitting that it was “very selfish” of her. Williams told Hood he’d successfully “sold” his runs and “jazz notes” and promised they’d have “so much fun picking songs” together. Shelton called Hood a “freak of nature” with a lot of vocal control. After Hood compared his style to “John Legend meets Pharrell,” Shelton even put on a hat identical to the one Williams was wearing, prompting a disagreement between Stefani, who said the country singer looked “super cute” and Levine, who compared him to “the captain of the ‘Love Boat.’” But Shelton had pulled out his Captain Stubing hat to no avail. Hood chose Williams as his coach, saying he’d known the “Happy” singer was for him the moment they “locked eyes.”

Kota Wade: This purplish-haired 23-year-old, whose supportive parents moved from New Mexico to California and helped her open an all-ages Hollywood music venue, turned three chairs – Shelton’s, Stefani’s and Williams’ – with her bluesy take on “Bring It On Home to Me.” As soon as Wade announced that Stefani was one of her “main fashion inspirations,” though, Levine declared the other two coaches competing for her to be toast. He was right. Neither Williams nor Shelton, who cleverly compared Wade to Cyndi Lauper, had a real shot. “I have idolized you since I was 5 years old,” Wade told Stefani. “I pick Gwen.”

Keith Semple: Having moved from his native Ireland to Chicago to perform with a band there, Semple came to “The Voice” seeking financial stability, a solo career and “to be the good father, the good husband and also be the rock star by night.” Both Levine and Stefani turned for his “I’ll Be There for You,” and only after they duked it out about whose connection with Bono was stronger – “I’ve stayed at his house,” Stefani pleadingly shared – did they turn their attention to the singer before them. Stefani complimented Semple’s “range” and “dynamics” and said she’d love to work with him, but Levine warned Semple he’d regret not going with him. Semple picked Levine, who later said he’d found “’Voice’ gold right there.”

Siahna Im: This 15-year-old soul singer from Auburn, Wash., who is, she told us, “half Korean and half French-Canadian,” is also 100% adorable, and when she sang a surprisingly mature rendition of “Fever,” she turned 75% of the panel: Stefani, Shelton and Williams. But while Stefani told her that, right away she knew Im was her “girl,” Im had her heart set on Williams, to whom she coyly cooed, “Hello, Mr. Skateboard P.” Shelton tried to undercut Williams’ lure, accusing him of “laying it on” thick, but it didn’t work. “I would really love to be on any of your teams,” Im said, “but I think I pick Pharrell.” Phigures.

Jordan Smith: This contestant received no introduction. Instead, to preserve the element of surprise – that he was a guy with a high voice, and not a girl -- we were invited to play coach and listen to his audition truly blind. His “Chandelier” was spot-on, but am I the only one who felt that, when we were finally allowed to spot him, the normality of his looks was something of a letdown? I dunno, I expected someone more boundary-pushing than a more or less regular-looking, cardigan-sporting, glasses-wearing dude from Harlan, Ky. “That was the most trippiest turn-around blind audition freakiest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Stefani declared. “And that’s what makes it super cool,” Williams added. After Smith shared that he often gets called “ma’am” on the phone and in the drive-though lane, Levine was moved to proclaim, “I think that not just the show but the world needs a person like you and I think you’re the most important person that’s ever been on this show.” What? Because the drive-through workers are confused about his gender? Whatever. Levine’s hyper-sell worked. Smith chose him as his coach.

Nadjah Nicole: This 23-year-old single mother is trying to reclaim her musical dreams after putting them on hold to raise her 2-year-old daughter. Turning Levine and, at the last minute, Shelton with her take on “Tightrope” was a first step. Levine admired her voice and look and the fact that she picked a Janelle Monae song, noting that Shelton had no idea who Monae is. Shelton joked about Nicole’s first name sounding like “nausea” and confirmed that he had no idea who Monae was, yet by telling Nicole she looked and sounded “like a star” and could “make a difference and have an impact,” Shelton unexpectedly won the singer over. Nicole later said the country coach had given voice to “exactly what I needed my heart to hear.” Huh.

Braiden Sunshine: Hoping to follow in the footsteps of last season’s teenage winner, Sawyer Fredericks, this sunny 15-year-old singer accompanied himself on guitar as he sang “The Mountains Win Again.” Things looked pretty grim until the very last minute, when Williams and Stefani suddenly spun. Williams told Sunshine he was a “special person” and an “old soul,” but ventured that he’d noted a few things to work on. Stefani took a different tack, begging the young singer not to look at Williams and saying that, as someone who started in the business as a teen and was now the mother of three boys, she knew “how to fight for someone that I really care about and find out who you really want to be.” Shelton noted that the whole thing felt like a custody battle. The mother won. Sunshine picked Stefani, later explaining that there was something about her that made him feel “more at home.”

Barrett Baber: Last but not least, this 35-year-old country-singing dad from Fayetteville, Ark., who, back when he was in college, had saved people in a commercial air crash, turned every chair with “Angel Eyes.” If you didn’t know Baber was going to choose Shelton before, you sure did after the country coach invited him to “call in the hogs,” which I guess is an Arkansas Razorbacks thing. Still, Levine apparently held out hope. “I will destroy for you, I am on fire for you, I want you on my team so badly,” the Maroon 5 singer begged. But no. “What do you say old red? Let’s do it,” Baber said. “I pick Blake.” Shelton was impressed. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anybody walk across the stage with the swagger that Barrett had,” he said.

Of course, not all the contestants were so successful. Turned away after turning no chairs were San Diego nursing student Alyssa Sheridan, who dedicated her performance to her stepdad, a Marine killed in Afghanistan; a 66-year-old retired electrician who goes by Dr. Paul; and Michael Woolery, the 25-year-old son of veteran game-show host Chuck Woolery, great-grandson of Ozzie and Harriet, grandson of actor David Nelson, and grandnephew of Ricky Nelson.

“Are you trying to take my job,” host Carson Daly asked the elder Woolery.

“No, this is all about him,” the original host of “Wheel of Fortune” and “Love Connection” reassured. “It’s not about me.”

Alas, the wheel of fortune didn’t spin the younger Woolery’s way. Maybe next season.