Photo: Trae Patton/NBC
Karen Waldrup delivered a stunning, soulful rendition of Sugarland’s heartache ballad, “Stay,” on The Voice on Monday night (May 13).
The Team Dan + Shay songstress, hailing from Mandeville, Louisiana, took the stage with the song that the duo made up of Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush released in the 2000s. Dan + Shay’s Shay Mooney quickly applauded the performance as “unbelievable.”
“I’m just so proud of you, and I know that that was kind of a scary song to sing because it was a very vulnerable moment, but I felt it,” Mooney said. “I mean, you wore your heart on your sleeve in that moment and I’m just so proud of you. Thank you for trusting us. I think it paid off… Amazing job.”
Mooney’s duo partner, Dan Smyers, echoed the praise for Waldrup: “We wanted to challenge you with that song because we knew in our hearts that you would deliver, like you’ve done this entire competition, and that’s exactly what you did. You delivered. Thank you for putting the work into that song. You showed America right there, that was the final piece of the puzzle to show people that you can do absolutely everything. …absolutely brilliant.”
Last month, Sugarland joined forces with Little Big Town — Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook — on the 2024 CMT Music Awards stage for a powerful performance. Together, the two groups delivered the debut performance of their new collaboration, “Take Me Home,” and announced that evening that they would hit the road together on their co-headlining later this year.
Watch Waldrup’s rendition of “Stay” by Sugarland here: