‘The Voice’: Wendy Moten Powers Through Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ With a Broken Elbow and Wrist

Team Blake's Wendy Moten sustained injuries from a hard fall on 'The Voice' stage last week, but that didn't stop her from giving a performance her all.

by Elise Nelson

Published on November 30, 2021

3 min read

Wendy Moten fell on stage after a performance with Team Blake

The Voice Season 21’s Top 11 results show on Nov. 23 featured a group performance from Blake and his teammates — Wendy, Paris Winningham, and Lana Scott. They brought energy to the audience with an upbeat rendition of “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).” However, when the song ended, the room fell silent as Wendy tripped over a speaker while exiting the stage. She landed pretty hard on the stage, but after taking a moment to collect herself, she was able to keep moving.

Later, Wendy met up with The Voice host Carson Daly to assure viewers that she was OK. The artist said she felt a little bruised, but she remained positive and cracked a big smile.

She returned to ‘The Voice’ with two casts on her arms

Unfortunately, Wendy’s injuries were worse than just a few bruises. She revealed to her coach during the Nov. 29 show that she visited the hospital after her fall. With a broken right elbow and fractured left wrist, she had to skip her initial rehearsal with Blake. However, the two met up via video chat to discuss her upcoming performance of “Jolene.” The theme of the night was Challenge Week, so Wendy decided to try out the country genre.

Wendy took to the stage with two casts on her wrists. She wowed Blake, Ariana Grande, John Legend, and Kelly Clarkson with her perseverance as she delivered a smooth yet powerful rendition of the Dolly Parton hit. When she finished the tune, the coaches praised her for pushing through her injuries, especially during Challenge Week.

“America, I’ve never seen a better example of strength and perseverance and fearlessness,” Blake told the audience.

During an interview with GiveMeMyRemoteTV, Wendy revealed that “Jolene” ended up being the perfect song to perform with her injuries.

“Singing a song like ‘Jolene’ tonight … it’s the way I would want to sing it. In country music, they stand still a lot. And so moving too much is almost like telling the wrong story,” she explained. “So I think it was perfect that I had to just be kind of stoic and just tell the story. I didn’t want to go through this much pain, but I survived it.”

Wendy Moten’s journey on ‘The Voice’ began with a 4-chair turn

Wendy has been knocking it out of the park since her very first day on The Voice. During the Blind Auditions, her rendition of “We Can Work It Out” earned four chair turns, and Blake used his only block to prevent John from bringing Wendy to his team. She blew the coaches away; Blake even said the audition easily fell into the top 3 best performances in the history of The Voice.

Week after week, Blake has raved about Wendy and encouraged fans to vote her through to the finale.

“I’ve been doing this show for 21 seasons, as a coach, and there is nobody that I want this more for, ever, than you,” he said after her Top 20 performance, as Entertainment Tonight reported. “You deserve this.”

Tune in to The Voice on Monday and Tuesday evenings at 8 p.m. on NBC.