The Voice: The Battle Rounds continue as Dua Lipa opens up about battling nerves

She has two Grammys and a new album out, but singer Dua Lipa still ‘shakes like a leaf’ every time she performs, she revealed on Monday’s episode of The Voice.

As an advisor to Team Kelly Clarkson, Dua, 24, sought to reassure contestant Gigi Hess, 22, who said she had ‘a lot of issues with self-confidence’ after once weighing in at 300 lbs.

‘No matter how many shows I’ve done, I still, before I go on a show, I shake like a leaf,’ said Dua, winner of the Best New Artist Grammy in 2019. ‘Like, my knees shake and I’m like, ‘Stop.’

‘Just remember that when you’re on that stage, you’re invincible,’ she told Gigi. ‘You’re your best version of yourself, because you’re doing what you love. And that should carry you and give you the confidence that you deserve to have.’

Although she’s known for her beauty, Dua once said she was cautioned as a young model to ‘lose a lot of weight,’ and clearly related to the contestant’s struggles.

Coach Kelly, 37, caught a glimpse of something dark in her music, noting that, ‘A lot of the music sounds upbeat and happy, but the lyric is a stab in the throat.’

‘I call it ‘dance crying,’ Dua shared, agreeing that her tunes often had that darkness, but promising that her new album, Future Nostalgia, contained ‘some happy songs.’

Kelly’s sole battle of the evening found Gigi, a preschool teacher from Lovington, New Mexico, facing off against Micah Iverson, 22, a onetime a cappella singer from Atlanta.

The two of them ran into the room when they saw Dua, with Gigi particularly excited as she performed Dua’s songs at her hometown gigs.

After listening to Gigi and Micah sing Lewis Capaldi’s Someone You Loved, Kelly opined, ‘Gigi and Micah should date. Their chemistry is like… it’s nice.’

‘I am so screwed,’ she added. ‘I have never seen two people come in, take the microphone stands off and didn’t even glance at us. It was beautiful.’

‘I have one teeny tiny thing,’ Dua interjected, singing an evocative line from their song as she suggested the pair put more vibrato in it, to make it last longer.

Kelly gazed at Dua admiringly, saying, ‘Nobody should be that hot and sound that good. That’s where I’m at right now. It’s just, you exude it. It’s fine.’

‘I feel like this battle is really going to come down to confidence and not forgetting how bloody brilliant they are,’ Dua said.

That’s when Gigi told her how hard it was, explaining, ‘I just have a lot of issues with self-confidence, especially onstage. I have a really, really hard time feeling in touch with my body.’

‘Oh my God, I would give my left arm to have your body right now,’ Kelly cracked.

‘I used to be 300 lbs.,’ Gigi shared, as Kelly replied, ‘You used to be what? What? I almost fell. Oh my God. I did not have a clue that you were insecure at all.’

‘I was just told that, ‘She wasn’t worthy,’ Gigi went on.

‘I’ve been told I’m not worthy,’ Kelly said. ‘You know what? I make a lot of money. This body. This face.’

Dua shared that she’d had a tough time with nerves, too, but urged Gigi to embrace the stage.

‘Yeah,’ yelled Kelly, who noted her own battle with weight. ‘And way to go! Like, damn.’

Watching Gigi and Micah at stage rehearsal, the coach cried as she said, ‘It sounds like they’ve been singing forever and it just sounds so beautiful… Gigi and Micah made me bawl.’

After the pair’s emotional battle round, which they ended by hugging and saying ‘Love you,’ Kelly chose Micah, saying he was ‘an incredible vocalist’ while nodding to Gigi’s talent.

For his first battle, coach John Legend, 40, paired Mandi Castillo, 23, from San Antonio Texas, with CammWess, 22, from Blythewood, South Carolina.

Performing the song Senorita, by Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes, gave Mandi a chance to show of her Latin music flavor and allowed CammWess to go soulfully pop.

In rehearsals, John urged the duo to show ‘more chemistry,’ which they accomplished onstage.

‘I have a complete musical crush on Mandi,’ Kelly said after watching their sizzling performance.

John chose Mandi, whom he called ‘a great voice for pop music,’ but Kelly stole Camm Wess.

In his second battle, John brought together Nelson Cade III, 27, from Anaheim, California, and Darious Lyles, 30, from Chicago.

Nelson, a four-chair turn, often booked singing gigs back home, while Darious taught schoolkids with behavioral problems, and used music to help them work through their issues.

The pair’s rendition of The Beatles’ Come Together showcased Darious’ powerful voice and Nelson’s raspy tone equally well, and they delivered a funky, scenery-chewing battle.

They were so good, in fact, that John chose Darious, then used his only save to keep Nelson.

For his battle, coach Nick Jonas, 27, intentionally paired two singers from different generations: Tate Brusa, 16, from Salt Lake City, Utah, and Anders Drerup, 36, from Austin, Texas.

He assigned them Post Malone’s Circles, hoping that their age gap gave new depth to the song.

Tate had been performing since he was 10 and produced songs in his bedroom at home, while Anders was an accomplished sideman unused to being in the spotlight himself.

In the end, Nick picked Tate, saying he saw a little of himself in the teen’s ‘care for [his] craft.’

Blake Shelton’s first battle united two artists with ‘big vocal ranges’: Toneisha Harris, 44, from Roswell, Georgia, and Jacob Daniel Murphy, 27, from Elk Grove, California.

In 2011, Toneisha passed up an opportunity to audition for The Voice after her son was diagnosed with leukemia, but she’d come back as a four-chair turn.

Blake called Toneisha ‘a beast of a vocalist,’ and ultimately chose her ‘phenomenal’ voice for his team after listening to her battle Jacob on Lizzo’s Good As Hell.

The coach’s second round saw pastor’s daughter Kailey Abel, 19, from Verdigris, Oklahoma, square off against small-town boy Cam Spinks, 30, from Alabaster, Alabama.

Blake had the pair duet on What Ifs, by Kane Brown and Lauren Alaina, which he felt landed ‘in between what both of them do artistically.’

Their rocking performance surprised the coaches, especially after they heard the pair initially struggled with the song.

When it came time to decide, Blake chose country singer Cam, who’d really stepped up and gone out of his comfort zone on a potentially tricky song.

‘Kailey, you were the pace car, in a sense,’ Nick observed before Blake weighed in. ‘But Cam, you kept coming right behind and delivering in a big way. And it was really special to watch.’

The Voice returns next week on NBC.