The Voice UK: Tai’s cover of Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ gets quite the reaction

Tai’s knock out performance on The Voice UK this weekend split viewers.

18-year-old student Tai from Stevenage made it through to the live shows on Team Will.i.am on Saturday night.

In the knockout rounds, she performed a cover of Jolene by Dolly Parton.

While Tai’s twist on the track won over mentor Will, not everyone was convinced.

There was quite a mixed reaction online to the performance, as Will chose Tai to be the first of his two finalists.

“Dear Dolly, We are sorry. Love, The UK #TheVoiceUK,” reacted one viewer.

Another quipped: “Obituary: Jolene, legendary track of Dolly Parton was murdered earlier this evening on #TheVoiceUK”

And a third complained: “#TheVoiceUK what a joke Will! she was bloody awful and destroyed a classic Dolly song she nearly hit a note at one point I think ?”

However it was far from all negative.

Many other viewers got behind Tai’s unique cover of the classic song.

One tweeted: “I actually wasn’t fond of Tai *until* tonight’s performance of “Jolene” so we’re not all critics tonight, well done.”

In the knockouts, each of the 24 remaining acts from the battles is singing for a place in the live semi-finals.

The panel will all offer up their views on who was best, but the power over who goes through is solely in the hands of each mentor.

In Saturday’s episode, three singers from each team performed before their coach had to pick one to go through to the live shows.

Alongside Team Will’s Tai, Olly chose Lauren Bannon, Sir Tom Jones selected Lucy Milburn and Jennifer Hudson picked Gayatri Nair.

The remaining trio of acts currently left in each team will perform next weekend, where the coaches will each select a second finalist for the live stages.

The Voice UK 2018 airs Saturday night from 8:30PM on ITV.