'The Voice' Winner Huntley Makes Creed Look Edgy with Soft Rock Cover of "Higher"

NBC's The Voice crowned its Season 24 winner last night (December 19), naming the mononymous Huntley of somewhere in Virginia its team Niall Horan champion, beating out 16-year-old Reba McEntire protégé Ruby Leigh for the top title.

Having taken to mom-rock covers of Bon Jovi, Bob Dylan, Hootie & the Blowfish and more over this season, he added fly-over state twang to a rendition of Creed's "Higher" during his winning episode, playing alongside a six-piece band while donning blonde Viking braids atop a Matrix-inspired black damask trench coat for a very January 6 aura that might have been threatening if not for his weak performance.

Look, in a year when Creed have seen waves of reappraisal, both in meme culture and in the lead-up to their monumental 2024 reunion tour, I can see why Huntley and The Voice might choose "Higher" for one of his closing songs. Creed are the moment. But (imagine telling this to anyone five years ago), put some respect on Scott Stapp's name; for a song about lucid dreaming, Huntley's sure lacks the imagination of the original, instead placating a lowest-common-denominator need for music to play inside heartland Targets. 

Even my Exclaim! karaoke version has more grit... But considering the blues-rocker was coached by the former One Direction member, it's not much of a surprise Huntley ended up delivering the wimpiest God-fearing butt rock number of all time.

That said, he does have some pipes. Watch him fail to make proper use of them below.