For the first time in its history, the show featured a fifth coach, Kelsea Ballerini, who selected contestants to participate in The Comeback Stage.

It was announced on September 10 that Kelsea Ballerini would become a fifth coach, mentoring unsuccessful auditioners on an online version in a new round called The Comeback Stage.

During a commercial break before the Battles Part 1's last pairing, four coaches give the waiting audience an impromptu performance with an acapella version of The Golden Girls' theme song - "Thank You for Being a Friend".

[8] Cody Ray Raymond from Team Kelly dropped out from the competition for personal reasons;[9] Clarkson grouped three of her members into one knockout, with two contestants from the trio advancing, with the third being declared the loser, just like on the eighth season.

[10] After failing to turn a chair in the blind auditions, artists had the chance to be selected by fifth coach Kelsea Ballerini to become a member of her six-person team.

The two remaining artists perform live for America's votes in the first Twitter Instant Save of the season, with the winner officially joining one of the four main teams of their choosing as a part of the Top 13.

They had their own battles and knockouts, and only two, Ayanna Joni and Lynnea Moorer, competed via America's vote (similar to the Instant Save) for a place in the Top 13.

With the elimination of Kameron Marlowe, this marked the first time since the 7th season that Levine did not include the artist that he stole in the Knockouts in his top three, as Brian Johnson, Amy Vachal, Shalyah Fearing, Josh Gallagher, Lilli Passero, Adam Cunningham, and Sharane Calister were all either chosen by him or voted into his top three by the public in the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th seasons, respectively.

iTunes purchases of the singles released by the top 13 artists were instead replaced with Apple Music streams which now count as votes.

The Apple Music multiplier was awarded to Strange, while two artists had singles reached Top 10 on iTunes (Kennedy Holmes (#7) and Kymberli Joye (#8).

[13] The Apple Music multiplier bonus was awarded to Chris Kroeze, while Sarah Grace (#3) and Kirk Jay (#4) had singles reached Top 10 on iTunes.

[14] With the advancement of Chevel Shepherd, Kymberli Joye, and Sarah Grace, Clarkson became the first female coach to get more than two artists on her team to the semifinals.

The Apple Music multiplier bonus was awarded to Kroeze, while singles for Shepherd (#4) and Jay (#6) charting in at Top 10 on iTunes.

With the advancement of Kroeze, this season marks the first time that an artist who was defeated in Knockout round but was saved by his coach went on to compete in the finale.

Following Strange's advancement, fans criticized Levine online for his "lack of respect" towards Nico in a pivotal moment, and many blamed him for the elimination.

However, some fans felt the controversy was not fully addressed, as both Nico and his mother, Johnna, revealed on Twitter and Instagram that Levine had never actually apologized.