‘The Voice’ fans aren’t over the moon about John Holiday’s ‘Fly Me to the Moon’

Opera singer John Holiday launched “The Voice” coach John Legend from his judge’s seat Monday by singing a high-pitched cover of “Fly Me to the Moon,” but for several viewers, the performance didn’t take off.

For Legend, the show closer was a showstopper. The EGOT winner praised Holiday as “one of the greatest vocalists” the NBC series has ever had after an episode filled with 17 performances vying to move on to the next round of the singing competition.

“You have shown so much of who you are on the show. Jazz, opera, soul. We’ve seen so much of you,” Legend told Holiday. “And you’re just one of the greatest vocalists we have ever seen on the show. We are so happy to have you, and I am so glad I got to work with you.”

Monday’s jazzy rendition from the Texas-bred countertenor was rife with Holiday’s powerful falsetto, but faltered early on with a baritone drop. Holiday attempted to recover, but the singing felt strained from there — and that’s what episode recappers and armchair experts latched onto. (Though many others were Team Holiday through and through.)

“Dude needs to chill and not try to shatter all the glass in his vicinity. Only knows how to sing obnoxiously high. Doesn’t switch it up and has one of the most annoying voices I’ve ever heard. Overrated,” wrote one Twitter user.

Another follower compared Holiday’s uneven sound to “nails on a chalkboard,” another “a train wreck.” But the consensus among them was that “Fly Me to the Moon,” the bouncy American standard popularized by Frank Sinatra in 1964, was a bad choice.

In previous weeks, the artist’s deliveries of “All By Myself” and his three chair-turning “Misty” debut also sent the judges to their feet. “Misty” pitted Legend against fellow coaches Gwen Stefani and Kelly Clarkson for dibs on Holiday. They initially thought he was a woman because of his mezzo-soprano abilities.

Team Legend eventually gained the Lawrence University music professor, who joined the NBC singing competition once the COVID-19 pandemic erased his packed schedule of performances.

He is among the many accomplished professional contestants this season who found themselves out of work this year and moved to the reality competition to advance their careers. His teammates include performers Tamara Jade and Chlo´é Hogan, who both delivered stronger performances on Monday’s episode.

Now it’s up to TV voters — and Holiday’s “HoliBaes” — to decide whether he’ll be out of the competition too.