Reba McEntire Pays Tribute to Late Mother on ‘The Voice’ With Moving ‘Seven Minutes in Heaven’ Performance

Reba McEntire flipped from mentor to performer on Tuesday night (Dec. 5) when she got up from her red chair and stepped into the spotlight on The Voice to sing her recent single, “Seven Minutes in Heaven.” The moving ballad recorded in tribute to McEntire’s mother, Jacqueline McEntire — who died of cancer in March 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic — was delivered on a fog-shrouded stage with a forest of digital trees projected behind the country icon as she sang the lyrics about happily eschewing celestial conversations with Johnny Cash, Elvis, JFK and St. Peter in order to get one last chat with her mom.

“If I had seven minutes in Heaven/ I know just what I’d do/ Take a walk down those golden streets
And find a quiet corner booth,” McEntire sang powerfully, backed by a band that included pedal steel, piano and a trio of violins. “I wouldn’t spend all my seconds asking God questions/ ‘Cause He knows I’d be back soon/ If I had seven minutes in Heaven/ I’d spend them all with you,” she continued in the tearjerking chorus of the song in which she wonders how the fishing is up in heaven and whether they serve beer in the afterlife, because she sure will need one.

The performance ended with the projection of a beautiful black and white picture of McEntire’s mother on the screen behind her. McEntire premiered the moving video for “Seven Minutes” in October. The song is the only new track on her Dave Cobb-produced acoustic album Not That Fancy.

The performance came on a live show night when the top nine singers advanced to the semifinals, with all three of Niall Horan’s team members — Nini Iris, Huntley and Mara Justine — advancing and four others who landed in the bottom of the rankings fighting for their TV lives. In the end, Team McEntire’s Jordan Rainer snagged the Instant Save, while Team Legend’s Azán and Team Stefani’s Tanner Massey and Kara Tenae got the boot.

Next week’s semifinals will air on NBC on Monday (Dec. 11) and Tuesday (Dec. 12)

Watch McEntire perform “Seven Minutes in Heaven” below.