When NBC’s “The Voice” gave its season 28 artists the chance to win a coveted spot performing in the Rose Parade on January 1, 2026, Nashville trio DEK of Hearts were thrilled to receive the most votes from viewers in the show’s first-ever “Mic Drop” contest.
The group spent several days preparing for the iconic parade’s grand finale in Pasadena, California, but the performance did not quite go as planned. After social media blew up over DEK of Hearts’ disjointed New Year’s Day performance with Capital Cities, Rose Parade organizers issued a statement on January 3, blaming the issues on “technical challenges” and noting, “We sincerely apologize to the performers, as well as to viewers who were unable to experience the performances as intended.”
Viewers Issued Harsh Critiques of the Rose Parade’s Finale
DEK of Hearts, which placed in the top three of “The Voice” in mid-December, spent days preparing to be part of the 137th annual Rose Parade’s grand finale, singing Capital Cities’ hit song, “Safe and Sound.”
As the last act of the parade, which was broadcast on multiple networks, DEK of Hearts’ Dylan John, Emily Clapp, and Kollin Bailey could be heard harmonizing the first couple of lines of the popular song. But their vocals dropped off temporarily when Capital Cities’ Sebu Simonian climbed out of the back of a classic car to join the performance.
Fans quickly began to notice something seemed off, from the tempo to the harmonies to the uneven volume of different singers and instruments. Among the many comments on social media, one viewer tweeted, “That was a cringeworthy DISASTER musical end to the Rose Parade,” and another chimed in, “The finale’s audio mixing was absolutely terrible from start to finish, holy moly.”
New Rose Parade Video With Edited Audio Uploaded 2 Days After Event
On January 3, the Tournament of Roses uploaded an edited version of the parade to YouTube, seen above, with the proper sound mix added to the finale performance, which starts at the 1:53 mark in the two-hour video.
Organizers also issued a statement on social media that said, “The 2026 New Year’s Day Rose Parade was a joyous celebration of creativity and community. Regrettably, a number of performances — including the grand finale by Capital Cities and DEK of Hearts — experienced audio challenges during the live broadcast.”
“These issues were the result of technical failures and were not reflective of the artists or their performances,” the statement continued. “We sincerely apologize to the performers, as well as to viewers who were unable to experience the performances as intended.”
In conclusion, organizers wrote, “Our wish is for the world to start the New Year feeling ‘Safe And Sound’ — a message that was best portrayed by the performance of proud Pasadena locals Capital Cities. We’re happy to say that the proper audio of their performance has been recovered, and the video on the Association’s YouTube channel has been updated for your viewing pleasure.”
DEK of Hearts has held their heads high and not commented on the audio debacle. But on January 3, the group cleverly posted a montage of video footage from their time in Pasadena, including snippets of the parade, and simply added the original version of “Safe and Sound” as the video’s soundtrack.
The group captioned the video, “Rose Parade 2026 complete! We feel so honored to be apart of this historic parade. Thank you to all our Voice fans for voting us to be the Mic Drop Winner back a few months ago!”
