'I do it all the time!' Taylor Swift advises hopeful to fake emotion by pretending her ex is in the audience as she mentors on The Voice

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She's the singing superstar who already has famously made her ex-boyfriends the raw material for the most biting lyrics in her biggest hits.

So it wasn't much of a surprise when Taylor Swift admitted on Monday's episode of The Voice that her high-profile former loves also played another key role - helping her hit emotional high points in her live shows.

The special guest adviser on The Voice revealed that she pictures her famous exes in the audience at her shows so she she can pretend to sing the songs she wrote about them directly to their faces.

Guest adviser: Taylor Swift revealed on The Voice on Monday that she imagines her ex-boyfriends in the audience when singing as she gave a contestant advice

The I Knew You Were Trouble superstar told hopeful Taylor Brashears the best way to connect to her audience was to picture one person in the crowd and to sing directly to them.

The contestant said she would  put 'all my ex-boyfriends in the audience' in order to connect with the crowd.

'I do it all the time,' Swift admitted of her emotionally-charged shows. 

Top of her game: Taylor was shown on The Voice as her new album 1989 was on track to break sales records

It was one of the spot-on insights Taylor was able to give that helped completely transform some of the contestant's performances.

Her sage advice included telling Allison Bray to remove the 'essentially stilts' of her six-inch heels and wear flats instead.

'Taylor Swift is an amazing talent,' coach Pharrell Williams said. 'I always knew she had really good instincts, but after watching her I was marveling all over again.'

As the last batch of contestants faced the final knockouts stage, it was country star Blake Shelton's man-crush on a contestant he previously let go in the battle rounds that took centre stage.

Blake was showing clear angst that he had let Craig Wayne Boyd go, to be stolen by Gwen Stefani - and was even more troubled when he saw his hunkier image after Gwen put him under a much-needed make-over.

Double steal: Craig Wayne Boyd was stolen from Gwen Stefani's team by Blake Shelton

'It's almost like if you break up with a girl and then the next weekend she comes back to the bar and she looks hotter than ever and you're sitting there in the corner,' Blake said to laughter. 'That's what I feel like right now.'

Looking straight at Craig, he told him: 'You never looked so hot.'

As soon as she stole him in the battles, Gwen had told Craig she wanted to 'dress you up', and she was quick to ask: 'How do you feel about modernizing your look? I would be so excited to make you look how I would want you to look if I were to make out with you.'

She added: 'A perfect example: Blake. He had a mullet! And he's so handsome.'

Good joke: Blake exclaimed 'I got my girl back!' after stealing Craig from Gwen's team

'She's pulled picture references,' Taylor warned Craig, also asking him to remove his jacket in rehearsals as she was 'put off by fringe'.

Blake's dream came true when Craig lost out to Anita Antoinette in the knockout - allowing him to use up the final steal, joking: 'I got my girl back!'

Blake later explained that when he let Craig leave in the battle rounds he knew he was 'letting an incredible artist go'.

'It couldn't have worked out any more perfect than it did,' he said, later telling Craig and his family: 'I could not have this guy still on this show and not on my team - that was starting to really upset me.'

Back in business: Craig was stunned to be stolen again

Craig was clearly stunned at his amazing luck.

'One steal I thought was amazing. Two steals? Impossible,' he said. 'The impossible just happened.'

His version of The Marshall Tucker Band's Can't You See impressed the three judges.

 Adam Levine admitted: 'It makes me feel just a little less of a man hearing you sing that song. That was a turbo masculine situation, man. You just took that song and wrestled it to the ground, like, ''That's right, damn it - I'm Craig''.'

Masculine situation: Adam Levine praised Craig for his rendition of Can't You See

Blake had earlier made another man-crush joke when he couldn't decide which performance he preferred between Team Gwen's other contestants, Ryan Sill and Beth Spangler.

Calling it a 'dead tie' he said that he could only advise Gwen 'which one of 'em I'd rather look at', adding after a pause: 'Ryan.'

Gwen did indeed chose Ryan, having earlier said that she thinks the 'girls are gonna die' over his looks and voice.

But Ryan didn't have the smoothest moves when he walked in and saw Gwen and Taylor together, admitting he started blushing and telling them: 'I thought I was going to pee my pants! Oh my gosh.'

Adam admitted that Ryan was 'one of my favorites', telling him: 'You have such a beautiful tone, man. Everything fits and I think you're going to go very far in this competition.'

Moving forward: Ryan Sill found an admirer in Blake as he remained on Gwen's team

It was the youngest competitor on the show, 15-year-old Reagan James, who made the biggest musical impression after beating out Grant Ganzer, the second youngest at age 16.

After hearing her rehearse Blu Cantrell's Hit 'Em Up Style, Taylor said of the teenager: 'She's just one of those freakish anomalies who just knows what to do on stage.'

'Reagan, the swagger you have in you is crazy! It's addicting to watch,' Pharrell told her after her live performance.

High praise: Pharrell told Reagan that he admired her swagger

Adam also was impressed with her bravado. 

'Reagan you freak me out a little bit - I really envy that confidence you have,' said the Maroon 5 frontman.

'I think that she's one of the most important artists that I've had the chance to work with on this show,' her coach Blake said.

'She's a threat,' Pharrell admitted.

Full of confidence: Reagan James impressed the judges with her confidence and stayed on Blake's team

Team Pharrell's Jean Kelley had the biggest upset of the night, beating reggae singer Menlik Zergabachew, an early favourite.

But Taylor predicted the decision as soon as she heard Jean rehearsing her version of Chandelier by Sia.

'I knew from the first note that she sang that this was going to be a game changer,' Taylor insisted, calling it 'the most emotional performance I've seen in so long'.

'There was something so completely see-through about everything she was doing, in the best way.'

'I stole her because she's good,' Pharrell said. 'But she's great.'

She's great: Jean Kelley picked the 'beautifully sad' son Chandelier by Sia and stayed on Pharrell's team

Menlik sang a powerful version of Bob Marley's Could You Be Loved, but struggled to take on Taylor and Pharrell's advice to open his eyes and try to connect with the audience.

But as Menlik walked off, Pharrell looked him in the eyes and vowed: 'Someone's gonna sign you, and when they do we're good for a track.'

Team Adam's Chris Jamison beat out blind early favorite Blessing Offor, who sang John Mayer's Body Is A Wonderland - failing to get any response from Mayer's ex Swift when he announced it in rehearsals.

'That was an incredible version of that song,' she assured him of his soulful take on it.

Blake told Blessing he 'loves' his smile, joking: 'It's almost as if he knows some crap about you that you haven't found out yet. There's just something really special about you.'

But Adam ultimately chose Chris, insisting he had shown more growth. 'He seems on a really good trajectory,' he said.

Live rounds: Chris Jamison sang Dock Of The Bay and the choice worked as he advanced to the live rounds

Adam also choose Matt McAndrew to keep on his team over Rebekah Samarin, telling him after his cover of Train's Drops of Jupiter: 'You have an incredible voice. There is nobody in this competition right now he commands an audience's attention as well as you do.'

'Adam's team is looking strong,' Blake admitted. 'It's full of four chair turns, and that's intimidating.'

In his own team, Blake chose Taylor Brashears over Allison Bray - much to Pharrell's frustration as he has made no secret of wanting Taylor on his team.

'No! She's mine,' Blake said proudly.

Having fun: Gwen and Taylor had a good time working with the singers