It certainly looks that way after this week’s results eliminated his biggest competition, and left all the show’s other coaches – Adam Levine, Shakira and Usher – each with only one artist to pin their hopes on.
Team Adam’s Judith Hill and Sarah Simmons, who both turned four chairs in their blind auditions and were each considered possible winners, were sent home on Tuesday. Their exits mean that the only Team Adam singer left is Amber Carrington. Amber is actually a country artist, as Blake has mentioned several times on the show, including this week.
Shakira has only Sasha Allen and Usher is counting on just Michelle Chamuel.
Meanwhile, Blake has all three of the acts he brought to the Top 10 – Danielle Bradbery, Holly Tucker and The Swon Brothers. If you’re doing the math, that means there’s a 50% chance that a Team Blake artist will be the new Voice champion, with each of the other three coaches having a just slightly better than 16% shot.
Danielle has long been considered another favorite, and with Judith’s departure, becomes the new best bet. This week, she was again referred to as a potential huge star in country music following her performance of The Judds’ song “Grandpa.”
Since two artists are dropped from the show each week, the worst-case scenario is that The Voice sees two of its coaches taken out of contention in the same night. It wouldn’t be unheard of: last season’s finale was also Team Blake-heavy, with two of the three finalists being from that group.
If one of Team Blake’s three artists does in fact earn the season title, it will be the third time in four seasons that the country music star has been The Voice‘s winning coach. He led Cassadee Pope to victory last December and before that, Jermaine Paul won last May. (The show’s first winner, Javier Colon, was from Team Adam.)
However, it’s worth noting that audiences haven’t yet seen how Blake’s picks perform in the music industry. Cassadee Pope signed her record deal and has been on tour with Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry, but is still working on post-show music. As for Jermaine Paul, he’s released only two singles since being crowned the champ, and one was a cover. His album “Finally” still doesn’t have a definite release date.
Fans will find out if anyone can stop Team Blake when The Voice continues next Monday. In the meantime, you can join Blake, Usher and a slew of other musical guests including Reba McEntire and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder as NBC broadcasts Blake’s “Healing the Heartland” concert to benefit disaster victims in Oklahoma. The special will air tonight at 9 PM ET/PT on NBC and several NBCUniversal cable channels.
(c)2013 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Excerpts appear at Starpulse and Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted. Visit my official website and follow me on Twitter at @bigredchairs.
The Voice’s latest performance show fell on Memorial Day, but being on a TV show didn’t stop the singers from recognizing the holiday.
Some of the Top 8 artists said the occasion lent an extra significance to their performances. Others recognized loved ones who had served or who are serving. All of them agreed that they were happy to have taken the stage.
“The show must go on, isn’t that what they always say?” Team Adam’s Amber Carrington told TODAY.com after Monday night’s performances. “But I think it was really cool, because we got to sing and it was in memory of our troops and everything. We got to put on a show for people.”
“It was kind of interesting,” agreed her teammate, Judith Hill. “It was really cool to know that today’s Memorial Day and sing with that in mind.”
“There’s always that thought in our heads of ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s another week. We have to survive. We have to practice. We have to do all this.’ But [we were] able to get a little bit away from that today,” said Team Blake’s Holly Tucker, “and really remember all the sacrifices that people have made for us. I’m always thankful for that. So I made sure that people knew that today.”
She has several relatives who have served. So did both Amber and Judith’s grandfathers. Team Adam’s Sarah Simmons got emotional as she mentioned loved ones currently in the military.
“My cousin is in the Air Force and then one of my best friends is about to go to Afghanistan soon,” she told us, wiping tears from her eyes.
Yet as Team Blake’s The Swon Brothers pointed out, being a musician often means working on all sorts of holidays. “More than likely – judging by our past schedule – if we were at home, we’d be performing somewhere,” said Zach Swon.
Team Usher’s Michelle Chamuel agreed. “I’ve been in a band before [the show] for five years,” she explained. “We played almost every holiday. New Year’s Eve, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Halloween.”
For those observing Memorial Day who still decided to tune in, the Voice artists expressed a desire to have brought something positive to a national day of remembrance.
“I hope that it could bring joy to people. I know we’re supposed to be celebrating our troops and our country. There are more important things than a singing competition show,” said Team Shakira’s Sasha Allen. “I don’t have any family members who’ve served, but I take it to heart, all the soldiers that have lost their lives for our freedom.”
(c)2013 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Excerpts appear at Starpulse and Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted. Visit my official website and follow me on Twitter at @bigredchairs.
Chris Cauley has been hard at work since joining Team Adam in season two of NBC’s The Voice, and now he’s close to a brand-new EP. With just days to go on a Kickstarter campaign, Chris joined BFTV to tell us what we can expect from his new music and how he’s been since we saw him in the Voice battle rounds.
“This EP has really consumed everything. We’ve been working kind of on and off since November to be honest,” he explained of the five-song project. “Basically what we did, we kind of went back to Michael Jackson, the King of Pop and who I’m just the biggest fan of. The whole theme when recording was ‘What would Michael do?’ It’s a very, very musical EP, but a five-year-old could sing along to it because it has the hooks that pop music does. It’s kind of got a Michael Jackson meets Maroon 5 meets The Jackson 5 sound.”
The Georgia-based singer made a big move when he signed with Red Light Management, which also represents heavyweight artists like Alicia Keys, Dave Matthews Band, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Luke Bryan. “They’re one of the biggest management companies in the world,” Chris said. “We went all or nothing in this. We’ve got a full string section orchestra, live horn. Having Red Light on my side and having people waiting on it, we were like ‘We gotta go big for this.’”
Voice fans remember Chris for the different arrangement of Bruno Mars’ “Grenade” that landed him on Adam Levine‘s team, as well as the battle round where he sang U2′s “Beautiful Day” with eventual Team Adam finalist Tony Lucca. What you might not be as aware of is that he’s been a touring musician for a decade.
“What I want people to know I was on The Voice, but long before that I was grinding it out for 10 years,” he continued. “All the years of grinding and having nothing to show for it is kind of coming down to this. It’s been 10 years in the making.” To that end, Chris wants fans to see each Kickstarter pledge as not just a one-off donation to the new record, but “more of an investment into a career.”
With two seasons having happened since Chris was a part of NBC’s hit show, it’s no longer a huge part of his life. “I embrace it when it comes up, but it’s been awhile since I’ve used it to my advantage,” he explained. “Even during the show – I know producers hated hearing this – I was just being honest [and saying] ‘This isn’t life or death for me. This is just a fun, incredible experience. I’m content.’ Even my exit interview, I said ‘Tony deserved it.’
“Tony and I got to be really good friends. We weren’t out for blood like they want you to be on TV,” he continued. The two still keep in touch, and Chris also opened for Tony on one night during his “Chapter Two” tour last year. He’s highly complimentary of his former teammate. “Without me even asking, Tony’s been typing about my Kickstarter,” Chris told us. “Someone asked a question, and obviously Tony has so many likes on Facebook, [but] I noticed he responded. He went way out of his way to get that one person to pledge, which was cool. I’m so happy for him.”
Chris also took the stage with another Team Adam alumnus, season one winner Javier Colon, recently in San Diego. The two share a mutual close friend, keyboardist Matt Cusson, and had met before but were surprised to find they were sharing the stage. “We didn’t even know each other was [scheduled for] the show,” Chris told us with a laugh. “It was booked through our separate college agencies. Javier didn’t even know I was going to be there. I didn’t even know I was opening for him. He’s doing really well.”
Now he’s hoping that he can enjoy some of the same success his colleagues have. “It’s been awesome,” he told us of the ongoing process to get his EP to the finish line. “I’d love for it to be a warm and fuzzy success story.”
You can pledge to Chris’s Kickstarter effort by clicking here, keep up with him on Twitter (@ChrisCauley), and check out him performing “Ordinary People” with fellow Voice alum Mathai below.
(c)2013 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Excerpts appear at Starpulse and Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted. Visit my official website and follow me on Twitter at @bigredchairs.
Blake Shelton has his dream team on The Voice this season: a final three loaded completely with country artists. BFTV recently caught up with one of those artists, Baylor marching band star Holly Tucker, to get to know her better.
“I always expected big things because I’ve seen the show on TV and it just looks larger than life,” Holly said of her Voice experience so far. “That’s exactly what I got and more.”
Speaking of big things, America has watched Holly blow the doors off the Voice studio with her powerful performances of LeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live” and Martina McBride’s “Broken Wing.” How does she prepare her voice to be able to hit such amazing notes every time she takes the stage? “It takes a lot of warm-up,” she explained. “You just have to sing scales and make your voice be able to hit those notes with ease. And breathing. Breathing is very important.”
Breathing is something that Holly has learned to do over her time on The Voice. Her coach has pointed out to her that she is sometimes too hard on herself, and that he wants to see her have more fun. Now that America has voted her through into the Top 12 and later the Top 10, it’s given her more confidence in herself.
“I feel incredible,” she said. “Just being able to go up there and feel so strong and so confident. I should’ve been feeling this way the whole time. And now I finally feel like I’ve grown into the [belief] that I deserve to be here and it’s a really good feeling.
“Getting that validation from America, as well as my coach, is the best feeling in the world.”
Has that affirmation meant that she’s stopped being so self-critical? “I do feel like I’m getting there,” Holly continued. “When I start to do that, I just think to myself, ‘Holly, back up. You’re fine. It’s okay to be imperfect sometimes. It’s all right.’”
Whereas many artists on The Voice go out and find new identities through the course of competition, she has decided that she’s already found the genre she wants to remain in. “I want to stick to country,” she explained. “Even if I may go out and experiment with some other genres, I’m always going to be country and I love my country fans. That’s just who I am.”
No matter what happens, to her, being on the show has paid off. “I already feel like a winner,” she said, “because I’ve gotten to learn so much throughout this experience and have Blake coach me and teach me everything he knows. Of course I want to move forward, but I will never count this as anything I regret.”
Although she’s now facing the best of the competition, Holly isn’t dwelling too much on if or when she might go home. “No point in worrying. That’s what I say,” she told us. “America is going to vote on what they like, and what happens happens, and it happens for a reason.”
Holly performs for your vote tonight as The Voice continues at 8 PM ET/PT on NBC. You can also watch her and all of Team Blake rocking out on “Play Something Country” with this article.
(c)2013 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Excerpts appear at Starpulse and Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted. Visit my official website and follow me on Twitter at @bigredchairs.
A few of you have commented asking about the delays in posting interviews, or noting that I’m not carrying as many interviews as I usually do. I wanted to let you know the 411.
My new deal with TODAY.com means that they have first rights on all my red-carpet interviews. As such I have to wait (usually until Wednesday) to see what they choose to publish. I can then shop those to other outlets, like Fanhattan and Starpulse…but then I have to wait again until they publish. So, I’m still doing every interview, but it’s a longer process for you to be able to see them.
Rest assured, no matter how long it takes, I will publish every artist interview I’m given. I remain committed to giving every Voice artist their…erm, voice. However I have to do that and however long it takes.
