Tag Archives: Season 4

Artist Update: Josiah Hawley

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The Voice - Season 4Josiah Hawley is not only returning to The Voice for the finale – but he’s also got new music of his own to reveal today! BFTV caught up with the Team Usher singer to talk about his now-available EP, plus returning to the hit NBC series and how he plans to make the most of his national exposure.

“I’m really happy exactly as it happened,” said Josiah, who left The Voice after his live show performance of Coldplay’s “Clocks,” and will be returning to sing with the rest of Team Usher for the finale. “I feel like it’s been a great stepping stone for me to step into the next phase of my career. It’s helped me to be seen and be known enough to have meetings with some very cool people.

“The good thing is too, because I got [voted] off when I [did], it also helps not to be pigeonholed,” he added. “I’m super-grateful for the show, but at the same time, you don’t want to be known as ‘the reality show person’ for the rest of your life.”

He told us that after you leave the show, “Two things happen. The first thing is, you can just kind of breathe for a second. You don’t have the stress. And then it hits you real quick that ‘Now I’ve got to do this on my own, and I’ve got to get out there and make something of myself, because that was just step one.’ Then it becomes real. And it’s exciting.”

Step two for Josiah is the release of his EP, plus a corresponding YouTube web series. “I definitely had some music in the works already, but I finished a brand new song that I’m really excited about,” he revealed. “It does have influence because of the show and what went well, and the response I got on certain songs. It’s one that I think will have good reception with people.” That song is called “Beautiful To Me” and you’ll be able to get it on Noisetrade for free, along with his other new tracks, starting today.

“It’s kind of a love song and it just highlights my musical influences. I’m a pop-rock artist,” Josiah explained. “We stuck a little bit of jazz in there. It’s just a smooth song and it’s really fun.”

He has a plan to keep connected with the new fans he made through his TV exposure, staying active on social media including YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, so that you can see fresh videos and behind-the-scenes photos. “Twitter, I wasn’t very huge on it before the show,” he admitted with a laugh. “I had 700 some followers and now I have over 61,000. The same with Instagram. The goal was, I spoke with my lawyers right after the show and they’re like ‘Your social media’s blown up, that’s great. You’ve just got to keep going, get yourself out there in front of everybody.’” Now he’s definitely in the spotlight, and he’ll hopefully stay there.

Although he found himself as the heartthrob of The Voice, Josiah wants fans to know that he’s more than just a good-looking white guy with a guitar. “When the show started, they always have a story that they want to start with, to reveal a little bit about the artist,” said Josiah, whose on-air story focused on his modeling career.

“What I wanted people to really see is I grew up in a huge family – I’m the second of six kids – and it wasn’t a small town but it wasn’t a big town. I grew up doing concrete construction. That was my whole life. Every time I go back home to visit, that’s what I do. [I'm] just a hard worker in that sense, and an athlete, and I’ve been able to take those principles and apply them to music. If you want to be successful in music, you’ve got to work hard every day, all day.”

You can check out Josiah’s new music on his YouTube channel and download it on Noisetrade today. Also be sure to follow Josiah on Twitter (@JosiahHawley). The Voice crowns its season-four winner tonight on NBC.

(c)2013 Brittany Frederick. Appears at Starpulse and Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted. Visit my official website and follow me on Twitter at @tvbrittanyf.

Pre-Finale Debate: What’s Your Opinion?

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The Voice - Season 4

We now know our three finalists for season four of The Voice – Danielle Bradbery, The Swon Brothers and Michelle Chamuel – and that’s raised a number of interesting points for debate before we head into next Monday’s final performance show. What do you think, Voice fans? Here’s my take (with a disclaimer that I’m critiquing the show and not coming out for/against any particular artist).

I’m disappointed that the finals are not only once again slanted in favor of one coach, but that this season they’re also leaning toward one genre of music. In my opinion, that’s made the show less interesting, because I enjoy The Voice‘s musical diversity and I also like it when all the coaches are involved (which means therefore all the fans are involved).

I’ve also long been against the strong hold that iTunes has on the results. Last season, it was easy to predict that Cassadee Pope would win because of her iTunes charting. This season, it’s been the same deal (with the exception being that Amber Carrington charted on Tuesday but didn’t advance). While NBC has done a smart thing in limiting iTunes downloads to one this season (as opposed to 10 before), it still hasn’t fixed the issue. Holly Tucker made a point of telling people to buy their favorite artist’s single because she knew she was being eliminated based on iTunes. Having the results determined so heavily by one method has never felt right to me.

Having said that, I find it hard to get too angry at the show itself, because it really is in the hands of America. Fans know what the rules are by now and we’ve got no one to blame but ourselves if we don’t like the results. I wonder how many of the people complaining about Blake’s team taking over the finals again voted for the artists they did like. Or how many people will vote for Michelle just because she’s the one non-country singer in the final. (Weirder things have happened: it’s strongly suspected that the results of season two were affected by the feud between Adam and Christina.)

So what do you think, readers? Do you want to see any changes in the Voice rulebook? Or do you think the burden is on us as fans? Or is it “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? Sound off in the comments.

Blake Shelton Defends Holly Tucker On Twitter

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The Voice - Season 4

Blake Shelton finally saw one of his singers sent home on this week’s The Voice elimination show. He also became the second coach to stir up some buzz in two weeks, as the country superstar had a few choice words for someone who made some unkind comments about the unlucky eliminee.

The Voice whittled its Top 6 down to the Top 5 on Tuesday night, and it was Holly Tucker, the Baylor marching band standout, who was sent home. Tucker was visibly upset when host Carson Daly revealed that America’s final save went not to her but to her teammates, The Swon Brothers.

Yet as emotional as she was, her reaction paled in comparison to Shelton’s Twitter speech after he caught wind of one blogger’s comments about Tucker late Tuesday night.

Houston Chronicle music critic Joey Guerra posted a link to his article regarding the results on Twitter, with the text “The Voice sends one singer back to Texas. Don’t worry, it’s not the one we care about.”

Whether it was that comment or the content of the article (or both) that irked Holly’s coach, we don’t know, but Shelton had some strong words for Guerra via his own Twitter account, some of which aren’t fit for print.

“It’s people like you that make me sick,” read Shelton’s first tweet of several on the subject. “Holly is not only a talented singer but a great person that’s simply chasing a dream.”

Later, he tweeted, “I swear to God I can’t understand the mentality of a grown man ripping on young kids over and over again for just trying their hardest. Kids!”

It’s not the first time that the Based on a True Story singer has stepped up to the plate to defend one of his The Voice singers. During season two, when teenage hopeful Raelynn was the subject of some rude remarks from another blogger, Shelton spoke out publicly to support her.

Shelton’s willingness to stand behind the singers on his team is a breath of fresh air in the often cynical entertainment business. It shows that he really does care about them, not just as reflections of him but for who they are as individuals, both on and off the show.

He also backs those words up with actions. As mentioned on-air this week, he keeps in touch with many of his former team members, including season one’s Xenia and season three’s Cassadee Pope, who performed on The Voice Tuesday night. Season two Team Blake member Gwen Sebastian is now one of Shelton’s backup singers and has toured with him almost since her departure from the competition.

While he might be on the verge of winning his third straight Voice title, what’s more impressive is that Shelton’s principles are everything America should want from a reality-competition coach: one who treats their artists as artists, not just TV acts, and who is there for them even when the cameras aren’t rolling. He understands that for these singers, it’s not just entertainment, but it’s them putting their real selves and career hopes out on display for a national audience.

He’s not the only coach on The Voice who’s emotionally invested in their performers. Last week, Adam Levine’s emotional reaction to the loss of two artists set off a controversy, as well. Given that, it might not have been the best time for Shelton to speak out so vehemently, but it’s understandable that he’d be protective of an artist he’s worked with for months.

What do you think of Shelton’s reaction? Do you believe reality-show judges should be more supportive of their artists? Should we hold critics and bloggers as responsible for their comments as we do celebrities? Sound off with your thoughts below.

(c)2013 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Excerpts appear at Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted. Visit my official website and follow me on Twitter at @bigredchairs.

Postmortem: Season 4 Live Playoffs, May 27-28

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Little belated this week with end-of-month craziness, but here we are!

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Are We In For A Team Blake Three-Peat?

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The Voice - Season 4

Could Blake Shelton three-peat on The Voice?

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’ Celebrates Memorial Day

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The Voice - Season 4

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.

Postmortem: Season 4 Live Playoffs, May 20-21

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Coverage for May 20-21:

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Meet Team Blake’s Holly Tucker

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The Voice - Season 4

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.

 

Postmortem: Season 4 Live Playoffs, May 13-14

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Coverage for May 13 and 14:

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