The Voice – Battle Round 4

By starrymag | March 28, 2014

Q) Christina, unfortunately we didn’t get to see much of your performance last night. I wonder if you could maybe tell us a little bit about it and what you did to sort of be victorious in that.

Christina Grimmie: Well basically I battled Joshua Howard. And our song was “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift. Our battle was interesting because it was a little more cut out for me more so than Josh Howard. However, I don’t think that I particularly did the song any like major justice. I think we came together at the end. At the end of the day, we had a great show and it was fun. And Adam said he saw potential in me. And I can’t be any more grateful for that. But the fact that I was showed for even a second was kind of a blessing still. So, it was a good battle overall I have to say.

Q) You said before that you hope that people would see who you are as a performer watching you on The Voice. And I’m wondering how is that aspect of your artistry? How has that improved? And what do hope people will see from you when we see you in the battle round?

Christina Grimmie: Well I feel like definitely so far performing with another person really helps your energy. And for me especially, I already have a ton of energy. But with another person I feel like my performance just gets a little bit better. And I get way more into it. And I feel like for this future battle that you’re going to be sticking around for, it’s going to be great. And I feel like I really get to show who I am as an artist and a performer. And it’s always a little tougher with another person. But that fact there’s a little more energy there I just – you know it’s a great time. It’s a little different than performing just by yourself. But that’s what makes it special.

Q) Ryan and Kristen, we didn’t get to see your battles either. I was hoping each of you could tell us a little bit about how the battle went and what was the most challenging aspect of it for you.

Kristen Merlin: I think every time you step on the stage it’s going to be a challenge for sure. You know trying to do justice to the song is for me I had Reba McIntyre’s song. And that’s some pretty big shoes to fill. And Lindsay and I had to come together with it to make sure. It didn’t seem like we were you know butting heads. But coming together and rocking a song as a – almost like a duo on stage and really giving a performance to the audience. So I had fun with it. You know it was a very playful performance. And so whether you know people saw five minutes or five seconds of it, it’s really cool to even be you know put up on the TV for that.

Q) And any particular feedback you got as to why you were chosen as the person to advance?

Kristen Merlin: I think I just kind of brought to the song what needed to be there. I had a lot of energy. And there was a lot of good vibes with the audience. So hopefully you know that was kind of what tipped the scale a little bit to have me come out on top.

Ryan Whyte Maloney: I feel like my performance for me was a surprise when I got chosen that song, “What’s Love Got to Do With It” by Tina Turner. It kind of felt like John Goodman and King Ralph. All of a sudden now I’m wearing a crown. And I have to fill some diva shoes being a male. I never asked for a keychain so I stuck with what it was and gave it all I had to give and stayed on pitch and precision. And really showed off the pipes and the range that you can see exactly on the battle little blurp. But overall, I added a Michael Jackson kick at the end as a special ingredient which I think made the performance a little more special. I wish they would have shown that. I hope that they didn’t know. However, that was – the factor was really the pitch and the precision of singing it with accuracy opposed to Cali not to demean her in any way. She’s beautiful and awesome and has a great voice and everything. But I think that was just the determining factor of the performance of winning.

Q) What were your feelings during the round, Emily? Can you talk about how that worked out?

Emily B.: It was really interesting. I think singing a duet or doing a duo, it can be a lot more difficult than being by yourself unless you’re paired with somebody who you can really trust and rely on. And fortunately I have that with Cierra. Incredible singer. Her pitch is great. And her ability to do harmony is just spot on. So that made my job really easy to just focus on what I do. And so overall it was really enjoyable because I had the freedom to just sing and be me. So we did our thing. And things came together really well. And ultimately it was a lot of fun. I remember I probably had too much fun because I ran out of breathe which probably caused some of my pitch problems. But in the end I was extremely grateful to be chosen as the winner. But grateful as well that Cierra made it through too because I just have mad respect for her. So the fact that we put on a good show and that all the coaches loved it is amazing.

Q) Speaking of Cierra, that had to be the longest save that we’ve ever seen. I mean it took forever for them to do it. Did you think you were going home?

Cierra Mickens: Yes. I did. And thank you so much, Emily. I feel exactly the same way about you. Our dynamic throughout the whole thing was just so awesome. And whenever I wanted to practice, she was down and whatever. If she wanted to practice, I was down. We really, really did come together. But yes, it felt like I was up there for a while. And I got to say my goodbyes. And I got to hug my coach. And I got to almost walk past Blake Shelton. And then all of sudden, I was back in it. So it was pretty dramatic for me. I didn’t know exactly how to feel about it. There were a lot of different emotions. But mostly I just felt so grateful and so blessed for him to use his last steal on me. He’s been saying the whole time he was waiting for something special. And for that to have been me in the end was just the greatest compliment I could have ever gotten.

Q) You could see it on your face. Your face was mixed with tons of emotions. I mean when you saw, you was just shocked and amazed and happy all at the same time.

Cierra Mickens: Yes. Yes. It was a lot of different things because I mean even after you go after the battle after the winner’s chosen, there’s still you know other things that you have to do. You know like we did an interview with Caroline Pennell which was really fun. I was thinking about a lot of different things that I have to do. And then all of sudden I’m pulled. It’s like somebody like pulled my collar back, back to what was going on. It was absolutely crazy. But it was so much – it was so much emotions. But it was also – it was really good. It was really good.

Q) Sam, what are you looking forward to most going forward? And do you have anything that you’re going to you know work onto change in your performance in light of the feedback you’ve gotten so far?

Sam Behymer: I am just really happy to still be in it. So I’m just looking forward to everything. Just the opportunity to work with Chris Martin is obviously really exciting. But just also more time with Adam and getting more feedback from the coaches is going to be really amazing. One thing, one note that I got that you didn’t necessarily see on TV is that my nerves still continue to affect my performance. So I’m just hoping for the next round to really be confident on stage so that the nerves aren’t a factor.

Q) Kristen, what are you looking forward to now that you’re moving forward? And do you have anything that you plan on working on in light of the feedback that you’ve received so far?

Kristen Merlin: I’m certainly looking forward to working with Shakira more. And just learning everything she has to give to me. And I take a heed from it. Being given the opportunity to work with more superstars, you know such as the status of Chris Martin, it’s going to be really, really cool. But I’ve got to focus on you know keeping on pitch. Slowing myself down a little, keeping in the pocket and not moving around so much. I have a ton of energy and I constantly just want to run around everywhere. But sometimes, I’ve got to kind of rein it in a little bit. And no so much focus on performance, just more so vocals.

Q) Ryan, what’s it like for a Michigan to get this national attention? And of course you know what you hope to get out of this whole experience?

Ryan Whyte Maloney: Well my whole life I’ve pretty much lived in a trailer park in a double wide and looked out the window at all the snow. And I’ve always thought of being snowed in my life without any chances or opportunities that would ever come besides watching MTV and dreaming like, “oh it’s a whole different world that untouchable.” So the fact that I’m here in Los Angeles, California is something that I could only dream about from being from Michigan and living next to a cornfield. So it’s a pretty big deal for me.

Q) You have a very distinctive style. You have a very distinctive look and a very distinctive sound. Was that a negative for your growing here in this state? And is it a positive now being in LA another state?

Ryan Whyte Maloney: No. It’s always something that you know people dream of going to Hollywood. And that’s kind of like something as a human that people always making it to the West Coast is one of those – those goals of being with the glitz and glamour. And I am definitely a different kind of person all around speaking, looking, singing and have a signature style. And I’m glad to compliment the music world and bring it something organic. And something that’s unseen yet to be seen.

Q) Christina, I’m wondering you’re one of the singers that came into this competition with real sort of significant success in the industry. When Adam and you were working together, is that something that he had wanted to build upon? Or does he tell you you know this is what you should be doing instead? Let’s just focus on this going forward.

Christina Grimmie: You know what, he didn’t really touch on any of that. And I actually respect him a lot for not even bringing the previous success into the picture. I’m very big on fair game. I think I mean me coming into this with you know fans already and stuff like that, I feel like it was just a little unfair for everyone else. And people may be looking at me as a little bit differently. And I just really appreciate that Adam didn’t even really you know bring that up. He was just kind of looking at me like – like he looked at everyone else. And I really appreciate that. And what he really did was just help me with what I already had. I’m known as the pop singer on the show, the pop R&B singer. I feel like he knows how I sing and how I want to sing. And he very much just wants to help build that. And I really respect the guy for it.

Q) Did you want to build upon sort of the style performer that you were in the past? Or did you just want to take this opportunity and start new and start fresh? If Adam didn’t bring it up, what was sort of your mindset about it coming into it?

Christina Grimmie: I mean I don’t think I wanted to start fresh per say.  I feel like I’m on a whole new level now that I’m singing with so many amazing singers. It just used to be just me singing you know in my room and putting up videos. And people were looking up to me. Now it’s just kind of like I’m surrounded by all these amazing singers. And I really have to step up my game. So in that sense, I guess I’m starting new and fresh as a performer. I’ve always stuck to who I am. And I’ve always been a performer at heart. And I just want to build upon the artist that I’ve always been. And I think the key is just growing in what you’ve always been. I don’t see a sense in changing you know my performance style unless of course Adam you know has a real note about it. But so far, so good.

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*