The Voice – Battle Rounds

By starrymag | October 14, 2015

Q) Regina and Tim, both of you had to feel a little bit like the underdog going into those battles so I was wondering from each of you what was your strategy going in and then what was running through your mind after your coaches announced the verdict?

Tim: Yes, going into it was definitely intimidating. Going up against Ellie was kind of I don’t know, kind of unfair because she’s so good. But my strategy was just to turn it on as much as I could. I got into character as soon as I walked up on stage and tried to execute until the end and luckily it worked out for me.

Q) After the coach announced the verdict, did you think there was a possibility of a save?

Tim: I knew there was a possibility of a save. It was in the back of my mind but I was preparing myself for the worst case scenario. I had my goodbye speech ready and everything but I was just so fortunate to join Team Pharrell.

Q) Regina, could you tell me what your strategy was going into your match with Jordan?

Regina: My strategy in the battles was just putting my best foot forward and just doing everything that I can to let my true heart show.

Q) What did you think after the verdict was announced?

A) Well after the verdict, of course everybody wants to be chosen and after the verdict my heart was like okay Lord, now this is time that you’ve got to work. And I just – it was a basic – even at our rehearsal Adam was like oh God, I know I’m going to – everybody is going to ask why did I put you guys together but I’m real confident that I know that either one of you guys was not going home. So just don’t even worry about it, just don’t think about it, do your best and don’t even worry about that because neither one of you are going home. And there’s always a possibility, you never know. Just me and God, I was like okay I’m getting ready to say what I say and I’m grateful for the time that I’ve been here and I’m just grateful for even being here.

Q) James, working with John Fogerty must have been an incredible experience. We saw it on television how it all kind of worked out together. I’m sure you were a big fan first off, but what was that whole experience like to you now looking back in retrospect?

James: I grew up listening to CCR and seeing John Fogerty stand before me, it was just a very – it was just a huge honor. And then having the opportunity to work with him one on one on a song that he actually wrote and hearing the story about the Vietnam war and how he was drafted and the anger that he felt and how he came to write that song, it was quite a moving experience. And I don’t think, I mean, it will be hard to top how cool that experience was with anything else really

Q) Do you think that the explanation of how it was written actually probably kind of pushed you over the top in terms of making your performance better?

James: That was kind of like my thoughts before the performance. I really wanted to channel that – the anger that he felt and the passion and emotion that he felt when he wrote and performed the song. I wanted to really convey that in my performance. And, hopefully I did – hopefully it came across.

Q) Well even on the show this kind of pushed you out of your comfort zone and that was one of the reasons you wanted to be on Team Adam. So it’s doing what it needs to do for you musically and artistically?

James: I’ve actually sung some of their songs before but this one in particular I have never attempted to sing and mainly because it was such a higher register song in a key that I wasn’t very comfortable in. But Adam challenged me just exactly how I wanted him to and got me out of my comfort zone. So I’m really happy about the outcome.

Q) Jordan, now again you may not be as familiar with CCR and John Fogerty but what was that like? Or were you very familiar with them?

Jordan: I had grown up knowing of them and I had heard their music before. My parents were huge fans and my parents were always really interested in showing me different kinds of music. And so John Fogerty is a name that I have heard for a very long time and someone that I have seen as a legend for a really long time. So this was a really cool experience for me to work with someone who has spent so long in the industry and you have years’ worth of experience and wisdom to share. Especially for me because I’m so young and yes, it was really cool for me. It was kind of surreal just because he is a legend. And so much of music – like rock music today and music in general has his like stamp on it.

Q) How was that whole feeling singing with Regina? I mean, is there a bonding between the two of you?

Jordan: Yes, I would not have chosen another person to sing my battle with. I am so happy that I got to share this experience with Regina. We became so close through that. And we would pray together before rehearsals. And our mindset going into the battle was just to make this as good of a duet as possible instead of a duel and work towards making a really good performance and presenting something so that the coaches would have no other choice but to keep one of us and steal one of us. It really did take a lot of working together. And she is just such a fun person to work with, she’s so kind and so sweet and she was encouraging to me and she pushed me to be better. She has an electrifying stage presence and a powerhouse vocally. So for me to climb to that level, she pushed me to be better and I’m really grateful that I got to work with her.

Regina: Thank you so much. I felt exactly the same. I mean, I could not have said it better. It is just such a blessing to be, I mean you guys got to know, I’m like – you guys know I’m not 21 years old. It was a blessing to be a part of – I feel like I’m getting younger by the minute being around beautiful people, you know? I think my clock might be turning back.

Q) Ellie, Mark & Barrett, we’ve seen each of you perform twice. We know we’re going to see you at least one more time, hopefully we’ll see you more than one more time. How would you say you’ve grown through the course of the three performances? And also the three of you are very likable. I’m wondering how much your coaches have talked to you about stage presence and personality?

Ellie: I feel like I’ve grown tenfold since my blind audition to I never performed in front of that many people before. Usually it’s like ten people in a bar. So I really had to focus on connecting with a larger audience and so that was like a huge hurdle I had to come over. Thankfully, like I rely a lot on my kind of goofy personality to get me out of uncomfortable situations. So it has helped so far because I just kind of hide behind my humor and everything to be able to not show how scared I am. But Gwen really focused for me, focused on like I need to open my eyes more. Because like when I sing it’s very personal to me, music is very like intimate and so I kind of turn inwards a lot. And on the show you can’t do that because you have that split second to connect with America and if your eyes are closed they’re not going to really feel a song with you. So that’s the thing that she told me to work on was really opening up my eyes and looking at everyone and bringing them into the song. And it’s something I feel like I have done and I have learned a lot and grown since blind auditions and since being able to connect with a larger audience. That’s terrifying to do on such a large scale but I think I’ve got it down.

Mark: I feel like I grew a lot working with Pharrell so in the blind auditions to the battle round. Pharrell is very into artists being themselves and if they are he has this thing called other and he likes that. So he is always urging me to keep my personality and just continue to be who I am. And I was very, very intimidated going into this round and I expressed that to Pharrell and Missy Elliott singing with a girl was different and I was really intimidated. I didn’t know how I was going to do it. But he just told me to be myself, don’t lose any of the personality. He was like the personality is part of what makes you. Don’t lose that, let it grow. And I think I grew a lot.

Barrett: Yes this is Barrett and really similar to these other guys in that like I feel like from a growth standpoint I have really noticed especially in the few live shows that I have gotten to play since the taping of the auditions that vocally I’m really in a new place as far as my ability and what I am capable of even at my live shows where I’m just playing with me, my guitar, or with my band. I attribute that to not only being coached by a guy like Blake Shelton but working around the clock for weeks at a time on singing a song and really dialing in a minute and a half of one song and really focusing on every line and giving every single note its opportunity to shine. And that’s not necessarily something that I would have done before this process. And so now I have taken what I’ve learned in this scenario singing other people’s songs and transfer that over to my own live show that’s full of original music. And I have been able to tell right away that from a growth standpoint it has happened it will continue to happen. And I’m excited about that, about taking that and using it in the future as I continue to pursue a career in music. From a personality standpoint Blake didn’t really give me a lot of coaching on personality and stage presence. I have always been the kind of person that for whatever reason when it’s time to go out and sing and perform that there’s just some sort of switch in my head or in my heart even that just sort of flips and I sort of lose myself in a moment. I guess that shines through even more on a massive stage like The Voice stage when you know that there’s literally millions of people that are going to be watching that performance. For me it sort of intensifies the feeling that I get when I play regular shows around my hometown in that I just turn it loose and I don’t even think about how I move or what my face looks like or any of those things. I just let it be. And luckily for me that I guess appears pretty natural and seems like a likeable thing. And so I’m going to continue to do that but will certainly look at personality and take this – take the things that I’ve learned here from participating on The Voice and transfer them over to future gigs that don’t involve the show. So it has been a fantastic experience for me in both regards as far as learning stuff and then understanding how much personality means as far as an audience endearing themselves to you.

Q) Dustin, what was it like to have Adam use one of his steals on you?

Dustin: Well I’ll tell you, it’s great to have anybody use a steal on you. I – that was kind of the hope going into the battle rounds was that we didn’t treat it like a battle and that we just treated it like that we just wanted to make it as good as possible so the both of us would stay and I was happy to get anybody to turn. I saw Adam press his button and I kind of blacked out for a second and then I noticed that Gwen had also pressed her button. So I mean, it’s incredible. I mean, to – in that moment, your worst fear is going home and so to have anybody want to steal you is such a great compliment.

Q) Regina and Tim, do you have any additional thoughts on what it’s like to be stolen onto a new team?

Tim: Yes he pretty much said it. I mean, you just go in hoping for the best case scenario and you’ll take what you can get, you know? So I was just so happy and blessed.

Regina: I was so grateful. It’s just amazing to know that thank you God, you know? This whole thing has just been a beautiful opportunity and I just didn’t want it to end and I was just so grateful that it didn’t end. Just meeting everybody meeting everybody, we’re all like family and I just love it. I love it. And the things they say is you can’t teach a new puppy new tricks but I’m learning a lot. I’m learning from everybody. Were all learning from each other. And that’s what I love about the whole thing. It’s supposed to be a competition but it doesn’t feel like one. It really doesn’t.

Q) Dustin, what motivated you to pursue this passion for singing and also what keeps you grounded throughout this process?

Dustin: I guess the prime motivation to do music for a living for me at least, I mean, it’s just in me. I started playing the piano when I was three years old and I’ve been doing music my whole life. And education was always important to me so I went and got an MBA degree and a finance degree but after that I just wanted to focus on music. I concentrated on songwriting for a long time and signed a publishing deal with Carnival in Nashville. I just kept thinking to myself like you’re writing songs for a living and this is like your dream and there is still this part of me that wants to do my own music as well. I had some discussions with people and a bunch of people would say to me you’ve got the publishing deal and if you want to do the artist side of things you really need to think about one of these shows. And I just thought it was a good opportunity for me at my age to kind of give me the boost I need to kind of snag some fans and kind of try to run with it. But I mean, the main motivation for me though is just when you love music this much, and I’m sure this is the same way for everybody on the show. When you feel that way about music you’re not happy doing anything else other than music. I love business and I could be in a day job. I would never be fully happy doing it. And so there is something inside of you that just has to make music work in whatever facet you can make it work. What keeps me grounded obviously my friends and family, my faith keeps me grounded. And yes, I’m sure it’s the same for most of the people on the show. But I think being 35 and I’ve had a lot of almosts in the music industry and so I think I’m realistic about it and so that has helped as well.

Q) If you could give a message to people in Utah what would it be?

Dustin: Thanks for tuning in and following this journey of mine. And I guess the typical message to give would sound cliché but it’s true is, you know, you kind of have to go after what you want. I did music my whole life but it wasn’t until later in life that I actually put things on the line to do this and so yes, I mean, if you want something go after it.

Q) Dustin, you mentioned earlier that you did have two options when you were – with the steal. Gwen turned around as well. Why did you decide to go with Adam?

Dustin: There’s a lot to go with that and to this day I can’t really tell you. I mean, it’s like you’re on the stage. First of all I’m in the moment of these two amazing people wanting me on their team. And there’s a lot of – the moment is actually longer than what is on television. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into it and stuff. But I – they had been talking for a long time and I just knew I had to make a decision fast and Adam just came out of my mouth. And I really would have been happy with either of them. In fact when I was – when I went to go give Gwen a hug after I had chosen Adam I think I said to her, I think I was like – I think I said to her like I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m purely in the camp of every single one of those coaches up there, I would be lucky to be on their team. And it’s a win-win. I can’t lose whoever I pick with. And so Adam was just who I chose in the moment and yes.

Q) Jordan., I was just wondering what was going through your mind when the battle was over before they told you that you won the battle.

Jordan: I think that was probably the longest couple of minutes of my life. I knew that I had a lot of fun in the battle and I really enjoyed singing with Regina and it was such – just a fun moment for me and getting to experience that with her and just being there on that stage. The energy in the room is just electrifying. It’s so high energy and the audience is amazing. And so I was just kind of coming down and settling in and realizing now they’re going to make the decisions. But I felt okay. I had peace that whatever happened was supposed to happen and if I didn’t win the battle then hopefully I would get stolen. And even if I didn’t get stolen then I knew that this was my time to go home and I would go and I would do the next thing and take the next step as it came. And so yes, I was anticipating their decisions very much but as far as the actual decision, I just had peace about it.

Q) Zach, while there were great, great performances from everyone last night, I think the most enlightening was to watch you and Tyler because I think on paper it looked like Tyler had the advantage but you kind of came through. Did you kind of feel that way going in that maybe Tyler had a little more experience, that he may have the advantage?

Zach: Yes, definitely he had more experience I would say because when he was 16 or 15 he was out touring with Brooks & Dunn and he was up in Nashville doing things. So it was definitely intimidating to get paired up with him. But at the same time I’m really thankful that I had the opportunity to go against Tyler because of that. And it gave me a challenge going from my blind audition song and transitioning into this song which was much higher and it required more strength vocally for me and it definitely required me to work a lot harder. But I’m happy that Blake and Brad Paisley had some faith in me and I felt really good about my performance. And just vocally I worked as hard as I could.

Q) The segment but you just kind of blossomed and turned into this – not that you weren’t before but this incredible performance singer right before our eyes.

Zach: Well I think something that went into it is just the song and the message that I shared with the audience. And just the words that came out of my mouth, I think that helped me a lot in delivering my performance. I mean, especially with the task that I had to take on and the challenge that I was up against.

Q) You’re very young. Are your teammates teaching you a lot about this music stuff since you’re very young?

Zach: Oh yes, I have learned so much from everyone just everything that they have to say. I try and learn as much as I can with this whole experience. And not only having an opportunity to talk with all of the judges and with Brad Paisley but just from the artists themselves and just the talent on this show. I have learned so much from them.

Q) What you’re meant to do the rest of your life?

Zach: I think so. With how this show is going and the hard work is paying off. And hopefully we’ll see what I can take and run with as far as launching my country music career so we’ll see what happens.

Q) Ellie, what was it like having Selena Gomez as your advisor?

Ellie: it was a little scary just because she has been in the industry for a while and has made a name for herself out of from a Disney Channel show. It’s a lot of people coming from like they struggle and she has done so well so it was a little intimidating. But it was also, I was interested to see what she could offer us because she does have so many insights with the acting side and with music. So being on stage you do have to have kind of like that theatric. So I was really excited about being able to learn from her.

Q) Mark, what was it like having Missy Elliott as your advisor?

Mark: Oh my God, my reaction when I walked in the room when I started spitting some of her lyric, that was real. Like Missy Elliott was a part of my childhood. Although I really couldn’t listen to secular music, I used to sneak and listen to her and she was absolutely a wonderful artist. So working with her was just – honestly sometimes after the first day I felt like I missed out on it because I was there but I was so in awe. Like it was one of them like pinch me I’m dreaming moments where it’s like okay it’s over, man I missed it because I thought I was dreaming the whole time. But the second day I was really – she had more to say. She was very choked up the first day. She got choked up again the second day but she had a little bit more to say and a little bit more advice on that day. So just working with her was a dream come true and I’m so honored to have done so.

 Q) Barrett, what was it like having Brad Paisley as your advisor?

Barrett: I was just really honored to be in the presence of somebody like Brad Paisley. I mean, I have admired him for a very long time both as a vocalist and especially as a songwriter and a guitar player. He’s just a legend and just so incredible and was exactly as I thought he might be which is just a good dude and really disarming. It could have been really easy for him to treat that experience like just a job and sort of treat us as artists as sort of lesser and rather than equal because he has done so much. But he did just the exact opposite. And right away, I know Dustin probably feels the same way but for me especially right away it just set me at ease. He started cracking jokes about himself right away and just really disarms any type of misconceptions that anyone might have about who he is and how big of a deal he is by just being a regular guy. And so it really took about 30 seconds and what it felt like was just four guys standing around a piano making music together and talking about music and trying to figure out how to best dial in a really great song in Walking in Memphis. So that was an incredible experience. And I really soaked up as much as I could from Brad Paisley and understand what kind of a giant he is. But it sure was cool to get to experience somebody who has every right to be aloof and to be act like he is better than I am because he is but instead did the exact opposite and just made it so comfortable and cool for me as an artist. He tweeted at me last night and said good luck and I hope that you do well and I tweeted back at him well I hope I get to work with you in the future and I really do mean that because he’s so great. And not because he’s obviously he’s so good at what he does but mostly just because I really got a grasp of what kind of a human being and person he is. And I’m certain that what we saw and what America saw on the TV show last night was really what they get with Brad Paisley which is just a great guy.

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*