The Voice – Jackie Foster, Rayshun LaMarr, Pryor Baird and Kaleb Lee

By starrymag | May 20, 2018

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) I was hoping now that The Voice experiences is over, I mean, you’ll probably be part of the finale.  But what are you planning to do next musically? 

 

Pryor Baird:          Well hit the ground running.  I’ve got gigs lined up.  I’m actually playing on the 27th in Avila Beach for the Avila Beach Blues Festival with Shemekia Copeland and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.  I’ve got gigs lined up to play at some of Blake Shelton’s Ole Red one in Tishomingo and one somewhere else.  I also have my band back home in Nashville as well here in California.  I’ve got quite a few gigs lined up.  We’re going to hit the studio.  We got songs ready to go and just go ahead and take this platform, move forward, and strike while the iron is hot and just keep going.

 

Q) Now you had taken your music and put a little bit of a country touch onto your music during the show.  Do you expect to continue with that sound with the music that you release after the show?

 

Pryor Baird:  Absolutely.  It’s one thing that I’ve always – that’s one thing I’ve always dealt with like I think I can speak for everybody, you know, when you hear a band and you hear their albums, that’s like, “Oh, man, they’re so good.  I can’t wait to see them live.”  And you go and see them live it doesn’t sound anything like they did on the record.  My sound will always be me, who I am, and that’s something I stand by firmly. So it will be the same Country Blues with the little bit of Rock thing to it, but still very traditional to the Country Blues style.

 

Q) If we could go onto Kaleb then.

 

Kaleb Lee:   Yes.  So I’d echo what Pryor said and I know the big thing is working on songs, and getting those – get in studio and get those out.  I love to find some tour dates in the fall.  And right now I’m really focusing on the music side of it, getting the product out there that people can latch on to and hopefully love to listen to and obviously stay in the country vein as well.

 

Q)  Okay and you had been away from music for a long time so are you back in full swing now and…

 

Kaleb Lee:   Yes.  I’m full swing.  I’ve been in and out of music for a while, but this was – this is exactly what I needed to propel me back into it.  So I’m excited be here and this is my full-time gig even when the show is done and I’m back home.

 

Q)   Okay.  Rayshun how about you?

 

Rayshun LaMarr:  Oh yes man, I plan on hitting the ground running just like everybody else.  I have some show dates lined up on the East Coast and a couple of dates out here in LA.  And I’m planning on, you know, continue on the musical theater journey as well. So I know I want to get a solo album out there.  You know, on the show I pretty much came into my, you know, I found my genre here – my real genre.  So I’m ready to put out a solo album out and so going to start working on writing and getting back into the studio, and getting more dates, and you know just stand on the stage, and travelling the world while do, you know, all doing the same thing. Okay.

 

Q) Jackie how about you because you’re a little bit of a special case because you went to Berkeley, you got a band in Boston, but I think you’re based in California sort of?

 

Jackie Foster:        Yes, I am.  So my hometown is Poway, California which is just outside of San Diego.  But I’m currently living in Boston because even though I did miss my graduation my plan is to go back, finish out my final classes this summer.  And during the summer I’ve got my band, the Self Portraits, and I got to tell you like we have music that is already recorded, ready to be released.  So as soon as, I mean, I hate to say it, but as soon as I’m out of this contract, we are going to release our songs on all platforms and get people to really know and love Self Portraits.   Now, I know we even talked about possibly even changing the name of our band, still being the same entity, but because people know me as Jackie Foster, we want to incorporate that into our band somehow. So there’s going to be a big changes and big moves going on for me.  We are going to be playing in Brighton Music Hall in Boston, which is a huge opportunity, and hopefully bigger venues.  And my plan is just to write, write, write, and see if, you know, Alicia can connect me with people out in New York.   I mean, I’m so close being in Boston like it’s an easy drive to New York City to just meet with labels and hopefully shop our band out.  Because I loved being a solo entity on the stage, but I’m the type of girl that, I need my family onstage, which is my band, and so we plan on releasing music. So I’m, I mean, I’m thrilled, and I’m overjoyed, and just really happy for this opportunity and to be able to run with it.

 

Q)    Okay and that sound people can expect from that Self Portraits music because you were pretty much going in the Classic Rock vein on the show?

 

Jackie Foster:        Yes.  You know, my voice, I have always believed and that I, you know, I’m always stuck with Rock in some way, shape or form.  But I love all styles of Rock music and I showed my love for Classic Rock on the show.  You know, my sound definitely has a lot of influence of Classic Rock but we’re young, we’re all 21 and 22, and we listen to the radio all of the time, and we see what’s on the radio. And other than Imagine Dragons who’s an alternative pop rock band that you’re hearing on your radio station?  Not many.  And that’s the sound that we all love.  So we love the influence of Rock music, so we want to be like a Pop Rock band that people are going to want to run to the radio station and turn up their volume for.  That’s what we’re hoping for out of this single that’s coming out called Poison, so we’re really excited.

 

Q)  Oh, you’ve got a single and when will we hear that?

 

Jackie Foster:        As soon as I’m allowed to, we’re going to release it right then and there.

 

 

Q) This question is for on Pryor and Kaleb.  Were you surprised to be in the bottom three?  And what was going through your mind in that moment?  And Pryor you can go first.

 

Pryor Baird:          Yes.  I was – I don’t want this to come across sounded cocky.  Yes I was surprised to be in the bottom three.  I think everybody is when that happens, you know?  But it’s something that happens to everybody and we all go into this knowing that that’s going to happen.  But I was so happy to be there with Kaleb.  We started this journey together and we set out to go as far as we could.  And we made sure that we’d be together and that’s exactly what happened.  So when it came to an end, it couldn’t have come to a better end.  I said it earlier today, you know, I’d rather be on this side with him than on the other side without him.  So I was a little shocked but I’m totally okay with the outcome.  I think Kaleb and I have – not just Kaleb and I but all of us, we all have big things to happen in the future and I’m just excited to keep going and see what the future holds.

 

Q)  Thank you.  And Kaleb?

 

Kaleb Lee:    Yes.  I mean, there’s not much that I can add to that.  I mean, I have the same sentiment.  You know, for me, I – I kind of went in every Tuesday with this, you know, with this mentality of who knows how it’s going to go.  I mean, I felt pretty good from Monday night’s performance but you just never know how things shake out. And so going into Tuesday night, it was, you know, in my mind is good – good shot.  And I’m like Pryor, the cool thing is that we got to be – making the blinds together and experience this all the way through to the end and be the last two standing on the stage last night.  And so that was a pretty special moment and representing Country Music well on the show, I thought, and hopefully much, much more to come.

 

 

Q)  Yes.  I was hoping that each of you could tell me what your favorite performance was of your own during The Voice and why that was your favorite performance?  And, again, if we could start off with Pryor please.

 

Pryor Baird:  100%, no doubt about it my favorite was the last duo that Kaleb and I did the Hillbilly Bone/Hillbilly Deluxe.  That was – I wouldn’t even say – actually, I would go as far as to say that that might be one of my all-time favorite performances of all time that I’ve ever done.  I’ve got to play with Vince Gill and to share the stage with Blake Shelton. But that one with Kaleb was – that was special.  That was the most fun for sure that I had on this show 100% bar none no questions asked.

 

Q)  Well, it was a fun performance, congratulations.  Kaleb, how about you?

 

Kaleb Lee:    Absolutely, I jump in and say the exact same thing.  We talked about that.  I told Pryor that night – just about every show, and probably every contestant is the same way, after your performance, you know, you get so hyped up and you wait for The Voice to release the YouTube video so you can kind of go and watch and like verify if you did well or not.  And I think that night I watched my solo performance like once and I watched that duet that we did about twenty times, and it was so much fun.  You know, like Pryor said, the most fun I’ve had onstage.  And for me what I liked about it was just, we really – we went together with battles and we were back onstage together.  But we were also doing music that we both love and it was a really cool unique song being the blend of the two songs as well. Just all-in-all the stars aligned and it was a lot, a lot of fun.  We’d love to do that again.

 

Q)  And how do you come up with those two songs?  Whose idea was that?

 

Kaleb Lee: That’s the beautiful and talented Paul Mirkovich from The Voice Band.  He’s an incredible guy and he put those songs together for us and it just fit so well and we’re excited to be able to sing them.

 

Q) Okay.  Great.  Thank you very much. And Rayshun, how about you?

 

Rayshun LaMarr:  Yes I would say my favorite performance would have to be – there’s actually two of them, “Try a Little Tenderness,” “I’m Going Down.”  “I’m Going Down” – I don’t know, I think that was just – I was in the moment, I, you know, I felt it really hard and I just enjoyed that performance. And “Try a Little Tenderness” that was one of my favorite performances also because I feel that’s when I really found myself in the competition.  And found who I really wanted to be and that felt really good.  And, you know, America recognized that, so that’s one of my – two of my best performances I believe.

 

Q)  Okay thank you very much.  And then if we could go to you Jackie.

 

Jackie Foster:        I as well have two favorites.  My favorite solo performance would have to be hands down Alone, Heart.  Which is what I sang to be saved from the live playoff.  That’s a song that I’ve grown up listening to.  I have loved ever since I first heard it.  I mean, it’s putting me in my mind of that power ballad that – I mean, I would consider myself like a power ballad singer.  Like, that is my strong suit. And that song Heart means so much to me and, you know, I physically came to tears at the end so I was really proud of my performance with that.  And then I’ve got to say the one that I think will just go down in the history of The Voice was mine and D.R.’s duet of Sign of the Times. We got such incredible feedback from that and that was probably the most comfortable I felt onstage because with D.R. and I it never felt like a competition between the two of us.  It felt like we were performing at the Grammys and that was such a special moment.  So those two hands-down most memorable.

 

 

Q) Jackie, you’re dating Brandon Diaz who competed on another show and you went a little farther.  And I was wondering what’s that was like the two of you doing that at the same time?  How you supported each other during that process?

 

Jackie Foster:        Yes.  So Brandon and I never had any plan – no preplanning of anything to try and go onto shows at the same time.  It was just people that he knew from his show had reached out and asked them to go to the Executives.  And then, within, like, a week of that opportunity coming up with Brandon I received a call from The Voice that they had found me online and wanted to fly me out to the blind auditions.  And so I remember talking to Brandon because Brandon actually auditioned in The Blind auditions on The Voice when he was 16 years old.  And he turned to me and he said, “Jackie, like, you don’t understand how well they treat you on The Voice, how much support you’re going to get.  I really encourage you go do it.  Just try.  Go and see.” Brandon and I have been dating for two years – two and a half years and always feel supportive of one another.  And so I wished him good luck on every single time he went up on that stage.  He did the same for me and it’s really interesting to be in a situation where not a lot of people really understand what we’re going through except for our contestants that are with us.  But also to have a significant other that’s understanding at the exact same time what we’re both going through, the stresses, the highs, the lows of everything.  And so we spent countless hours on the phone with each other just talking through our days, what we went through, and the emotions. And just I think that we’ve connected on an even deeper, deeper level that we probably could have we never would have experienced if it wasn’t for going on opposite shows. And it was just really cool because, you know, him and I both made top 24 on our shows the exact same night.  So it’s just, like, very celebratory.  And I know that he called me last night when I was eliminated just in happy tears because he just expressed how proud of me that he is.  And I know I’m so proud of him to make it as far as he did. So we’re both so supportive and we just kind of have a new outlook on life.  And I can say that if people watched both shows that they can expect that Brandon and I are going to be doing some duets together.  We’re going to be vlogging and just doing stuff as a couple.  Because I know that we’ve both gained our respective fans. And then when people made the connections that we were dating a lot of people have been asking for cover videos and things like that.  So that’s definitely in the plans.

 

Q) So it was really, really helpful and special to have that relationship and have you going – both of you going through the same thing at the same time?

 

Jackie Foster:        Yes.  And especially just doing, I mean, we’re both so young, he’s 21, I’m 22. And to find that type of commitment and support at that age from somebody, you know, we’re both experiencing the exact same things.  And to have that be with my partner – with my boyfriend that’s just – it just makes this whole experience even better.  Because you meet people on this show that will last a lifetime but then when you also are dating somebody who’s going through the same things as you it just creates such a stronger bond. So I feel very fortunate that I met him through Berkeley and that we both have this crazy wild ride together.  And that, you know, we’re never going to stop supporting each other.

 

Q) I was hoping if each of you could talk about something you’ve gained or learned through the voice experience that you think is going to affect your music moving forward.  And again if we could start with Pryor please.

 

Pryor Baird:  Something that I’ve definitely gained on this was a best friend.  It’s very rare that when you’re my age, you know, I’m 35 years old, that you find somebody that’s going to be a close brother, you know, those are mostly people that you find when you’re younger. And Kaleb and I definitely have that bond.  We will be friends forever.  And that’s something I gained.  But something that I learned on the show that I’ve never really even considered doing a duo thing with anybody.  I was, like, “Man that’s not my style.  I would never do anything like that.” Now after that last performance that he and I did together, I don’t know if that, I mean, a lot of people don’t realize how much fun it is to be up there and to do that and to sing and to be able to do your passion.  But to be able to share it with somebody and not just somebody but somebody that you love, and you care for, and, you know, who’s got your back, it’s a powerful thing man. And I learned a lot about myself, and my music and that I would definitely like to continue on making music with Kaleb and doing a duo thing because I don’t think I’ve ever had that much fun.

 

Q)   Okay.  All right.  Thank you very much.  And then to you Kaleb?

 

Kaleb Lee:    Yes.  So, I mean, Pryor is stealing all of my answers.  So it’s a – yes it’s a – one thing I’ve gained for sure — like Pryor said — was just a friendship.  And obviously Pryor and I have been close just because we’ve, you know, we’ve similar paths of life and like-mindedness and spent a lot of time together on the show.  But there are so many other folks that I’ve gotten to meet and – on different levels and different capacities.  And just the overall friendships of the show is pretty cool. I would agree with Pryor as well about the duet thing.  I’d love to continue doing that and see what we can do there.  And, I would say one thing that I learned from a personal perspective really just being on the show, it’s, you know, it’s a boot camp of all kinds of things when it comes to music and performing. And I would say Kelly really just instilled in me some additional confidence that I feel like I needed after being out of music for so long.  And being around all of these folks like Pryor, and Jackie, Rayshun and so many others that are so, so talented at what they do.  You know, just – it’s contagious, you know, the confidence, the abilities.  You push each other in a healthy and constructive way. And I think that’s probably the best thing and probably one of the best things I would say, that I’ve took away from the show is just the additional confidence needed to move forward and to continue being successful, hopefully, at this thing we call music.

 

Q) Okay.  Thank you and best of luck moving forward.  How about you, Rayshun?

 

Rayshun LaMarr:  Yes.  The thing I would mostly take away from this whole experience is, you know, I’ve learned to just be free, and be myself, and to be Rayshun and to be confident, and to just go and do me without worrying about what other people have to think.  And without worrying about, you know, what other people say about me. So that’s the biggest thing that I take away and the friendship.  We’ve gained so many great friends and we’ve bonded so well.  It’s like a family and so that’s a really wonderful thing that I take out of this so – yes.

 

Q) Okay.  Thank you very much.  And then Jackie?

 

Jackie Foster:        I think the best thing that I can take out of this experience is first of all, the people that you meet.  Everyone that you connect with on the show besides the coaches. I’ve created some of the best friendships here that have been better than any college friendships I’ve ever had.  Because the people here we all connect on this level of we’re all going through the same thing and so we’re all experiencing the same hardships, and the same highs, and lows. So that’s been the biggest blessing but also to be able to have worked with not only one coach but three and gain insight from every single one of them.  Like Kelly even told me that she feels like with me that we have a friendship for life even on the short time that I was on her team.  And with Alicia she just kind of taught me to just really be proud of who I am as a person.  And I feel like she always saw me as the artist that I wanted to be from day one.  And encouraged me.  She even said that, “I’m so excited to hear your original music, because if this is any insight as to what it could be, like I’m all about it.”  So just kind of teaching me this sense of ease and ability to just own myself in every aspect and be proud of who I am.  I think that that’s what she’s taught me more so than anything is to have an open mind and open heart and just let life happen as it is.

 

Q) This question is for Rayshun.  Hi.  I was wondering what was it like for you being in the bottom three times?  It seemed to really light a fire underneath you when that happened.  I mean, rather than deflate you, you really just fought very hard to come back.

 

Rayshun LaMarr:  Yes.  So I mean – no, no, no worries. I mean, technically it was three times if you want to put it that way.  The first time it shook me up a little bit because, you know, we all prepare for that moment mentally.  But once you get into that situation, it’s totally different than what you planned or you thought it was. So but, you know, when I’m put under pressure, you know, I like to fight.  I wasn’t ready to go and I kept telling people, “Guys, I’m not ready to go. So if I’m in the bottom, I’m going to fight, and I’m going to fight hard.”  I mean, yes it lights the fire under my tail and then gets me going because, you know, I want the world to continue to see what I do and you can see how I grow. And so that yes, it absolutely put a fire underneath me and it made me perform even harder.  Because I wasn’t ready to go home.  So both times on all of the occasions I wasn’t ready to go home so it made – it pushed me to fight hard.

 

Q) Yes and this is for Pryor.  Pryor you mentioned before you’re from California, did you get a lot of support from your hometown?

 

Pryor Baird:          Oh my gosh.  My hometown has been like home base.  It is where everything has started and everybody there – it’s gone crazy.  I mean, there are signs everywhere all over the town.  And it’s a small town.  There’s only two stop signs in it so everybody knows everybody. But, I mean, I see every day people have got their Pryor Baird hats on and their shirts.  And they’ve got posters up in every one of the stores and there’s big billboards everywhere.  And everybody has been absolutely beyond supportive and, you know, they’ve sent their love via Facebook and text messages and phone calls.  And every Monday night I’ve had like, a FaceTime call with one of the venues where everybody goes and has a watch party.  And there’s a couple of hundred people there, you know, and I get to FaceTime and everybody there is just beyond supportive and rallying the troops.  So I couldn’t say enough for my hometown.  Every single person that’s been there has really, you know, really poured out their love and support.  And it’s so moving, and it’s so refreshing, and it’s just nice.  You know, I think that was an advantage that I have being from small town everybody knowing everybody so it was a lot of fun and it’s good to see.   And I can’t wait to get home to go see everybody, and say thank you. So, yes, my hometown has been the biggest supporter other than the American Saddlebred Association, it was probably my hometown that pushed the hardest yes.

 

Q) Okay.  Now I’ll have to follow up with a question but what do you think of this Twitter save process because that happens on East Coast time and you’re the 12th West Coast candidate that’s going – or contestant that’s gone for a Twitter save, and we haven’t had a West Coast contestant get a Twitter save yet.

 

Pryor Baird:    Yes.  Twitter save for the West Coast is completely and totally unfair.  I mean, I was looking at some of the Facebook comments this morning at about 5 o’clock and a lot of the people were like, you know, how do we do this, when do we do – because it’s only five minutes, you know?  And when it’s airing in New York people are in their car they’re on their way home, you know, they can’t get on their phones or whatever it is. But then, again, this is a reality TV show and this is the way things go and the way that everything works out so it is what it is.  I’m happy for where I’m at right now and everything happens for a reason.  So it’s all good, everything happens for a reason.  But yes it’s – they definitely need to come up with something better for the West Coast to be able to do the Twitter save.

 

Q)   And do you have any idea what that could be?

 

Pryor Baird:          No.  That’s way above my pay grade buddy.  I couldn’t – I have no idea.

 

Q)  This question is for both Pryor and Kaleb.  And after your performances last night both of your – or before – or after your performances I can’t remember.  Anyway both of your coaches, you know, gave little speeches on your behalf and they pledged to help you after the competition.  So I was wondering on whether you either of you have discussed the future with your respective coaches?  And Pryor, you can go first.

 

Pryor Baird:    Yes.  I have heard from Blake this morning.  He reached out and asked me if I would – either if I had a full band that I could play with or an acoustic band that I could do just myself.  And he wants to book me at some of his Ole Red, one in Tishomingo Oklahoma, and a couple elsewhere.  So yes he’s definitely reached out to me.  He reached out to me last night after the show while we were still on the show and it was still going on.  You know, he made sure to pull me aside and he’s like, “Hey, give me your phone number right now so I can make sure that you and I are in complete contact.” And, yes, it’s very, you know, open phone line to one another if I need something, I can definitely call him.  And he has reached out this morning as well as yesterday so yes we are definitely in contact, and we will be moving forward as a team.

 

Q)  And Kaleb, Kelly had mentioned that she had songs for you and there were producers maybe that she had talked to.  I was wondering if you two had discussed that at all.

 

Kaleb Lee:    Yes. Similar to Blake and Pryor we’ve had conversations last night and this morning, and just through email, and back and forth.  And – yes so I’m excited about some stuff that that could happen, you know?  We’ve got – we still got some stuff to play out with The Voice and see where – where that goes if anywhere.  But yes I’m just excited about the options.  And, Kelly, I know is – has been – she was the first one that turned for me in the blind auditions.  And so she’s – literally from the very beginning she’s been the biggest supporter of mine and I know what she said last night on-camera is – she said 10 different times in 10 different ways off camera.  So I’m excited about what’s to come.

 

Q)  That’s great.  And another question for both of you.  Do you think it would have helped you – help your instant save performance to have performed later? Like, to have that last spot that Britton had?

 

Pryor Baird:          No absolutely not. It doesn’t make any difference.  You know, the three of us, it’s kind of like Kaleb and I are – we have the same demographic of people that are listening to our music, same age group, and everything, whereas Britton has the younger group and he’s got, you know, such a massive following on all social media platforms.  So it wouldn’t make a difference if Kaleb and I would have gone last or whatever.  The cards are going to fall, you know, and I’m – it’s just – it is what it is. And to be honest with you I’m glad it worked out this way because I wouldn’t have wanted to win, because it would have been like a competition. I wouldn’t want to win and I wouldn’t want to lose to Kaleb.  And he wouldn’t want to lose.  And it just – it worked out the way it’s supposed to, and it couldn’t worked out any better to be honest.

 

Q) And Kaleb?

 

Kaleb Lee:  Yes I agree.  I mean, I think we can get into what ifs a lot and the order of it is kind of what it is.  I mean, I agree with Pryor and in the fact that I think the bigger thing was that our voters were probably more split than anything.  And again I guess Britton has had a really great following, and Britton is super talented.  I mean, I’m super excited for him and excited for him to move forward.  So I agree I think it shook out the way it needed to.

 

 

 

*CONFERENCE CALL*