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Trace Adkins is Keepin’ it Country:
Tag Archives: RaeLynn
EXCLUSIVE: RaeLynn Off The Voice, On Target For Country Career
The Voice rolls on without RaeLynn. But don’t waste a second worrying about the spunky 17-year-old. She may be off the show, but she’s well on her way to a career in country.
The native of Baytown, Texas reached the quarterfinals before being eliminated at the end of last week’s results show. America voted to save Jermaine Paul, which forced her and Erin Willett to sing for Team Blake’s remaining spot in the semi-finals. RaeLynn’s version of “If I Die Young” by The Band Perry was sweet, but not sweet enough. In the end, coach Blake Shelton made the tough (and for many, unexpected) call of cutting the country singer.
During her time on The Voice, RaeLynn was called everything from country cutie to heartbreaker to badass. Whatever you call her, don’t call her done. Elimination doesn’t mark the end for RaeLynn. Instead, it signals the start of her next step. From what we’re learned about RaeLynn, expect that step to be a big one. She’s a spitfire who won’t be stopped.
In the following interview, we talked about the elimination, how she faced the music afterwards in the press room, handling the haters, a special “taste” of home and what lies ahead.
2012 Artist To Watch: Mary Sarah
Mary Sarah is slowly carving out a place for herself in country’s future. What sets her apart is that she’s doing it by honoring country’s past.
The Richmond, Texas resident is only 16 years old, but she’s already accomplished more than many artists twice her age. When she was 12 she landed a spot as a feature singer with KidzBop, which had her touring the nation performing before thousands of fans each night.
Then when she was only 14, she recorded her first album, “Crazy Good,” which came out last year. The album not only showcases her singing, but also her skill as a songwriter. She co-wrote six of the album’s nine tracks.
On most weekends you can find her performing at one the many Oprys or Squares in the Houston area. It’s there that she not only sings songs that are inline with today’s pop-country, but also tips her hat to traditional country by singing the songs of Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and the like.
She loves the small stages, but Mary Sarah is no stranger to the area’s big arenas. She’s performed the National Anthem for both the Houston Astros and the Houston Texans. But her most noticeable stage performance (at least for now) came in 2011 when the Oak Ridge Boys invited her onstage to sing. The then 15-year-old brought the crowd to its feet with her a cappella version of Connie Francis’ “Where The Boys Are.” (See a video of that performance below.)
RaeLynn Goes Live, Spends Sunday Online With Fans
After last week’s live show performance on The Voice that earned her a spot in the show’s Top 16, RaeLynn decided to a little live show of her own. We’re not talking about TV or even a club gig. This was simply RaeLynn spending part of her Easter Sunday connecting with her fans in a webcast.
Say what you will about the spunky 17-year-old from Baytown, TX, but she sure has fun. She took the chat in every conceivable direction: From her love of “boy bands” (especially One Direction and singer Harry Styles) to being disappointed in hearing Jake Owen got engaged (even though she said the 30-year-old Owen is pretty old) to talking about one of her friends getting a boyfriend. She may be on her way to being a big star, but she’s still got a lot of kid in her. That’s a good thing.
She sang little snippets of songs that fans requested and even gave some of them a huge thrill by calling them. She even made a few surprise calls to some of her friends from The Voice so fans could hear from those people, too. Unfortunately for her, one of those calls kind of backfired. When she called former Team Blake member Jordan Rager, the fellow country signer didn’t know who he was talking with because he didn’t have RaeLynn’s number saved in his phone. Oops!
As for answering questions, RaeLynn tried her best, but it was hard for her (or anyone watching) to keep up with the fast and furious flow from her fans. Below are some of the her thoughts on various topics and answers to questions:
Song Support: Nicolle Galyon Backs RaeLynn On “The Voice” With Her Voice
Shortly after Nicolle Galyon left The Voice, we asked her who she would be supporting on the show. The singer/songwriter admitted she’s a fan of all the contestants, but her loyalties lay with RaeLynn.
It’s one thing to say you’re supporting somebody, but Nicolle’s taking it to another level by singing about her! The former member of Team Adam posted the song “California” on her Facebook page with the caption: “Any guess who this was written about??” (If the lyrics don’t give it away, the link to The Voice voting page and the request for folks to vote for RaeLynn certainly do!)
You can hear the song below and also get a free download of it here.
Actually, the song has a double-shot of support from former contestants on The Voice. Hailey Steele from the country duo The Line (formerly on Team Christina) sings the background vocals on the song.
The Voice: Team Blake Recap – Week 9
The Voice kicked off their live shows last night!
The competition is now in full force with the fate of the contestants placed in America’s hands.
Each of the six members from Team Blake and Team Christina took the stage for a solo performance. Tonight, the votes will provide a bottom three from each team. Then, Blake and Christina will each save one contestant and two people from each team will be sent home.
Team Blake did a great job, and came out ready to win.
Continue reading for a recap and videos of their performances…
EXCLUSIVE: Nicolle Galyon After “The Voice”
Nicolle Galyon may not have won her Battle Round on The Voice, but as you will see, she leaves the show as a winner on so many levels.
The country music singer/songwriter was paired with Mathai for her Battle Round. Coach Adam Levine chose “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles for their battle. The song was tailor-made for the piano-playing Galyon, who lists Bareilles as one of her influences. Everything seemed to be going her way with a perfect song and Levine even saying she could play her piano during the battle.
Then the day before the battle, Levine shook things up by taking the piano out. We will never know if things may have been different had she been allowed to battle from behind her Baldwin. As it turned out, the other three coaches all felt Mathai not only sang better, but also had a more polished performance. Levine agreed, ending Nicolle’s adventure on The Voice.
We caught up with her a few days after her elimination aired to discuss her Battle Round, her upcoming projects and the moment that finally brought her to tears. Continue reading to learn how the 27-year-old native from Sterling, Kansas is on the rise both personally and professionally.
The Voice: Team Blake Recap – Week 8
And there you have it…
The Voice‘s battle rounds are now complete, and six members from each team are moving on to the live shows.
As we already know, Team Blake consists of RaeLynn, Jordis, Charlotte Sometimes, Erin Willett, Jermaine Paul… and tonight Naia Kete was added to the group!
Coach Blake Shelton paired Naia up against country boy, Jordan Rager. The amazingly talented Kelly Clarkson and Miranda Lambert were there once again to help mentor the team.
For the battle, Naia and Jordan performed Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.” As the coaches pointed out, we have seen better from both contestants and their full skills were not on display this round. When it was time for Blake to make a decision, he decided to advance Naia to the live shows.
Continue reading to check out video of the battle…
EXCLUSIVE: RaeLynn From “The Voice” On Her Battle Round And Beyond
RaeLynn keeps racking up the “firsts” for Team Blake on this season of NBC’s smash singing competition The Voice. She was the first singer selected by Blake Shelton for his team. Now she’s the first singer Blake picked as a winner in the Battle Rounds.
The 17-year-old was matched with Adley Stump for her Battle Round. The pairing brought together two different types of singers: The powerful voice of Adley vs the more stylish singing RaeLynn. Coaches Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green picked Adley as the winner, while Adam Levine went with RaeLynn. In the end the decision was Blake’s and he went with RaeLynn, taking style over power.
Clearly, Blake sees something special about RaeLynn. But will the viewing audience feel the same way when it comes time to vote? We’ll all have to stay tuned for the answer to that question.
In the meantime, we caught up with the talented Texan to get her thoughts on meeting Miranda Lambert, her Battle Round with Adley, preparing for the live shows and a product endorsement she could really sink her teeth into.
Did you honestly have no idea that you were going to be working with Miranda?
RaeLynn: Having Miranda Lambert Wasn’t An Advantage
The Twitter world was all up in arms this week over the first two members of Team Blake going to the live shows. Fans on Twitter took notice that both RaeLynn and Jordis were coached by the wife of Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert. The two eliminated artists – Adley Stump and Brian Fuente, were both coached by Kelly Clarkson. During a teleconference yesterday, RaeLynn admits that she feels that having Miranda as her adviser during the first Battle Round episode that aired on Monday didn’t give her the edge over Adley.
“You know, I don’t think I did because Adley’s just as amazing as – I mean all of us on this show are – we’re all amazing. I think it was awesome that he brought in my inspiration to work with me and that such a blessing. But I don’t think it gave me -it made me more confident to have, you know, Miranda behind me and have her mentoring me. Knowing she was behind me made me 10 times more excited to do the battle, but I don’t think it really gave me an edge because she got mentored by Kelly Clarkson who she absolutely adores. So I think it was, you know, we both did amazing. I love Adley and Adley is so amazing and Adley’s going to great things.”
RaeLynn also says that her friends have nicknamed her the “Little Miranda,” and explains how Miranda is such an inspiration to the singer:
“You know, me and Miranda are a lot alike. I’ve had lots of girls message me on Twitter and call me little Miranda and it’s really funny because she’s inspired me so much. I think me and Miranda are very similar in a lot of ways because we’re both really country. I can’t be anything but country. I can’t sing anything but country. I mean my whole team laughs at me when I talk, but it’s awesome because they love me, but, it’s just me and Miranda are a lot alike in a lot of ways but our voices are a little different. I think my voice is more of an old country sound but, you know, she’s inspired me and I love her rock country sound and that’s what I ultimately want to be. I think we do sound similar but we’re very different also so it’s really cool.”
RaeLynn has advanced to the live rounds which start in April. She’ll be up for fan votes to decide which team has the best voice in America. See who else makes the final Team Blake for the live rounds next week when The Voice airs on NBC at 8 pm EST.
The Voice: Team Blake Recap – Week 5
With all teams complete, The Voice is officially in the second phase of the competition!
The battle rounds began last night, and our Team Blake had to send two members home. It was a fight between Adley Stump vs. RaeLynn and Brian Fuente vs. Jordis.
Joining Team Blake as mentors are music superstars, Miranda Lambert and Kelly Clarkson. Miranda and Kelly are each in charge of six members. This week, Miranda worked with RaeLynn and Jordis, while Kelly helped out Adley and Brian. None of the team members knew that they were being mentored by Miranda and Kelly. Needless to say, they were all very excited when they walked into the room and saw them. I loved getting to watch Miranda and Kelly work with the team. They are both so unbelievably talented, knowledgeable, and down-to-earth. Not to mention, you cannot beat their first-hand experience when it comes to singing competitions.
RaeLynn vs. Adley
Blake chose Tom Petty’s, “Free Fallin’” for RaeLynn and Adley’s battle. The girls both sounded great and Adley has some vocal range. Unfortunately, Blake had to make the difficult decision of sending someone home. In the end, he decided to have RaeLynn continue forward in the competition.
Blake, Miranda, & Kelly working with RaeLynn & Adley:
RaeLynn & Adley’s Battle:
Continue reading to check out Jordis & Brian’s battle….
