Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Alexandra Joyce performs during a blind audition that turned three chairs on The Voice Season 13. (NBC Photo)

Lots of singers on The Voice are hoping the show provides a boost to a musical career they’ve already started.

Alexandra Joyce, 17, of Wesley Chapel, Fla., pretty much decided to start her career on The Voice stage.

Oh, she’d been singing since she was young, starting out in school choirs before learning the guitar and deciding she’d prefer to be a solo singer-songwriter.

But she hadn’t released music before the show and she didn’t show up with a YouTube page stocked with dozens of cover songs.

Nevertheless, she turned three chairs with her blind audition performance of Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams” and landed a spot on Team Jennifer Hudson.

In a Facebook message to fans, Alexandra calls her time on The Voice “the most amazing experience of my life.” In a Dominique Digital interview, she’s effusive in her praise of Jennifer as a vocal coach.

“This is the beginning of my journey and I am so happy to have started somewhere so great,” she writes on Facebook.

But the experience wasn’t without its disappointments — specifically, the fact that fans of the show barely got to hear her sing. Both her blind audition and battle round match were montaged. In total, about 15 seconds of her two performances aired.

Alexandra told Voice Views the battle match between herself and Jeremiah was the very last one filmed. All the saves were gone by that point.

“After they had announced Jeremiah as the winner and I had said my small thank you and goodbye, all four coaches — even Jennifer, who can’t steal me — were pressing their buttons saying that they wanted me to stay.

“It was very disappointing to have the judges want to steal me, but sadly have no steals left to use. I was hoping that would at least have been shown on TV. It was definitely even more disappointing to have been montaged again,” she said.

Here are Alexandra’s responses to other questions from Voice Views:

Voice Views: I know the battles were filmed a while back. What have you been doing musically since then?

Alexandra: When I returned home from the battle rounds I went right into school. I haven’t done much musically since then, other than the normal practice and recording at my house. I am very interested in finding places in the Tampa Bay area to perform, and I have been trying to look around for places recently.

Voice Views: Where do you see The Voice experience taking you musically? Do you see yourself releasing music? If so, have you honed in on a musical direction/genre?

Alexandra: I think The Voice was a fantastic starting point for me as a musician. Being 17 years old, this is just the beginning of my journey and I absolutely plan working to grow as an artist and eventually releasing music in the future. I sing a little bit of everything, but I would describe myself as a folk/indie artist. I plan on sticking with folk/indie and doing a little pop here and there as well.

Voice Views: Do you think you grew as an artist while on the show? If so, in what way?

Alexandra: I wouldn’t say that I grew as an artist while on the show, but I can definitely say that I grew a lot as a singer. The only reason I say I grew as a singer instead of as an artist, is because while filming, you specifically spend a lot of time on your voice (hence the name of the show ha-ha).

I feel that there are a lot more things that affect who I am as an artist, including my instrument, my genre, the ability to take a song and make it my own, etc. While on the show, I didn’t have the freedom to fully hone in on who I am as an artist.

It was an honor to have gotten the chance to work with Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Rowland. I learned SO MUCH from both of them and I have seen the improvement in my voice through working with them.

Voice Views: How much time did you invest in the show and what’s your reaction to being montaged in both the blind auditions and the battle round?

Alexandra: From the very first audition to heading home after the battle rounds, it was roughly 7 or 8 months of work. Some months required more work than others, i.e. the months we spent in California filming, practicing, etc. My mother and I were in California for the entire month of June for the blind audition rounds, and then returned for multiple weeks late July-early August for the battle rounds.

It was for sure very disappointing to have gotten montaged for both the blind auditions and the battle rounds. With the amount of time that was put into the preparation for the blind audition, and even a camera crew coming out to Wesley Chapel to film some stuff, we weren’t expecting a montage for the audition. Then the battle montage was just kind of an extra sting.

Here are Alexandra’s social media links and the studio version of the Taylor Swift cover we didn’t get to hear. It’s available on iTunes.

Instagram
Twitter: @AAlexandraJoyce
Facebook

Alexandra Joyce of The Voice Season 13 performs during the battle round. (NBC Photo)

Alexandra Joyce and Jeremiah Miller discuss their battle round match with Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Rowland. (NBC Photo)