Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Voice is celebrating its 20th season this spring.

And I’ve decided to celebrate too, by shining a spotlight on my all-time favorite post-Voice music.

Please note that I’m not labeling these songs as “the best” post-Voice music. That’s simply too dependent on musical tastes.

These are my favorites, songs that make me smile or move me every time I listen.

I hope you’ll celebrate these artists with me. After all, they’re the ones who have made The Voice worth watching since the show premiered April 26, 2011.

The Swon Brohers, “Dwight Trashed”

After 20 seasons of The Voice, The Swon Brothers — Zach and Colton — remain the most successful duo ever to appear on the show. They had the top finish: third in Season 4 on a show where no other duo has ever made the finals. And they’ve enjoyed the most post-show success. Heck, they even toured with Carrie Underwood. They’ve also released lots of great music, including an impressive 2020 album, “Nashlahoma.” But this rowdy country rocker, the lead track on their 2017 “Pretty Cool Scars” EP, remains my favorite Swon Brothers track. It completes complete with word plays on the names of country artists Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakum, George Strait, Clint Black, Brooks & Dunn. Heck, I might have missed someone. Blake Bollinger, Jared Mullins and Ben Stennis wrote the tune, and Zach Swon said the brothers aren’ shy about recording others’ songs. “For us, it’s the best song win,” he said when the EP was released.
The Swon Brothers’ Instagram. The Swon Brothers on Apple Music. The Swon Brothers on Spotify.

Jacquie, “Red”

Jacquie was 16 when she auditioned for Season 5 of The Voice as Jacquie Lee and wound up finishing second behind Tessanne Chin. She’s gone through some growing pains since, musically and otherwise, including a bout with bulimia and a record deal in which she felt like she was being forced to be an artist and record music she really didn’t identify with. She would up cutting ties with her entire team and leaving New York for L.A. with “no plan.” She calls herself “professionally unemployed” on Instagram, but seems to have found a voice musically, shortening her stage name to Jacquie and releasing a pair of impressive 2020 EPs — “Infinity” and “Rinascita.” The latter includes a single called “PSSY PWR,” a song she says is designed to “empower women and unite women” in a culture that typically “pits us against one another.” The accompanying music video “highlights the complexities of an abusive relationship.” It’shard to imagine 16-year-old Jacquie tackling such topics. But my favorite Jacquie song so far is the soulful and catchy “Red,” about a guy who makes Jacquie see “red.”
Jacquie’s Instagram. Jacquie on Apple Music. Jacquie on Spotify.

Darby, “Save a Thought for Me”

Darby Anne Walker auditioned for Season 11 of The Voice at 17, finished Top 11, then headed off to New York where she fell in love and had her heart broken for the first time. She put it all to song in an impressive EP called “OK Baby Until Tomorrow.” It ends with the magical “Save a Thought for Me,” a song that manages to be bittersweet and hopeful all at once, yearning for an intense love lost while acknowledging it’s time to move on. The little post-song celebration Darby decided to keep as part of the track is a nice touch too, a tribute to a perfect take and a brighter future. Judging from her Instagram, the story had a happy ending. Darby’s found love again. And once nicknamed T-Rex because of her love for meat, she’s declared herself vegan, is offering to help others make the same change and says she’s “moving into a lifestyle where I’ll get to ground myself in the outdoors majority of the time.”
Darby’s Instagram. Darby on Apple Music. Darby on Spotify.

Amy Vachal, “Wait”

Amy said she started this song before The Voice. She and co-writer Kiyoshi Matsuyama stood on opposite ends of “a rugged rehearsal space” in Brooklyn with a keyboard in the middle. “We each spilled out a different melody, sang ’em back to back, and they almost too easily became the verse and chorus,” she explained on Instagram. “(We) had some placeholder lines, but no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t finish the lyrics. It was like we almost knew what it meant, but hadn’t lived it yet.” Then Amy returned home from Season 9 of The Voice, where she finished Top 8 for Team Adam Levine. And she said she “suddenly found myself living inside the words of what that song had really meant.” She called up Matsuyama, they finished “Wait” and it became the lead single for her impressive 2018 album, “Strawberry Moon.” Amy was back with two covers in 2020 — “Moon River” and “La Vie En Rose” — and performed a virtual concert at New York’s Rockwood Music Hall earlier this year.
Amy’s Instagram. Amy Vachal on Apple Music. Amy Vachal on Spotify.

Ddendyl, “Kicking and Screaming”

Ddendyl Hoyt appeared on Season 6 of The Voice and released this incredibly catchy kiss-off song as part of a fine 2015 EP called “Lonely Heart.” In spite of the title, Ddendyl doesn’t appear too disappointed about becoming single again in the accompanying music video. She gives a guy a none-to-reluctant boot, then celebrates with a wonderful little hop-kick at the end. A D.C. lounge singer when we met her at 25, Ddendyl has since settled in Vegas where she’s enjoyed several residencies, opened for Scotty McCreery and Hunter Hayes and is currently performing three times a week at the Aria Resort and Casino. She also recently won the Battle of the Bands Henderson. And after a brief foray into country music, she’s back in the alternative lane and preparing to release her first single since 2019 — “Gonna Need My Love” — on May 28. Oh, you won’t find “Kicking or Screaming” on streaming sites, but Ddendyl said she might be re-recording the song.
Ddendyl’s Instagram. Ddendyl Hoyt on Apple Music. Ddendyl Hoyt on Spotify.

[Official] Kicking and Screaming by Ddendyl from James Abrams on Vimeo.

Editor’s Note: There’s also a Spotify playlist I’ll be updating weekly. Just search for Celebrating 20 Seasons of The Voice.

Alisan Porter, “Wild One”

You might says Alisan had some false starts after winning Season 10 of The Voice. The label deal that came with the victory produced nothing, not even a single. Then she was scheduled to star in a Voice-themed Vegas show, only to have the plug pulled before a single performance. But she’s bounced back to release some great music in the past four years, including this fun song, one of the lead singles to her fine 2019 “Pink Cloud” album. Said Alisan: “‘Wild One’ is about being unapologetically free to be yourself. To embrace all the unique and out of control parts of you, but also know where your boundaries are. It’s about accepting and loving all the things that make you human, and the parts of you that are a little different. I want everyone to be bravely themselves and feel freedom in that.” She wrote the song with Matthew Charles Rollings and former Voice contestant Kylie Rothfield, who you met earlier on this list. Alisan’s latest release was an October single called “Lungs,” and she recently reflected on the impact The Voice had on her life.
Alisan’s Instagram. Alisan Porter on Apple Music. Alisan Porter on Spotify.

See also …
Week 1: Christina Grimmie, Sawyer Fredericks, Mia Z, Kensington Moore, Taylor John Williams, Koryn Hawthorne, Zaxai, Brynn Cartelli

Week 2: Kat Robichaud, Chevonne and The Fuzz, Melanie Martinez, Archis (Dia Frampton), Rebecca Loebe, Jamar Rogers, Brian Nhira

Week 3: Brennley Brown, Craig Wayne Boyd, Adam Wakefield, Kyndal Inskeep, Austin Jenckes, Jared Blake, Cassadee Pope

Week 4: Secret Someones (Leila Broussard), D.R. King and Jackie Foster, Wolfchild (Gabriel Wolfchild), Ricky Manning, Moses Stone, Wé McDonald

Week 5: Tony Lucca, Juliet Simms, Chris Mann, Duncan Kamakana, Jordy Searcy, Adanna Duru, Stephen Marcellus

Week 6: Chloe Kohanski, Meghan Linsey, Christiana Danielle, Charlotte Sometimes (now LACES), Chance Pena, Matt McAndrew, Angie K (Angie Keilhauer)

Week 7: Ricky Duran, Luke Wade (as LAWS), Billy Gilman, Emily Keener, Kylie Rothfield, Johnny Gates, Amanda Brown

Week 8: Dustin Christensen, Jonny Gray, Kat Robichaud, Dia Frampton, Lelia Broussard

Week 9: RaeLynn, Natalie Stovall, Gracee Shriver, The Swon Brothers, Ashland Craft, Kristi Hoopes, Texas Hill (Adam Wakefield and Craig Wayne Boyd)

Week 10: Angela Wolff, Brooke Stephenson, Fousheé, Paxton Ingram, Ashley DuBose, Javier Colon, Gigi Rich