Idol Chatter & Voice Views

On strategy in the finals: “So far, Shakira’s advice, all of it’s relevant and all of it you can use,” says Kristen Merlin, of Hanson, Mass. “But I think the thing that stuck out most to me is (to) really connect with everything and ground myself. I tend to get really excited and move around a ton. Sometimes it’s not so much the performance that’s the biggest thing. You have to focus on the song first. Deliver that correctly, then worry about the performance.”

Her audition: Kristen, 29 at the time, auditioned with a lively performance of Sugarland’s “Something More.” Adam Levine turned around early in the performance, soon joined by Shakira. The country coach, Blake Shelton, did not turn around. But Shakira promised to call Blake’s wife, country star Miranda Lambert, for tips on how to coach Kristen. Kristen chose to join Team Shakira.

Since then: She defeated Lindsay Bruce in the first battle round; they sang Reba McEntire’s “Turn on the Radio.” In the second round, she defeated Emily B. They performed “I Can Love You Better.” She made the finals with a fine version of Carrie Underwood’s “Two Black Cadillacs” in the Team Shakira playoffs. The song cracked the Top 70 on iTunes country chart the next day, but did not break onto the Top 200 singles chart.

Her background: Kristen told The Voice she’s always been musically inclined, but really got hooked when she wrote a song for her grandfather and sang it at his funeral. “To bring peace to people through music, that’s what I want to do.” For a while after college, she had a day job and did music on the side. Then the gal who gravitates toward country music won a contest and got to perform with Sugarland in Las Vegas. At that point, she quit her day job, and she’s been making a living playing music four to six nights a week. Teased about her tomboyish appearance since her youth, she says she came out to her mother when she was 15 and has her full support.

What the show didn’t show: This is apparently her third time trying out for The Voice. According to her website bio, she made the top 150 when she tried out in 2011 and 2012. She also tried out for American Idol in 2010. But she has plenty of real-life experience, too. She attended the University of New Haven in Connecticut to pursue a degree in music and sound recording. When she moved back to Massachusetts, she performed first as part of a two-woman duo called Circling Straight, then as lead singer in a pair of cover bands — Arctic Playground and Six Food Sunday. Prior to her latest audition for The Voice, she was fronting her own Kristen Merlin band and working on a debut album of all original material. In between all that, she was named South Shore’s Best Acoustic Solo Act in the Boston Nightlife Awards in 2009.

Quote: “It’s kind of funny, I hated country (music) growing up, and then it took a turn toward more like pop rock country. I started digging artists like Reba McEntire and Martina McBride. And there’s the kind of story telling that all the country songs have. That drew me into it because whenever I’d write my own stuff, it would be the same kind of thing.”

On iTunes: Just her four songs from The Voice, but you can check out a couple of her originals below.

Keeping up with Kristen:
Twitter: @KristenMerlin
Facebook
YouTube
Website

Editor’s Note: For links to profiles of all the Season 6 artists on The Voice, go here.

“Confusion” (an original)

“A Little While” (an original)

“Baby Girl” with Sugarland in Vegas