Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Brittany Butler, 21, of Boston, Mass., auditioned with the 1960s hit “The Girl from Ipanema.” Her jazzy tone prompted Gwen Stefani to turn her chair early in the performance. She was later joined by Pharrell Williams, who praised Brittany’s unique performance. Brittany decided to join Team Pharrell.

Her background: On the show, Brittany told us her parents divorced when she was very young, and her mother suffered from Crohn’s disease. That meant she spent lots of time with her grandparents and her granddad became the father figure in her life. He’s the one who introduced her to to music from the 1940s and ’50s and jazz standards. He also bought Brittany her first guitar, then a camera so she could record herself singing and post videos to YouTube. “That changed my life,” she says. She always dreamed of attending the Berklee School of Music, but her mom notes the tuition is expensive. Brittany says she worked hard and wound up earning a full scholarship.

What the show didn’t show: Judging from her website bio, Brittany was doing more than just posting YouTube covers as a young girl. There we learn that she had won a number of singing competitions before age 12, including being chosen as a top four finalists in a Fearless competition by Taylor Swift and winning an American Idol-type competition judged by former Idol finalists Mikalah Gordon, LaToya London and George Huff. She also performed with the Berklee City Music Rock Ensemble and, at one point, opened for Idol winner Kris Allen. During her Voice video interview, Brittany admits she’s flip-flopped a bit in terms of her musical identity over the years. She grew up trying to mimic Ella Fitzgerald. The music of Green Day inspired her to learn guitar and at that point, she says, “I thought rock was what I was supposed to do.” When Brittany was 18, Amy Winehouse died. “Her unfortunate death kind of rekindled that love I had for jazz,” Brittany explains. “I kind of reverted back to what I was raised on.” In fact, the version of “Girl from Ipanema” she performed was based on Amy Winehouse’s cover of the song. She describes her music now as a mix of jazz, R&B and pop. And Pharrell is precisely the coach Brittany was hoping to work with on The Voice. “Growing up, I was very aware of him. He was always on the radio collaborating with all these different people … I thought that he would understand what I was about the most. And he was totally everything I expected, so intelligent, kind, humble. He was just so knowledgeable about everything and I was like, ‘Yes, this is why I wanted you as my coach.'”

Update: Brittany was eliminated from the show when she lost to Ricky Manning in the battle round. They sang “On Broadway” by George Benson.

Keeping up with Brittany:
Twitter: @ibrittanybutler
Facebook
YouTube
Website

“Dance, Dance” (cover)

“No Other Man” (original)

“Dancing Shoes” (cover)