Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Blind audition: Lauren Diaz, 24, of Apple Valley, Calif., auditioned with “If I Ain’t Got You” by her idol, Alicia Keys. And she earned a quick chair turn from Alicia while demonstrating a big strong voice. Before the performance ended, Blake Shelton and Miley Cyrus were also facing Lauren, who broke down in tears and got a hug of congratulations from Alicia. To seal the deal, Alicia sang the song back to Lauren, inserting Lauren’s name into the lyrics. Of course, Lauren opted to join Team Alicia.

Her background: She’s a vocal teacher who travels from home to home, giving private lessons. At 19, she and her boyfriend Randy learned they were going to have a child. They’re still together; she calls him her “fake husband, adding, “He really hates that. But I hope that one day it becomes true.” Lauren describes herself as an “obsessed” die-hard Alicia Keys fan. She sang an Alicia song at age 13 when she won “America’s Most Talented Kids.” You can check out her performance in the video below. “I thought that I was going to get a record deal. It was also a huge heartbreak for me because I always got so close and then nothing would come from it.” As for the fake husband — her audition clip ended with Randy proposing backstage and Lauren slipping an engagement ring onto her finger.

What the show didn’t show:
* According to The Voice website, Lauren decided to put her pursuit of a music career on hold temporary because of the birth of her son and the fact that her mother was going through a divorce and had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis around the same time.
* She did independently release a dance single in 2010 called “Ever Again,” which is still available on iTunes.
* In a conference call interview, Lauren said she was “definitely skeptical” about auditioning with an Alicia Keys tune. “I did not want to fail her. I obviously wanted her to love it. And so that was probably the most nerve wracking for me — going out there and singing a judge’s song.”
* Having Alicia sing back to her, on the other hand, “was just awesome,” Lauren said. “She has been my idol my entire life. And listening to her actually sing ‘If I Ain’t Got You’ and saying ‘if I ain’t got you, Lauren’ was the most liberating thing I ever felt. I’m still dumb founded on what happened.”
* Though they’ve been together on and off for about six years, Lauren called her boyfriend’s proposal “a shocker.” Her surprise was obvious from her reaction on TV, she said. “I just walked away because I was literally in shock.” Of course, she only took a few steps before turning around and saying “yes.”
* The blind auditions are pre-taped well in advance of airing and contestants are prohibited from sharing details about them until they hit TV. That meant Lauren couldn’t share the details of how she got engaged, though she said lots of acquaintances in the small town she’s from wanted to know “the dirty details.” She just told friends they had gone on vacation and gotten engaged there.
* The reaction to her audition and engagement since? “Gosh, I mean my phone is going to crash,” Lauren said. “Our hometown, they just knew I was gone for a little bit and then once they saw my audition and on top of that the proposal, everybody was just in shock. And Randy is a very shy person. So for him to get the courage to do that, I mean that just blew everybody away right there.”

Keeping up with Lauren:
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Twitter: @thelaurendiaz