Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Reid Umstattd performs on Season 14 of The Voice. (NBC Photo)

For those who missed it, Reid’s performance of the Patty Griffin’s “Let Him Fly” was montaged Monday night on The Voice.

Yet it became the most popular song from Monday’s episode on iTunes, reaching number two on the rock singles chart and number 125 on the overall singles chart by noon the next day.

To put that in perspective, 11 performances were montaged during the blind auditions and battle round on Season 14 of The Voice. Only one charted; none cracked the Top 200 on the overall singles chart.

Reid told Voice Views he decided to sing “Let Him Fly” in the knockout round because of the and the song’smessage.

“‘Let Him Fly’ is a song about learning to let go of someone you’re attached to and love deeply because you realize that, for whatever reason, the relationship is toxic or one sided or … fill in the blank,” he noted. “That’s an easy message for me to deliver. Plenty of people have been hurt by a relationship that you realize isn’t going to work out, and I’m definitely in that group.

“I also wanted to show a different side of my voice. The first two performances I gave were very in your face, high in my register, and had a lot of belting. I really wanted to get away from that and do something more subdued. This song is more in the genre of what I listen to everyday, so it was nice to move into a comfortable place that I’m familiar with.”

In the short clip we saw on the show, Reid’s coach Adam Levine complimented him on doing “an amazing job of transforming the meaning of a song.”

Reid said that was his intent, accomplished by performing a song normally sang by a female without changing the lyrics — specifically the “him” in the tune’s title.

“Kelly and Adam both remarked on how they had never thought of this as a song being delivered by a man, and that it totally changed their perspective of the tune,” Reid said. “I was extremely excited that I successfully interpreted and made it my own and got their stamp of approval.

“I wanted to try to de-specify — if that’s a thing — the perspective of the song from a woman’s point of view of a relationship she’s having with a man.

“I thought it made for an interesting take to broaden it and make it relatable not only to a woman going through this hurt, but a man going through it with another man, whether it be romantically or platonically. And it made me realize some things personally about not just romantic relationships, but platonic ones as well. It was a major journey trying to dive into this amazing song and make it my own.”

As for the unexpected chart success?

“I think the main reason is that it’s just an amazing song written by an amazing songwriter (Patty Griffin),” Reid said. “And I think people are really used to hearing it sung by a woman. To sing it as a man but keep the lyrics exactly the same I think surprised people and maybe made them hear it again for the first time.”

Reid now advances to the knockout round. He’ll be one of six members of Team Adam vying for three spots among the Season 14 Top 12.

“The strategy is to keep throwing curve balls while still staying true to myself,” the 34-year-old from Austin, Texas, said. “I’m so glad this song is getting whatever attention it’s getting because after the first two performances, which were really belty and high energy, I wanted to show the subdued and more intimate side of my voice.

“So I’ve done that. I still haven’t sung a good rock tune, so it would be nice for that to be in the future somewhere.”

See also …
Predicting who will make the Season 14 Top 12
iTunes results from the knockout round
iTunes results from the battle round
iTunes results from the blind auditions
Coming up: Song by song grades Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
Coming up: Pros and cons of the new live playoff format