Idol Chatter & Voice Views

A year after Brynn Cartelli became the youngest winner ever on The Voice at age 15, the show’s coaches are stockpiling their teams with young talent.

So far, 28 contestants have landed spots on the show. Eight of those contestants — or more than a quarter — are minors.

And last week’s blind auditions brought Season 15 its second 15-year-old in Anthony Arya and its second 13-year-old in Reagan Strange, both of whom landed on Team Adam Levine.

That leaves them competing alongside some singers who were performing before they were born.

Neither seem to have any qualms about that.

“I’ve been busking and performing for a few years and I really felt like I was ready when the opportunity popped up,” Anthony told Voice Views.

The Santa Cruz, Calif., resident said he started working with the show as the result of a Instagram contest and added that he’s been watching since Season 1.

“So it’s just been a dream come true to have that opportunity to come on the show. And I really thought I was ready to share my voice.”

Adam apparently agreed. He turned for Anthony’s cover of “Danny’s Song.”

And Anthony that his coach started music at a young age, albeit not on a televised singing competition.

“He started his band Kara’s Flowers, which turned into Maroon 5, when he was in high school so I really admire that,” Anthony said. “And I think he obviously has so much success in the music industry that it’s just a dream come true to be able to work with him.”

Reagan’s been on TV before, as one of the fifth-grade whiz kids on FOX’s “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader” back in 2015.

But on The Voice, she and Kennedy Holmes are the first 13-year-olds to make the show since Season 12.

Like Anthony, Reagan says she’s been watching The Voice since it premiered back in the spring of 2011.

“I was about 6 or 7 years old when I started watching the show,” she told Voice Views. “As a little girl, I had always envisioned myself on that stage and it’s always been my dream. And as soon as they lowered the age to 13 I just thought, now is my time.”

She noted that even her song choice, Bebe Rexha’s “Meant to Be,” fit that them.

Blake Shelton and Adam Levine turned for Reagan’s blind audition, giving her a choice of coaches. And despite a pre-audition preference for Blake, she chose Adam, who praised the “effortlessness” in her voice and performance.

As for Reagan’s goal with music, it’s pretty simple, she says.

“I want to spread joy with my music<" the high school freshman from Memphis, Tenn., says. "I don’t want to spread any sort of hate. I want it to be purely joy and I want to put a smile on people’s faces." For more on Reagan and Anthony, follow the links attached to their names. We’ll see them again during The Voice battle rounds, which begin in a couple of weeks.

The blind auditions continue Monday on NBC.

See also …
After turning four chairs, Sandy Redd talks about her Voice coaching pick
Audri Bartholomew talks about a last-second chair turn and singing with JHUD
Dave Fenley talks about the RNC and ‘Make America Great Again’
Chevel Shepperd talks about her Chevy Chevelle
Kyberli Joye talks about being blocked on The Voice
Night 3 recap with videos of each performance
Night 4 recap with videos of each performance