Idol Chatter & Voice Views

With The Voice wrapping up Season 18 this week, let’s take a look at the newest music from artists we met in Season 17.

That would include recent releases from Cali Wilson, Elise Azkoul, Lauren Hall and Matt New, who has a special guest helping out with his new single.

Here’s a bit about each of those releases.

The links take you to the songs on Apple Music. Or you can check out the Spotify snippets below.

Stream, stream, stream away. Artists need your support in this time of no live shows.

* Matt New from Season 17 has released a pop single called “Couple of Fools” and an accompanying music video featuring the other half of the couple in question, his wife Kylie. In a Facebook chat with fans, Matt calls it “totally different” from his previous post-Voice singles (“L.A.” and “Barely Getting By”) and says his goal was to create a fun, high-energy party song, just in time for summer. He co-wrote the song with Mitchell Kilpatrick and Austin Arreguin. The plan for the music video was to have he and Kylie drive around L.A. acting like a couple of fools. Rainy weather interrupted those plans, and it became a snazzy dance video instead.

* Cali Wilson from Season 17 released the sultry single “Time of Your Night” earlier this month. It’s a song she co-wrote with John Tucker, Luke DeJaynes and Joey Hendricks. It’s also her second release since The Voice, following the love song “Say It First.” In addition to the romantic leanings of her two new singles, Cali’s gotten engaged to her girlfriend since the show.

* Elise Azkoul from Season 17 has released a couple of originals since the show — “Sweet Soul” and “Memory.” Now she’s back with a cover of her “favorite” Beatles song, “Here Comes the Sun” because “I think we can all use a little sunshine right about now.”

* Lauren Hall from Season 17 has released her first song since, a truly haunting cover of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box,” a song that seems perfectly matched for her vocals. You might recall that Lauren made Team Kelly on her seventh time auditioning for the show. She released a debut single, “Rainy Day in the City” prior to appearing on the show.