Jerome Bell and Adam Bastien of OneUp perform during the blind audition on The Voice. (NBC Photo)
Yep, that blind audition we saw on The Voice Monday night marked the first public performance for the duo known as OneUp.
But it will be far from the last if partners Adam Bastien, 36, and Jerome Bell, 35, have their way.
Adam and Jerome talked with Voice Views about the duo’s origin and their plans for the future during a conference call this week.
“We met because we were doing a video shoot together for a vocal group that I have been working with and then we fell in love pretty much immediately, probably within a month, and then we wrote together,” Adam explained.
“And because we spend all of our time together and we both love singing so much, we just started making Instagram videos. And I think that we both realized through that how much we loved singing together because we have similar sensibilities as far as musicianship goes and the style of music that we love.
“So at this point, we are ready to make this our endeavor for the rest of our careers. We really want to build something together so that we’re touring together and that we’re creating together. So, yes, this is a beginning of a very, very long-lived thing, we hope.”
For their Voice blind audition, they covered The Spinners’ “Could It Be We’re Falling in Love.”
And, for a first public performance, you might say it went pretty well. They earned chair turns from Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson and Adam Levine.
Jerome said the fact that it was their first performance made it more important to OneUp.
“That process of putting choreography together and learning where our voices are strongest and how we should highlight those parts of our voices, that’s what made this experience so incredible,” he said.
“We’re still just learning each other every day and we learned new things about each other musically and it’s been awesome.”
And while they both expressed their love of Motown music during the blind audition, OneUp doesn’t plan to restrict itself to just one genre, he added.
“The type of music that we want to make is something that is timeless and I think that that doesn’t have to be married to any specific genre of music,” Jerome said.
“We listen to literally everything from country to rock to alternative. And through all of these genres, there are timeless songs that people will remember forever. So I think that’s our goal: to continue performing and trying to make timeless music, but Motown is a great example of that.”
As for picking Kelly as their coach, Adam said OneUp had a pre-performance inclination to go that way. But she sealed it when she was overcome by emotion from the sight of them standing on the stage with their combined families.
Said Kelly: “In a time in this country when it is so divisive, this is such a beautiful thing. It is proof in this country that love is limitless. It can happen anywhere and with anyone.”
Said Adam Bastien: “That was at the heart of what we wanted to get across to America.”
We’ll next see Adam and Jerome of OneUp during the battle round on The Voice. The blind auditions conclude Monday night.
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