Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Austin Jenckes from The Voice Season 5 released In My Head from his upcoming album in 2018.

And the Top 10 finisher from The Voice Season 5 recently released a new single from that project, “In My Head.”

It’s a song about a man missing a lost love and imagining her return.

Austin, who’s been writing songs in Nashville for seven years, penned this one with Lynn Hutton and Scott Stevens. And not with the intention of being the artist who would wind up recording it.

“Once we went in the studio to demo it, I ended up singing that version and fell in love with the vibe and the story within the song,” Austin, from Duvall, Wash., said. “It has such vivid imagery in the lyric that it feels like I’m in that moment every time we play it.”

The original version of the song has already been streamed more than 500,000 times on Spotify, and Austin followed up by releasing a stripped-down version of the song in mid-December.

Austin’s also no stranger to this top songs list. He made it last year with a song called “Same Beer Different Day,” which manages to take the country music cliches of drinking songs and small town songs, roll them into one and somehow still make it seem fresh.

That song has surpassed 1 million streams on Spotify.

Here’s “In My Head.”

Editor’s Note: By my count, former contestants from The Voice released more than 70 albums or EPs, more than 90 music videos and more than 800 original songs in 2018.

This week, I’m featuring my favorites, spotlighting what I’m calling the Top 5 music videos, Top 20 songs and Top 5 albums/EPs.

I hesitate to call them the best because that’s very subjective. Besides, I easily could have made each of these lists five times as long and still omitted lots and lots of great music.

That’s why I grit my teeth when Marshmellow or Ann-Marie or even a coach or advisor winds up with a guest performance spot on The Voice. I’ll never understand why the show doesn’t do more to promote its alumni.

Ah, but this isn’t a time for griping. It’s time to celebrate the accomplishments of talented artists.

I’ve also posted a complete list of post-Voice singles, albums and EPs, with links for your listening pleasure. And a blog with all 90-plus music videos. Please, check them out. Find your own favorites.

And if I’ve missed anyone, let me know. Stage names change. Side projects are created. Tracking the output of 600 post-Voice artists … well, I’ll be shocked if I didn’t miss someone. Just let me know by commenting below or emailing [email protected]. In terms of singles, my goal is to list any where the former contestant is the primary vocalist.

Coming tomorrow: The Top 5 post-Voice albums of 2018.

Happy listening.

Top songs (not ranked)

Adanna Duru, “Doll”
Amanda Brown, “Take a Pill”
Amy Vachal, “Wait”
Austin Jenckes, “In My Head”
Brian Nhira, “‘Til Death Do Us Part”

Cartelli, “Last Night’s Mascara”
Chloe Kohanski, “Come This Far”
Christiana Danielle, “Resignation”
Darby, “Save a Thought for Me”
Domo, “Currency”

D.R. King & Jackie Foster, “Love is a Drug”
Jamie Lono, “New Orleans”
Johnny Gates, “Brooklyn Nights”
Koryn Hawthorne, “Down Goes Rome”
Loren Allred, “Never Enough”

Matt McAndrew, “Game Over”
Natalie Stovall, “Making Out in Cars”
RaeLynn, “Queens Don’t”
Riley Biederer, “Heartbreak Back”
We McDonald, “Head Up High”

Top Videos

1. Faultlines (Ashley Morgan), “Rain”
2. Sawyer Fredericks, “Hide Your Ghost”
3. Darby, “Play Pretend”
4. Brian Nhira, “Is This Love?”
5. Dawson Coyle, “Saturn”

All 2018 music videos
All 2018 albums and EPs
All 2018 singles