Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Season 5 of The Voice begins Monday night at 8 p.m. on NBC. Check back for live blogs during each show and for bios of contestants who land a spot in the competition.

Meanwhile, it’s time to catch up with some familiar faces from past seasons, with the focus on those who have released music recently. Lelia Broussard, a Louisiana native who now lives in New York, was 23 when she auditioned for Season 3 of The Voice.

Before The Voice: Lelia released a “Waiting for the 9” EP in 2008, an album called “Masquerade” in 2010 and an excellent EP called “Wolves Are at My Door” in 2011. Check out “Hipster B–ch” from “Masquerade.” It’s one of the best diss-the-other-girl ditties you’ll find. In fact, of the many artists The Voice has introduced us to many artists whose music deserves to be heard. For me, Lelia tops the list. Her biggest brush with pre-Voice fame came when she finished second in a 2011 Rolling Stones “Choose a Cover” contest.

On The Voice: We didn’t get to see nearly enough of Lelia. Her “We Can Work it Out” audition was part of a montage, but landed her a spot on Team Blake. She lost in the battle round to Susanna Choffel after they performed “Dog Days Are Over.”

Since The Voice: This summer, Lelia promised to release a single a month “for at least five months (maybe more, who knows!)” She’s lived up to the promise, releasing “Runaway” in July, “Turn to Stone” in August and, just today, “Buffalo Stars.” According to her Facebook page, a video for “Buffalo Stars” should be coming next week. She’s apparently also started performing as part of a band called Secret Someones with Bess Rogers, Hannah Winkler and Zach Jones.

Keeping up with Lelia: On Twitter, she is simply @leliabroussard. Here are the links for her Facebook page and website.

Lelia Broussard, “Buffalo Stars”