Idol Chatter & Voice Views

This week’s new post-Voice music includes an EP from a former winner and a single from a former finalist.

The EP comes courtesy of Craig Wayne Boyd. And the finalist, Brooke Simpson, joins Gracia Harrison, Anthony Paul, Elenowen and Dave Fenley as former contestants with new songs out.

Here’s a roundup of that new music.

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

Craig Wayne Boyd, The Voice’s Season 7 champ, released a five-song EP called “From the InBetween” this week. The EP kicks off with a fune tune called “Baby Doll,” a song inspired by his wife Taylor and one of the first songs he wrote after winning the show. He collaborates with Jason Crabb on the heartfelt EP-closing “Me and Jesus.” In between, you’ll find the ridiculously catchy “Rocking Chair.” The EP comes two years after Craig’s post-Voice debut album, “Top Shelf.”

Brooke Simpson, the third-place finisher on Season 13, released a new single “Stick Like Honey” on Friday. On Instagram, Brooke says she wrote the song during a 30-minute Facetime call with a friend and fellow songwriter Lauren Hungate and that it was inspired by her feelings for her husband. “From the moment we started writing this, I knew this song was special.”

Gracia Harrison from Season 5 released “Civil War” last week, marking her first single in more than three years. Sidelined with vocal nodules for a while, she dubs her new song “a relationship anthem” and says on her website that creating the track “was especially cool for me, because I had the opportunity to really make it mine.” It marks a more emotional turn as well for Gracia, whose 2016 “Boys In A Beach Town” was more of a summer party song. Gracia’s now busy working on her debut EP.

Anthony Paul of Season 5 has released his second recent single, the catchy “Talk 2 Much.” It also features an imaginative cover of Anthony with tape over his mouth bearing the song’s title. In September, Anthony released the pop single “Free” and an accompanying music video that showed off his dance skills.

Elenowen, from Season 1, has had a busy 2019 in terms of releasing music and just dropped a lovely version of Tom Petty’s “Even the Losers.” “Much more from us in 2020,” writes the husband-wife team of Josh and Nicole Johnson. They released “Versions,” featuring eight new versions of their favorite originals earlier this year.

Dave Fenley, Top 10 on Season 15, has a wonderful new cover out, his gruff-voiced take on Van Morrison’s “Into The Mystic.” Dave has also started a Patreon campaign and is promising a new song every week of November for supporters.