Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Ellie Lawrence and Tim Atlas prepare for the battle round on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Ellie Lawrence’s blind audition on The Voice aired more than three weeks ago.

And she’s still in the Top 25 on the iTunes’ alternative chart with her cover of “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off.”

But the 26-year-old indie-rock singer from Calhoun, Ga., says she still picked up valuable pointers during the battle round, when she squared off against Tim Atlas, also 26, of San Jose, Calif.

That battle wound up being a dual victory of sorts.

Ellie was the winner and advanced to the knockout round for Team Gwen Stefani. Tim turned only one chair with his blind audition, but was so impressive during the battle round that he was stolen by Pharrell Williams.

As for Ellie’s lesson learned during rehearsal’s for their performance of The Neighbourhood’s “Sweater Weather” —

Ellie says Gwen focused on her need to keep her eyes open during a performance in order to connect with a larger audience, something the singer says wasn’t probably as important back home when she was performing for a small crowd in a bar setting.

“That was like a huge hurdle I had to come over,” Ellie admitted during a conference call with the media earlier this week.

“Because when I sing it’s very personal to me; music is very like intimate and so I kind of turn inwards a lot. And on the show you can’t do that because, you have that split second to connect with America. And if your eyes are closed they’re not going to really feel a song with you.

“So that’s the thing that she told me to work on — really opening up my eyes and looking at everyone and bringing them into the song,” Ellie added. “And it’s something I feel like I have done and I have learned a lot and grown since blind auditions. That’s terrifying to do on such a large scale, but I think I’ve got it down.”

As for Tim, he said Ellie’s so talented “it was definitely intimidating” to be paired with her for the battle round.

“But my strategy was just to turn it on as much as I could,” he said. “I got into character as soon as I walked up on stage and tried to execute until the end and luckily it worked out for me.”

To learn more about Ellie, who has performs with a band as OneShotEllie back home, head here. For more on Tim, head here.

And check back for live blogging Monday and Tuesday when the battles continue on The Voice.

Ellie Lawrence and Tim Atlas perform during the battle round on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Ellie Lawrence performs during the battle round on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Tim Atlas performs during the blind audition on The Voice. (NBC Photo)