Idol Chatter & Voice Views

What was running through Stephanie Anne Johnson’s mind when she lost her battle round to Olivia Henken last week?

“I thought it was over and I was seeing the ocean in my mind. You know, thinking, ‘Oh, no, I’m going back on a cruise ship.”

Stephanie Anne Johnson reacts to being saved by Cee Lo Green on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

“And then Cee Lo pushed his button and it was really, ‘Wow, it’s still happening. It’s still real. It’s still cool.’ And then I ran off the stage and I hugged Cee Lo and I actually — kind of — I’m sure I cried on his leather, but that’s OK. It was pretty wild.”

The 29-year-old from Tacoma, Wash., earned the very last save during the battle rounds on The Voice. In the process, she advanced to the knockout rounds, which begin Monday night.

A cruise ship popped into Stephanie Anne’s mind because that’s how she made her pre-Voice living, singing on a cruise ship in Alaska four or five hours a day, eight months out of the year.

But her musical experience goes beyond that. She’s also released three albums worth of original material, classified as contemporary folk and R&B/soul on iTunes.

Which probably means her battle round match was tilted in Olivia’s favor from the word go.

Christina had the duo sing “Done” by The Band Perry. It was a tune that fell right into Olivia’s wheelhouse, but outside Stephanie’s.

“I really like country music,” Stephanie said the day after the battle round aired, “but I tend to like the golden age country music, like Patsy Cline and Hank Williams and Conway Twitty, these sort of things.

“So modern country — my experience with modern country kind of ends with about Gretchen Wilson. So I wasn’t quite prepared for the Band Perry because it’s so energetic, you know. But it was an experience. It was very cool. I had a really, really wonderful time singing with Olivia.”

Stephanie Anne said she’s looking forward to working with Cee Lo because he’s “got the soul on lock, and he really lets artists on his team be who they are.”

The only downside — her grandmother simply doesn’t know who her new coach is. She was also a singer, and we saw grandmom cheering on Stephanie Anne from the audience last week.

“My grandmother has never heard of Cee Lo Green before in her life and she — I think she still thinks that his name is Kilo — like K-I-L-O. She told me as I was leaving the house this morning, she wanted to remind me to be nice to Mr. Kilo.”

Editor’s Note: For a full profile on Stephanie Anne, head here. And check back starting Monday night for live blogging of the knockout rounds on The Voice.