Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Jackie Foster performs during the semifinals on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

She and her pre-Voice band, the Self Portraits, have already recorded music — including a single called “Poison” — that they plan to release as soon as her contract with The Voice expires.

New music of another type might be coming too.

During a late-season episode of The Voice, she show flashed a photo on screen of Jackie and her boyfriend. Sharp-eyed viewers quickly identified him as Brandon Diaz, a fellow Berklee student and Top 24 finisher on this season of American Idol.

During a conference call with the media, Jackie said she and Brandon didn’t plan to appear on separate singing shows at the same time. It just happened that way. Now that it did, Jackie said they’re planning to vlogging and doing duet covers to post online.

She said Brandon was contacted by American Idol about auditioning. One week later, The Voice called Jackie, said they had discovered her online and wanted to fly her out to the blind auditions.

“Brandon actually auditioned in the blind auditions on The Voice when he was 16 years old,” Jackie said. “And he turned to me and he said, ‘Jackie, like, you don’t understand how well they treat you on The Voice, how much support you’re going to get. I really encourage you go do it. Just try. Go and see.'”

She did and wound up finishing making it to the Top 8 before being eliminated last week. Along the way, she twice cracked the Top 5 on the iTunes rock chart and teamed up with D.R. King to score the biggest chart hit during the Season 14 battle round with a cover of “Sign of the Times.”

Here’s what Jackie told Voice Views about her time on the show and her music moving forward.

Voice Views: What’s next for you musically?

Jackie: So my hometown is Poway, California, which is just outside of San Diego. But I’m currently living in Boston because even though I did miss my graduation (at the Berklee College of Music) my plan is to go back, finish out my final classes this summer. And during the summer I’ve got my band, The Self Portraits, and I’ve got to tell you, we have music that is already recorded, ready to be released.

So as soon as — I mean, I hate to say it — but as soon as I’m out of this contract, we are going to release our songs on all platforms and get people to really know and love the Self Portraits.

We even talked about possibly changing the name of our band — still being the same entity — but because people know me as Jackie Foster, we want to incorporate that into our band somehow.

We are going to be playing in Brighton Music Hall in Boston, which is a huge opportunity, and hopefully bigger venues. And my plan is just to write, write, write, and see if (Voice coach) Alicia Keys can connect me with people out in New York.

Voice Views: And what sound can we expect from The Self Portraits, because you performed pretty much in the classic rock vein on the show?

Jackie: My sound definitely has a lot of influence of classic rock but we’re young. We’re all 21 and 22, and we listen to the radio all of the time, and we see what’s on the radio.

And other than Imagine Dragons, who’s an alternative pop rock band that you’re hearing on your radio station? Not many. And that’s the sound that we all love.

Soo we want to be like a pop-rock band that people are going to want to run to the radio station and turn up their volume for. That’s what we’re hoping for out of this single that’s coming out called “Poison,” so we’re really excited.

voice Views: What was your favorite performance on The Voice and why was it your favorite?

Jackie: I have two favorites. My favorite solo performance would have to be hands down “Alone” by Heart. Which is what I sang to be saved from the live playoffs.

That’s a song that I’ve grown up listening to, that I’ve loved ever since I first heard it. I would consider myself like a power ballad singer. That is my strong suit. And that song means so much to me and I physically came to tears at the end, so I was really proud of my performance.

And then I’ve got to say the one that I think will just go down in the history of The Voice was mine and D.R.’s duet of “Sign of the Times.”

We got such incredible feedback from that and that was probably the most comfortable I felt onstage because with D.R. and I it never felt like a competition between the two of us. It felt like we were performing at the Grammys and that was such a special moment.

Voice Views: Can you talk about something you gained from The Voice experience that’s going to affect you music moving forward?

Jackie: I think the best thing that I can take out of this experience is first of all, the people that you meet. I’ve created some of the best friendships here that have been better than any college friendships I’ve ever had. Because the people here, we all connect on this level of we’re all going through the same thing and so we’re all experiencing the same hardships, and the same highs, and lows.

So that’s been the biggest blessing but also to be able to have worked with not only one coach but three and gain insight from every single one of them. Like Kelly (Clarkson) even told me that she feels like with me that we have a friendship for life even on the short time that I was on her team.

And with Alicia, she just kind of taught me to just really be proud of who I am as a person. And I feel like she always saw me as the artist that I wanted to be from day one. And encouraged me. She even said that, “I’m so excited to hear your original music, because if this is any insight as to what it could be, like I’m all about it.”

M.J. Santilli of MJSBIGBLOG: You’re dating Brandon Diaz who competed on another show (American Idol) and you went a little farther. I was wondering what’s that was like, you know, the two of you doing that at the same time? How you supported each other, you know, during that process?

Jackie: Brandon and I have been dating for two and a half years and always feel supportive of one another. And so I wished him good luck on every single time he went up on that stage. He did the same for me. and it’s really interesting to be in a situation where not a lot of people really understand what we’re going through except for our contestants that are with us.

But also to have a significant other that’s understanding at the exact same time what we’re both going through, the stresses, the highs, the lows of everything. And so we spent countless hours on the phone with each other just talking through our days, what we went through, and the emotions.

And just I think that we’ve connected on an even deeper, deeper level that we probably never would have experienced if it wasn’t for going on opposite shows. And it was just really cool because him and I both made Top 24 on our shows the exact same night. So it’s just, like, very celebratory.

And I know that he called me last night when I was eliminated just in happy tears because he just expressed how proud of me that he is. And I know I’m so proud of him to make it as far as he did. So we’re both so supportive and we just kind of have a new outlook on life.

And I can say that if people watched both shows that they can expect that Brandon and I are going to be doing some duets together. We’re going to be vlogging and just doing stuff as a couple. Because I know that we’ve both gained our respective fans. And then when people made the connections that we were dating, a lot of people have been asking for cover videos and things like that. So that’s definitely in the plans.

Editor’s Note: Jackie, from Poway, Calif., was 21 when she auditioned for The Voice. She and Self Portraits already released an EP in 2016. For more on her pre-show music, head here. Her social media links follow.

Instagram
Twitter: @itsjackiefoster
Facebook
Self Portraits website

See also …
Ranking the Top 4 on The Voice
Britton Buchanan’s Voice performances
Brynn Cartelli’s Voice performances
Kyla Jade’s Voice performances
Spensha Baker’s Voice performances
Tuesday’s guest star lineup