Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Jacquie Lee turned 17 on Wednesday.

And she spent part of her birthday performing for a crowd of adoring fans in Tampa, Fla., as part of The Voice Summer Tour.

As she rattles off the names of her tour mates, Jacquie admits, that is something she couldn’t have imagined just a year ago.

“They’re all super talented,” she says. “Sometimes, I’m like, ‘Why am I here?’ But you have to have confidence in yourself.”

And why not?

In spite of her inexperience on a show that attracts seasoned singers, Jacquie belted her way to a second-place finish in Season 5, displaying a big voice, remarkable range and surprising composure for someone so young.

She also comes across as a singer with a plan.

* Signed to Atlantic, she released a debut single last month. She’d like to release an album later this year, but fears that might be a bit too ambitious with the summer tour and her other commitments. So she’s hoping to release an EP in November and an album next year.

* Jacquie says she’s determined to learn the “not always so pretty” business side of music. “I want to be involved in everything. I don’t want to be one of those singers who doesn’t know what’s going on in their own career.”

* Though she plans to defer for a year to give her music career time to develop, she’s still going to apply to college, “It’s just the smart thing to do — always have a backup plan,” she says. “But I’ll never give up on music,”

Jacquie’s clearly proud of that first single, “Broken Ones.” Written by the trio of Andy Love, Dana Parish and Andy Hollander, it’s miles away from the bubble gum pop fans might expect from a teen coming off a singing show. The song is about the need to accept those who feel broken because, after all, we all feel broken at some point.

“For me, it was a song that touched my heart because, obviously, high school is really hard to fit in all the time,” Jacquie says. “It comforted me a little bit by saying you should embrace your weirdness and shouldn’t try to hide it. I feel out of place sometimes.

“And I love the depth of the song and how it can relate to people on so many levels. Definitely, that’s my type of music.”

Jacquie describes herself as a soul singer and singer-songwriter and promises “there will definitely be a lot of my writing on the EP and album.” She says she’d like to go for a bit more alternative sound, but doesn’t worry too much about genres when writing.

She got to return to The Voice this spring to sing “Broken Ones,” a performance that bumped the song into the top 20 on iTunes pop chart. She also gets to sing the single each night on tour, along with “I Put a Spell on You,” one of her signature songs from the show.

The tour — with stops in Hershey and Baltimore early next month (details below) — features medleys and group numbers as well, not to mention seemingly endless benefits for someone who’s never been a part of anything of the sort before.

“I’ve already improved in stage presence in just a few shows we’ve had so far,” Jacquie says. “Everyone that I’m working with right now has such a huge presence on stage, They command the stage and they talk to the audience and they interact, and I’ve gotten so much better at that just from observing them.

tour, everyone has worked so hard and put so much time and energy into learning things super quick. So the group numbers are amazing. And I think all the chemistry on stage shows because it’s real. It’s not like we’re putting on fake faces and pretending to like one another.”

Then there’s the opportunity to meet the fans who have embraced her and her new single, by posting lyric videos, making t-shirts, even creating instructions for fans in other countries on how to download the song.

“That’s the cool part,” Jacquie says. “I’ve always been behind the TV screen, so I’ve never really seen how many people actually were fans of the show or me in particular. During the meet and greet you get to see how many people you’ve touched you never even knew.

“And after the show, sometimes there’s a crowd waiting near the bus. They’re tired. They’ve danced the entire show. Yet they still wait a couple hours just so they can see you at the bus and maybe get a picture with you.”

And, finally, there’s the chance to perform her own music, live, as part of a national tour on her 17th birthday.

“There’s nothing I’d rather be doing,” Jacquie says.

And how did it go?

Tweeted Jacquie Wednesday night: “No big deal just thousands of people singing me happy birthday on stage with a cake and 8 people I adore. #bestbirthday #ifeelthelove”

In addition to Jacquie Lee, The Voice summer tour features Tessanne Chin and Will Champlin from Season 5, Josh Kaufman, Jake Worthington, Christina Grimmie, Jake Barker and Kristen Merlin from Season 6 and Dia Frampton from Season 1.

The tour will be stopping in at the Hershey Theatre in Hershey, Pa., on Wednesday, July 2, and the Patricia and Arthur Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric in Baltimore on Tuesday, July 8. Tickets for both shows can be purchased through Ticketmaster.com.