Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Ansley Burns, 15, of Easley, S.C., performed “Unchained Melody” by LeAnn Rimes. Her youth and her nerves showed early in the performance. But her performance got stronger, prompting Blake Shelton to turn and Ansley’s voice to soar. Gwen Stefani turned as well, but Blake blocked her to land Ansley for his team. Ansley says she’s “so honored.”

Here’s more about Ansley.

* She’s 16, from Easley, S.C., and is already the veteran of one televised singing competition.

* Ansley auditioned for Season 14 of America’s Got Talent at age 11, singing “Think” by Aretha Franklin.

* Simon Cowell stopped the performance a few lines in, labeling it “horrible,” more because of a backing track he didn’t like than Ansley’s singing. He then asked her to do the song a cappella.

* Ansley excelled in spite of AGT’s contrived drama, delivering a vocal that earned her four yes votes and demonstrating a stage presence that judge Gabrielle Union called well beyond her years.

* And the pre-teen made it all the way to the semi-finals on AGT, bowing out of the show at age 12 after a performance of Carrie Underwoood’s “Cry Pretty.”

* According to her web bio, Ansley began singing at age 3 and began taking vocal lessons at age 8.

* In 2017, two years before her AGT debut, she was won the youth division of a South Carolina Best Singer in the State competition. She performed Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.”

* A year ago, Ansley and her parents were talking to Go Upstate about her opportunity to audition for what must have been Season 20 of American Idol.

* But she’s clearly a fan of The Voice as well. Recent Facebook posts include a photo with former Voice standout Ashland Craft following a show in Easley and one of her most recent covers, which you can check out below, is a cover of former Voice champ Danielle Bradbery’s “Break My Heart Again.”

* Ansley has released one song to date, “Who I Am,” which came out in the summer of 2020 and in which she describes herself as “a small-town girl with some southern charm.”

Ansley on social media:
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