Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Chello, 22, of Chester, Pa., performed “Just the Two of Us” by Bill Withers. He earned chair turns from John Legend and Camila Cabello, who called him a “cool cat” and complimented him on a “crazy run” near the end of the performance. He opted to join Team Camila.

More about Chello:

* Chello told Voice Views he’s been singing since age 5, but didn’t take it seriously until he picked up guitar when he was 15.

* “When I started learning guitar, I fell in love with not just music, but sound. I wanted to learn everything. Learning guitar led to learning ukulele, which led to piano, which led to drums, which led to music production. My passion to learn how to make better music hasn’t changed, it’s only increased.”

* And he said he’s been thinking about auditioning for The Voice ever since seeing the show at age 14. As he got more comfortable performing in public, he says he began being approached by people encouraging him to audition.

* Most of that live performing has occurred in church. Chello told The Voice his grandmother introduced him to her church, where he eventually began leading worship. His biggest live performance was a church conference attended by about 800 people, Chello told Voice Views.

* He’s performed for larger audiences online. “A few years ago, I also used to livestream myself playing music on Younow and Live.Me. On Live.Me, there was a time where I consistently had about 1500 to 2000 viewers per stream. One stream, there were over 10,000 people! That really surprised me, thinking that many people were watching me simply play a few songs in my room.”

* Chello also told Voice Views he’s been working on original music, some of which he hopes to release later this year or in early 2023.

* “I’d describe my music as alternative pop,” he said. “What comes to mind as of right now is a blend between early Ed Sheeran’s guitar and Jon Bellion’s drums. Not every song is gonna be like that, but I really like the idea of blending bedroom guitar with hifi drums.

* “The idea of being able to share my thoughts and ideas with people through sound is incredible to me,” he added. “I feel like I’m finally at a place where I’m starting to be able to do that successfully. When I release some original stuff in the near future, I’m hoping that others will feel what I felt making it.”

* Chello said his decision to audition with “Just the Two of Us” was inspired by John Solomon’s cover of the song. “The tone and groove he achieved with just his voice and guitar was so captivating to me. After listening to it for 50 times in a row after first discovering it, I immediately thought, ‘I wanna try that; I have to learn this song.’ So I did!

* “It’s super fun to play on guitar, and I just began to fall in love with the entire vibe of the song. I thought it would be fun to take what I learned and love about Joseph Solomon’s cover and turn it into something that better represents myself as an artist. Hopefully I was able to do that successfully!

* Oh, and that customer service job we heard Chello talk about on The Voice is with the New York State Coronavirus Hotline.

Chello on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
YouTube