Idol Chatter & Voice Views

On making the finals: “This is stuff you dream about. I remember when I was 14, 15 years old, watching singing shows. I’ve always wanted to have those moments. I’m finally getting those moments, which is crazy for me,” says Christina Grimmie of Marelon, N.J., adding. “It’s scary the amount of talent on this show right now. It’s a little intimidating, to be honest, there are so many good people here.”

Her audition: Christina, 19 at the time, auditioned with “Wrecking Ball,” singing the song better than Miley Cyrus could ever hope to. Within seconds, she had Adam Levine, Shakira and Usher facing in her direction. A huge glory note prompted Blake Shelton to follow. Adam said she seemed incredibly comfortable on stage and has the potential to be a huge star. Usher called her “phenomenal.” Christina joined Team Adam.

Since then: Christina defeated Joshua Howard in the battle round; they sang Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble.” In the second battle round, she defeated Sam Behymer. They sang “Counting Stars.” An emotional performance of “I Won’t Give Up” in the Team Adam playoffs earned her a spot in the finals. It was also the most successful song from the playoffs on iTunes, cracking the Top 40 on the overall singles chart and the Top 20 on the pop chart.

Her background: She grew up singing and, when she was 15, posted a cover song on YouTube at the urging of a friend. “It wasn’t something I thought would blow up into a big deal.” But it did. Today, she has nearly 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube. She arrived on The Voice ready to make the transition from singing songs in her bedroom to singing on a national stage. She told the coaches her inspiration is her mom, who had battled back from breast cancer three times.

What the show didn’t show: Singing a Miley song for her audition was like coming full circle for Christina. Her first YouTube video was a Hannah Montana song, she reveals in a video bio you’ll find on her website. And she might be best known for covers, but she’s been branching out. She released an 8-track pop album called “Find Me” in 2011 and an 11-track album called “With Love” last August. You can find versions of several of the songs on her YouTube channel (three are embedded below). One listen will make it clear that brilliant vocal on The Voice wasn’t a fluke. In addition to those YouTube subscribers, she has 394,000 followers on Twitter and 2.1 million fans on Facebook. Her goal with The Voice: to “extend further than just, you know, the YouTube chick who sings covers.” “No matter how long I’ve been doing it, what I’m doing online — it’s nothing compared to what one night of being on television can do,” she adds.

Quote: “I’ve gotten a lot of Twitter comments last night (after her blind audition aired) saying, ‘How did the coaches not know who you are and blah, blah, blah?’ And I’m like. ‘Are you serious? Like, of course they don’t know who I am. I’m not a household name or anything.'”

On iTunes: The aforementioned albums, a stripped down version of “Find Me” and her four songs performed on The Voice.

Keeping up with Christina:
Twitter: @TheRealGrimmie
Facebook
YouTube
Website

Editor’s Note: For links to profiles of all the Season 6 artists on The Voice, go here.

“Tell My Mama” (from the “With Love” album)

“Over Overthinking You” (from the “With Love” album)

“Find Me” (title track from “Find Me” album)