Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Dylan Hartigan, 21, Wyckoff, N.J., performed “Danny’s Song” by Loggins and Messina. He was nearly to the end of the performance when Kelly Clarkson turned her chair. That meant Dylan automatically became a member of Team Kelly, an outcome that had him all smiles.

His background: A former child actor, at age 6 Dylan appeared in the 2004 remake of “Stepford Wives” alongside Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick and Bette Midler. He also appeared in a couple of national television commercials. He told The Voice he didn’t start singing until he hit puberty. His mom got him an audition with a boy band called NY5 – “super bubble gum pop” is the way Dylan described their sound. The group didn’t last, but Dylan moved to New York at age 19 to pursue a solo career with the help of that band’s manager. He said he spent two years in the city working on pop-funk music that he really wasn’t into before returning home to “root himself.” He and his dad wound up spending three months constructing a studio in the family’s basement. Dylan says he now wants to make story and lyric driven music in the folk-rock vein.

What the show didn’t show:

* He made his acting debut at age 3 in a 1-800-FLOWERS commercial.

* He’s also appeared in episodees of “Law and Order,” “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” and the CBS series “Unforgettable.”

* During a conference call with the media, Dylan said he left New York disenchanted with music, returning home thinking he was going to become a normal college student and put music aside. It was when he and his dad started constructing a storage area that became a recording studio that he rediscovered his love of music.

* You can check out several of songs by Dylan on his Soundcloud page and, in November, he posted a YouTube video introducing viewers to a new band, On the Pond, that he’s part of. Below, you can check out “Constant River,” an original he posted to YouTube about 10 months ago.

* Dylan said those Soundcloud originals are reflective of the music he’d like to make. “The only thing is, I was writing those songs when I was in a really dark place. The songs are pretty sad and reflect the emotions I was feeling at the time. Right now, I’d probably make a pretty happy album.”

* Dylan, on Twitter: “If social media had just never existed, we would all be so much happier.” But perhaps we’d smile more if everyone used social media like Dylan, who also tweets: “Date me! I’ll write songs about you! (No promises they’ll be good)”

On why he seemed so pleased to have Kelly Clarkson as his coach: “I knew going into it that she was the only one who has really experienced this from my perspective, and I thought that was an amazing thing. Not a lot of people get to be coached by someone who went through the exact thing you’re going through. I think that’s a huge step up for her in comparison to the other coaches.”

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