Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Eli Ward, 21, of Waterloo, Ill., performed “Bruises” by Lewis Capaldi. He showed off an interesting tone and got a quick chair turn from Gwen Stefani. Some pitch issues followed, but so did a chair turn from Reba McEntire. Reba said she loved his song and his voice. Gwen loved the opening to his audition and said coaching could help calm his nerves and lead to a more consistent performance. Eli opted to join Team Gwen.

Here’s more about Eli:

* He’s also been a star athlete, earning all-state honors four times at Waterloo High School while running track and cross country.

* That earned him an opportunity to compete on both teams for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes as well.

* But Eli had decided to step away from sports — and training that meant running as much as 75 miles in a week — prior to his audition on The Voice.

* “It was always a dream of mine to be a D-1 (Division I) runner,” he said in his Voice bio package. “But it was also a dream to chase the musician dream. Going to college, it wasn’t very feasible to do both.”

* And he’s been pursuing music with a flourish in 2023, releasing his first three singles, “Catalyst,” “Text When You Leave” and “Wildfire.” The latter, his most recent release, is especially impressive. Check it out below.

* “I love to play those every time I’m gigging to see how they fare in different crowds,” Eli told the Voice of his trio of singles.

* Eli has also posted a snippet of another original, “Fonder,” to social media. It’s a song he wrote with Elizabeth Evans and Andrew Lucier (Ange), two of his Season 24 Voice colleagues.

* Eli says that song will be on an EP he hopes to release later this year.

* He credits his mom for his interest in music. She enrolled him in piano lessons at age 5 and he says he’s “forever thankful” she did.

* He’s since taught himself to play guitar and drums. And while he’s in a band that occasionally gigs and plays country covers, he classifies his own music as singer-songwriter / pop.

Eli on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube