Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Erika Zade, 20, of Miami, Fla., auditioned with “New Rules” by Dua Lipa. She earned a mid-turn chair turn from Kelly Clarkson. But she wound up being the only coach to turn, meaning Erika automatically joined Team Kelly. Kelly praised the attitude in her vocals.

Her background: Her dad is a classical guitarist. And whenever visitors came over as she was growing up, he’d pull out the guitar and the family would sing. She says growing up in a Cuban family, she was surrounded by music. She calls her music dark soul pop. And she says Cuban’s are naturally sassy, so the sass required in her audition song made it a good choice. She also shared the story of a post-concert meeting with Blake Shelton. She passed him one of her demo CDs. He signed it, then passed it to another fan. Blake’s response: “There’s a good chance I was drinking that day.”

On being on Team Kelly: “Kelly is the best person,” Erika said during a conference call with the media. “She’s such a good mentor. I mean the way she instructs – you can just take everything and it’s so helpful and she’s just the sweetest. So I love her.” Erika also said she’s been a huge Kelly fan since she was young. “I literally jammed to her with my dad in the car.”

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* In spite of his faux pas, Erika said she would have welcomed a chair turn from Blake. “When I was younger, I used to sing country music so I had really looked up to him and that’s why I gave him my demo,” she said during a conference call with the media. “He didn’t turn, but at least I got to talk to him and that was really cool.

* Erika has a wide range of influences. She said she grew up listening to Selena and the Dixie Chicks. Her parents were big fans of Fleetwood Mac. And she said all of that “kind of shaped me as a songwriter.”

* Of her own music, Erika told Voice Views: “My sound is so weird. I try to classify it as best as I can, so I usually say dark pop.” Artists she’d compare it to include Jorja Smith or Billie Eilish.

* While Erika says she writes constantly, she hasn’t released original material yet. She does have a couple of originals on her YouTube page. You can check out one of those below.

* As a teenager, she submitted three of her songs to the YoungArts Foundation and was selected to write a score for a band and participate in a showcase for the organization.

* Erika told Media Hub one of the reasons she wanted to audition for The Voice is because “I feel like it’s one of those genuine competitions that cares about you as an artist.”

* Both she and her coach are big Harry Potter fans.

* Erika is attending the Berklee College of Music where she’s a sophomore, according to her bio on The Voice website.

On social media:
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Twitter: @erikazade
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