Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Where you surprised when Cee Lo Green chose Erin Martin as winner of a battle round on The Voice Monday night, even though she blurted out a few shockingly squeaky notes?

Well, I was, so I went searching for an answer and found two EPs and a single she released in September.

On those, she displays the same quirky, intriguing sound she used to get Cee Lo and Blake to turn around when she auditioned with “Hey, There Delilah.”

Add commercial good looks, and it’s a whole lot easier to understand how Cee Lo sees lots of potential in the 27-year-old from Chicago.

Speaking of those looks, Erin spent about four years working as a model in the Chicago area, doing print advertising for Kohl’s and Carson’s and a national commercial for Noxzema, according to the bio on her website.

Then the pressure to stay rail thin convinced her to quit modeling and turn her attention back to the music she’d dabbled with as a young girl. Since then, she’s been writing songs and performing at events like Summerfest and Lollapalooza in Chicago.

“I’ve met with record labels and they all said the same thing, ‘You need more development as an artist,'” Erin says in her interview with The Voice. “I saw The Voice as a chance to get that coaching.”

And the gal who was once judged strictly on how she looked said she didn’t mind the blind audition process one bit.

“I love it, because for once I don’t get judged on how I look,” she told Carson Daly in the episode we saw on Feb. 13. “And then, once they turn around, they’re going to be like, ‘Oh, my God, Egyptian warrior princess.'”

To understand, you’ll have to watch the audition clip embedded below. To listen to the music that intrigues Cee Lo, check out her MySpace page or one of those EPs — “Kinder Than Silence” or “Marianne” — on iTunes.

Erin tells The Voice her genre is pop, with folk and indie mixed in, then hesitates.

“I’m hoping to create a new genre, prior to dominating the world,” she says, laughing. “I’ve been doing this for a hot minute and you know when you know it’s right, and this feels right to me.”

You can follow along with Erin on her official Facebook page here. On Twitter, she is @erinmartinmusic.

Now for some Erin Martin music …

“Come Together,” original

“Balloon,” original

The Voice audtion — “Hey There, Delilah”