Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Johnny Bliss, 26, of New York, N.Y., performed “Preciosa” by Marc Anthony, delivering the entire song in Spanish. Adam Levine turned within the first few notes, eventually followed by all the other coaches. But Adam blocked Kelly Clarkson, meaning Johnny couldn’t choose her. He decided to join Team Alicia Keys.

His background: Johnny told The Voice he had a tough time growing up — he was overweight and in the closet — and went to live with family in the Dominican Republic for a while. It was when he returned to New York that he came out to his family. As for music, Johnny started singing karaoke at age 19 and said hearing all the positive feedback “was something huge.” He’s been hosting karaoke shows in New York for three years, but said that’s no longer enough. He aspires to be a cross-over artist, singing in English and Spanish.

What the show didn’t show:

* On Facebook, Johnny Bliss describes himself as “an up and coming salsa / rock/ pop and R&B artist.”

* Born and raised in New York City, he said his influences include Bruno Mars and Marc Anthony.

* He’s been through this type of competition before. In 2016, he participated in the Univision singing show “Va Por Ti.” You can watch his performances on his YouTube channel.

* Most of his YouTube videos feature Johnny singing in Spanish, but he does include an English cover of Rihanna’s “Take a Bow.” I’ve embedded that cover below.

* As for the decision to sing his audition in Spanish? “I thought I was taking a risk,” Johnny said in a conference call with the media. “I was like, ‘This is going to go really well or this is going to flop.'” Four chair would indicate it went really well.

* Johnny said participating in “Va Por Ti” taught him a lot about what’s involved in being part of a reality TV singing competition. And he can tell some of the fans he made on that show are following him on The Voice. “There’s a bunch of people saying, ‘I’m following you all the way from ‘Va Por Ti.’ I think you’re great. I think it’s awesome. I think that you deserve this.'”

* Johnny also performs as a comedian and motivational speaker, according to his Facebook page.

On picking Team Alicia: “I used to listen to Alicia as a kid my whole entire life. We’re both Aquarius. We’re both from New York. We’re both very soulful. Whether it’s in Spanish or English, you can definitely tell that we’re singing from our soul and we try to make people feel us. So I think it was really important for me to be on her team for sure.”

On social media:
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Twitter: @TheJohnnybliss
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