Meet Korin Bukowski of The Voice Season 9

The Voice

October 3, 2015 By Mark Franklin 0

Her audition: Korin Bukowski, 20, of Miami, Fla., auditioned with “Cecilia and the Satellite” by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. Midway through the song, Gwen Stefani turned around. She wound up being the only coach to do so, meaning Korin is a member of Team Gwen. Gwen called her tone “unique and interesting and weird” and said she was also impressed with Korin’s range.

Her background: Korin began her intro piece on The Voice by saying: “Hello, earthlings.” She says she was “very bizarre growing up. I get that a lot — ‘She’s a nice kid, but she’s a little off.'” For instance, she loves bug, partly because they don’t talk like humans do. Her parents were in a band called The Doctors. Korin wound up joining a choir and says she’s happiest when she’s singing. “I can be who I am without judgment.” She says music helped her deal with bullying — partly from teachers — in high school. Korin is also a pre-med student at the University of Miami, but she wants to give music a shot before embarking on another career.

What the show didn’t show: On Twitter, Korin describes herself as “a professional numnut who sings from time to time” and watches TV and movies to “an unhealthy degree.” And she’s one of the least experienced contestants on Season 9 of The Voice in terms of performing solo. “The only performing I have actually ever done was in a choir and in my worship group at home,” she said in a conference call with the media. “I really haven’t done anything on my own at all.”

But she describes the music she does perform as “alternative sounding” and said she chose her audition song because she’s a fan of Andrew McMahon and the lyrics of “Cecilia and the Satellite” resonated with her.

“The lyrics have a lot to do with being lost and finding yourself through something,” she explains. “Like for Andrew McMahon it was having his child and for me it was accepting a lot of aspects in my life that were going wrong a long time ago. So I felt that I could portray emotion through the song and touch people’s hearts when I sang it. And I hope that’s what happened; that’s what the goal was.”

Mission accomplished, judging from the incredible amount of supportive tweets sent Korin’s way after the performance, including from lots of her fellow contestants. And the response wasn’t lost on Korin.

“I started like shaking, my whole body shaking, because just the response that I have been getting is just so overwhelming,” she said. “I had like about seven years of non-stop like abuse in school. From that point to this point is just — it’s almost like a huge weight just lifts off your shoulders. It’s just kind of like a ‘finally’ moment. And I don’t even have words to describe how thankful I feel.”

On iTunes: Just her performances from The Voice.

Update:
Battle round: Defeated Chase Kerby singing “Samson.” The song hit #91 on the iTunes’s singles chart, the fourth best of the battle round.
Knockout round: She performed “All I Want” by Kodaline and defeated Summer Schappell. The song was the most popular from Night 2 of the knockouts, hitting number 75 on the iTunes Top 200.
Live playoffs: She sang “Adia.” The song hit number 181 on iTunes, ranking 23rd among 24 live playoff songs. But Korin advanced to the Top 12 thanks to Gwen’s save.
Top 12: She sang “Titanium,” landed in the bottom two, but advanced to the Top 11 via the instant save. The song hit number 55 on the iTunes Top 200 (ninth best of the night) and number 5 on the alternative chart.
Top 11: She sang “Only Hope” and hit number 56 on the iTunes Top 200, ninth best of the night. But she found herself in the bottom two again on results night and had to compete with Evan McKeel for the instant save. Korin sang “She Will Be Loved” and earned that save to advance to the Top 10.
Top 10: She performed “Same Old Love.” The song hit number 27 on the iTunes Top 200, ninth best of the night. Korin had to sing for a third straight save, performing “Try.” The save instead went to Braiden Sunshine.

Keeping up with Korin:
Facebook
Twitter: @KorinBukowski

Blind audition — “Cecilia and the Satellite”