Meet Lelia Broussard of Team Blake on The Voice

October 1, 2012 By Mark Franklin 4

OK, I’m getting ticked at The Voice again.

How do we not get a full introduction to Lelia Broussard?

Her rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” is one of the best covers you’ll find from a singer on The Voice. (Check it out below.)

She released a fine five-track EP, “Wolves Are at My Door,” last August. (Check out one of the songs below.)

And her “Hipster B–ch” is one of the best diss-the-other-girl ditties you’re going to find. (Head to YouTube for the video of Lelia belting out the tune on acoustic guitar in the back of a van.)

Yet she only merits a few seconds of airtime during the blind auditions on The Voice?

Ugh!

Lelia is 23 and a native of Lafayette, La. She headed to New York at age 17 to play the club circuit there.

Her biggest brush with fame came last year when she was one of the two finalists in The Rolling Stone “Choose a Cover” contest.

The cover — and the accompanying recording deal — went to the band Sheepdogs. And that was not an American Idol style amateur competition, Lelia told her hometown newspaper.

“They wanted to have bands that have been working for a long time,” she said. “They didn’t want to prep the girl from Wal-Mart that had a nice voice.”

Speaking of The Voice, in a post-audition interview, she told Christina Milian that “she had a bunch of friends on last season,” including Tony Lucca, Justin Hopkins and Charlotte Sometimes (whose “Misery Business” cover was one of last year’s absolute highlights.)

“I watched Season 2. I thought it (the show) was really well done. So here I am,” she said.

She sang “We Can Work It Out,” prompting Blake to spin his chair. He said she reminded him of his wife, country star Miranda Lambert.

In her Voice blog, Lelia confesses to not doing her best in the audition, saying she let nerves get the best of her. That’s the only good excuse for most of it winding up on the cutting room floor.

Musically, there’s a whole lotta Lelia to check out — a “Waiting on the 9” EP from 2008, a “Masquerade” album from 2010 (which includes “Hipster”) and the aforementioned 2011 EP.

Head to YouTube to listen here. And here’s a link to Lelia’s website.

Editor’s Note: Check back for live blogs once the battle rounds begin on The Voice.

Lelia covering “Dancing in the Dark”