Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Lila Forde, 24, ofSeattle, Wash., performed “Can’t Find My Way Home” by Blind Faith. Lila’s ethereal opening prompted almost immediate chair turns from Gwen Stefani and John Legend. The other coaches quickly followed giving Lila a four-chair turn. Niall Horan compared her to Joni Mitchell. Gwen said Lila is the type of singer-songwriter America needs and called Lila her “dream Voice girl to work with.” John liked the control in her performance. Lila decided to join Team Legend.

Here’s more about Lila:

* She’s an artist from Seattle who is in her mid-20s and calls her music a fusion of jazz, folk and singer-songwriter styles.

* And she’s one of a number of Season 24 contestants who has already released music.

* In her case, that includes a six-song EP called “In Another Life” from 2021 and more recent singles, “Come Loose” and “All I Expected.”

* In a 2021 interview with the Daily Trojan, Lila says she grew up around music. Her mother is a classical pianist.

* Lila said she started “getting really into jazz” in high school and decided she was going to pursue music in college as well.

* She wound up attending the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California and was a student there when she released her EP.

* A successful Kickstarter campaign helped fund that EP, which Lila says was recorded when COVID-19 hit and the world shut down. Be sure to check out “Red Rocks” and “Woah” from that collection; they’re particularly impressive.

* Lila was also involved with Thorton’s Afro-Latin American Jazz Ensemble and named the recipient of the Manilow Scholarship while at USC.

* Her latest single, “All I Expected,” dropped in early June. There’s also a music video, which you can check out below.

* She says she wrote the song in 2021 after months and months of writer’s block.

* ” I was standing in line with a friend, listening to her recount the troubles in her relationship,” Lila recalls on social media. “She described a phone call with her dad where he asked, so … is love all you expected it to be?’ The wheels started turning and later that day this song was born.”

* She told the Daily Trojan her time was USC was integral toward her development as a singer-songwriter. ““I came to USC knowing that my voice, and my original style was in me somewhere, but I hadn’t really discovered it or developed it yet,” she said.

* Lila wound up making it all the way to the finals for Team John Legend. She finished fifth. “The most cherished experience of my life @nbcthevoice !!!!!!!!!!,” she wrote on social media after the finale, next to a photo of her duet with her coach. “I’m so so so so grateful 😭😭😭 Stay tuned for new music.”

* Lila on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube