Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Mandi Castillo, 23, of San Antonio, Texas, performed “Así Fue” by Juan Gabriel. She did her entire audition in Spanish, and the moved paid off with an early chair turn from Nick Jonas. Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Blake Shelton all followed, giving Mandi the only four-chair turn on the final night of auditions. Nick called her voice “so phenomenal.” Kelly called it “everything it should be for a blind audition.” Mandi opted to join Team Legend.

Here’s more about Mandi.

* She’s a San Antonio-based artist named Amanda Castillo who has been recording music as Mandi.

* Her Reverbnation bio describes her as a young, soulful Latin singer born and raised in Texas.

* That bio says Mandi was 19 when she decided she had to pack her bags and move away from family, leave her two jobs and follow her dream of becoming a singer.

* She wound up part of Nothing But the Best Records along with Cion Palmerin and released a debut single called Vivid Dreamer and an accompanying music video in 2017.

* She’s followed up with a steady stream of singles since then and released a five-song debut EP called “I” in July. You can check out “No Rush” from that EP below.

* Mandi has a tribute on her Instagram to the rapper BadAzz (Jamarr Antonio Stamp), one of her first collaborators on that label. He died in November at age 43.

* Writes Mandi: “Thank you for believing in me as an artist and for loving me like a little sis. You were suppose to be there when I made it! … I feel so blessed that I had you in my life.”

* Mandi credits her uncle, a popular Tejano singer, for convincing her to take music more seriously when she was growing up. She frequently performed at her gigs.

* And she missed an earlier opportunity to audition for The Voice because she was donating her kidney as part of a kidney exchange. Her mother needed a kidney, but Mandi wasn’t a match.

See also…
Mandi Castillo talks about her blind audition on The Voice

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