Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Makenzie Phipps, 23, of Bluefield, Va., performed “4X4XU” by Lainey Wilson. Makenzie showed off strong country vocals from the opening note. She shows off power in those vocals too. Reba McEntire gave a nod of her head to Snoop Dogg, the only coach with a spot left on his team when Makenzie auditioned. He waited until the last second, then turned, giving Makenzie the final spot on Season 28. Snoop said he was thrilled not to have to go up against Reba. Snoop said he could feel Makenzie’s spirit through her vocals and her performance.

Here’s more about McKenzie:

* She’s a country singer from Bluefield, Va. (near the West Virginia line) who’s now based in Nashville.

* And she’s already released lots of music, with about a dozen singles on streaming sites.

* She released her debut single, “Maybe,” back in 2021, before her move to Music City. She wound up there anyway, accepting a Josie Award for Female Song of the Year at an event that celebrates independent music.

* Her latest single, “Love Me Sober,” came out in February. McKenzie wrote the song with frequent collaborator Shane Begley.

* “A lot of people don’t realize that alcoholism or substance abuse not only affects the person dealing with it, but it affects everybody around them, because everybody around them cares so much about their well-being,” McKenzie told ThinkCountryMusic.com. “That’s where I came up with this song. I felt like this was a song that somebody out there may need to hear at some point in their life. Once I finished writing it, I was really proud of how it turned out.”

* McKenzie told CountryRevolution.com that she started singing in church with her grandmother around age 4 and started taking piano lessons at age 10.

* She attended a music school in West Virginia as a teenager, got her first guitar at 14 and started performing.

* And she’s quite the animal lover. Before moving to Nashville, she volunteered at the Mercer County Animal Shelter back home and featured dogs in need of adoption weekly on her social media, an effort chronicled by People.

* One of McKenzie’s inspirations is country singer Ashley McBryde and her song “Girl Goin’ Nowhere.” In fact, McKenzie has a lyric from the song — “Not bad for a girl goin’ nowhere” — tattooed on her arm.

McKenzie on social media:
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