Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Mia Boostrom of Boston landed a spot on Team Adam Levine for Season 14 of The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Her background: When she was about 4, Mia’s dad bought a piano for the house, so he could learn. She’d sing along. But it was in middle school that she started to take singing seriously. She immediately started writing her own music. Then, in high school, she decided to try out for a competition. “What I thought was going to be an amazing experience ending up being the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through,” she tells The Voice. That’s because she was “very overweight” at age 15 “and I was no longer known for my music. I was known as the fat girl.” That experience caused her to step away from music, she said.

What the show didn’t show:

* Mia’s from southern Massachusetts, took a liking to music at a young age and was active in musical productions throughout middle school.

* In 2008, at age 15, she auditioned for America’s Got Talent, but was eliminated in the Vegas round. The following year, she returned and made it to the quarterfinals, performing “Hallelujah” on national TV.

* The exposure on America’s Got Talent led to Mia opening for David Foster on a national tour. She released an EP called “Lately” around the same time, but it no longer appears to be available.

* The negative part of the America’s Got Talent experience came in the comments people made online about Mia’s weight. “At 15, I really didn’t prepare myself for something like that,” she said during a conference call with the media.

* Though the experience made her want to avoid a national spotlight, she has continued to sing and describes herself as an indie pop, blues artist.

* She went on to form Mia and the Revelators with Jonny Bass and Billy Thompson. On Facebook, the group is described as “a rewind to the 60s with a new age feel at the same time.”

* The group has been working on an album called “Wanderlust” and demo versions of several songs are on Mia’s Soundcloud page. I’ve embedded one of my favorites — “Who Will Save My Soul” — below. Also be sure to check out “I’m Going to Hell.”

* Mia, who says she once weighed nearly 250 pounds, also worked to get into better shape and talks about her path to physical fitness in this blog at sixpackbags.com.

* According to her Voice bio, when Mia’s not performing, she gives music lesson to kids, making sure to deliver a message of personal self-love as part of those lessons.

On social media:
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Twitter: @miaboostrom
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