Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Monika Leigh, 28, of Boulder, Colorado, auditioned with the B.B. King hit “The Thrill is Gone.” Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine turned their chairs early in the performance, joined at almost the last moment by Blake Shelton. Adam complimented her on the “pure” tone in her voice and said he wanted to make her the centerpiece of his team. Blake complimented her on her “star quality,” then, in an attempt to win her over, showed off his trophies from winning the last three seasons of The Voice.

Background: From age 13 to 21, Monika told The Voice she’d perform anywhere she could — bars, hotels, cafes — dreaming of a career as a musician. At 22, “I just decided I’m not supposed to do music. I started getting old. And I felt like, dreams are dreams and that’s why they call them dreams. I gave up.” So she became an administrative assistant at a hotel in Boulder. All told, she took four years off from music before she started performing again with the hopes of “doing music for my life.”

On choosing Blake: “I saw Blake turn around last and I thought, ‘I don’t know why I would choose someone who turned around last.’ I was going to go with Adam, but Blake just said all the right things … He busted them (his three Voice trophies out) and, at first, I kind of did an eye roll and I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe he’s doing that,’ but it worked. His charm, the southern charm thing. It worked. It won me over.”

What the show didn’t show: On her website, Monika writes that her stepfather gave her a baby Gibson electric guitar on her 12th birthday and she recalls thinking how crazy he was “getting me, a ballerina, a guitar.” One day soon after, she writes that she was bored and making a nuisance of herself, trying to get attention when her mother told her to write a song. Two hours later, she had figured out three chords and written her very first song, “I’m bored.” Now, on Facebook, she describes herself as a “blues-inspired singer-songwriter, badass and aspiring rock star.” She has six originals available from her website. Unfortunately, one of them is not the fine “Just Want to be Loved,” which you can hear in the video below.

Quote: “I want to be a rock star. I’ve wanted to be a rock star since I was a little girl. I’ve had that determination from day one. I got a little lost for a while. I didn’t know what to do with my life. When my step-father passed away last year, I remember saying, ‘if a door opens for me … I’m always going to walk through it.’ A week after he passed, I got a call asking if I wanted to audition for The Voice.”

On itunes: Just her Voice audition song.

Keeping up with Monika: On Twitter — MonikaLeigh1 — Facebook — YouTube — Website

For profiles of other Season 5 contestants, go here.

Monika Leigh, “I Just Want to be Loved” (original)

Monika Leigh, “You Think You’re Superman” (original)