Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Riley Biederer, 19, of Atlanta, Ga., auditioned with Kelly Clarkson’s “Invincible” and earned a chair turn from Pharrell Williams. The audition was part of a montage package, but we heard Pharrell compliment Riley for being so “in the pocket” and for the awesome runs she included in her cover of the song.

Her background: We didn’t get an introduction to Riley on the show, but her bio on The Voice website tells us that she’s always loved singing, but struggled with stage fright when she was young. Competing in gymnastics and becoming a cheerleader solved that problem. Her videos gained a large following on YouTube and helped her secure a record deal at one point. She ended up parting ways with the label, The Voice says, but still performs regularly.

What the show didn’t show: A following on YouTube? Oh yeah, to the tune of 250,000-plus subscribers and more than 26.5 million views. Before Season 9 of The Voice premiered, she also had one of the biggest social media followings of anyone who auditioned — more than 69,000 fans on Facebook and more than 10,000 followers on Twitter.

In a conference call with the media, Riley describes herself as a pop artist who’s trying to mix more soul into her sound. That’s why she’s so pleased to land on Team Pharrell. She thinks he can help her develop her sound. He might have been the only one to turn for her blind audition, but she says he was her first choice for a coach anyway. Riley says Kelly Clarkson has had “a big impact on my music;” that’s why she chose “Invincible” for the blind audition. (Check out her version below.)

And Riley doesn’t just sing covers. She says she started writing songs when she learned to play guitar around age 9. According to her website bio, she’s penned more than 200. And she says she signed a publishing deal with Sony last year for songwriting. Here’s what Riley says about her songwriting in that website bio: “I try to write about what’s real. I write about love, because everybody knows what that’s like, good or bad.” And one of the favorite songs she’s written is called “Stupid,” about a boy who dumped her. “It’s really real and so fun,” Riley says. “And empowering for girls. I get the last laugh.”

I’ll be posting profile blogs on every singer who lands a spot on Season 9 of The Voice. For links to the others, head here. Keep checking back. There are many more to come.

On iTunes: Riley released six singles, including covers: “Hurricane” (2013), “Stay” (2013), “Four Five Seconds” (2015), “One Last Time” (2015), “Adore” (2015) and “Summertime Sadness” with Macy Kate (2013).

Update:
Battle round: Lost to Evan McKeel, singing “High Ground.” But Riley was stolen by Gwen Stefani.
Knockout round: Lost to Regina Love. But Riley got high praise for her performance of Beyonce’s “XO” and wound up getting the final steal of the knockout round, rejoining Team Pharrell.
Top 24: She performed “Should’ve Been Us.” The song hit number 115 on the iTunes Top 200. She was eliminated when Madi Davis and Evan McKeel were voted into the finals and Mark Hood received the Team Pharrell save.

Keeping up with Riley:
Website
Facebook
YouTube
Twitter: @rileybiederer

Blind audition — “Invincible”

Battle round — “Higher Ground” (with Evan McKeel)

Knockout round — “XO”

One Last Time (cover)

Ignition (cover)

Rude (cover)