Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Stevie Jo, 19, of Tyler, Texas, auditioned for The Voice with an Usher song, “There Goes My Baby.” About halfway through the song, Usher turned his chair. He turned out to be the only judge to do so, meaning he landed on Team Usher. Said Adam: “He sounds like Usher and he looks like Blake.” Usher, of course, complimented him on his song choice.

His background: He’s from a musical family, saying his parents were both in heavy metal bands while he was growing up. But they had four children “and had to give it up.” He followed in their footsteps, getting involved with a heavy metal band while he was in high school. But eventually, he says, he gravitated toward an R&B style. He’s also been involved in musical theater, and says his sisters used to tease him because his singing voice is so high.

On having Usher as a coach: “To work with Usher and be on his team is such an honor, because he’s such an influence on me as an R&B singer. I just know that he can improve me so much, and that’s why I joined this competition — to improve as an artist and a vocalist.”

What the show didn’t show: Stevie Rosenbalm says he was more excited than nervous when he hit The Voice stage, but admits the nerves started to kick in when a coach didn’t turn around as quickly as he had hoped. As for his song choice: “I really had been singing that Usher song for a number of years now. Like since it came out, I’ve just loved it. And I just really felt like it would be really cool if I was watching the show to see this rough guy that can sing an R&B tune like that. I figured the audience would like it and the crowd would like it, but I did not expect them to completely mistake me for an African American. So that was pretty crazy.” Though he says he leans toward R&B, Stevie Jo describes himself on Facebook as a singer-songwriter “with a love for all music.”

On iTunes: Just his audition song, but you can hear several originals on his YouTube channel. I’ve embedded two below.

Update: He defeated Jake Barker in the first battle round; they sang “Higher Love.” Then Jake was stolen by Team Adam. In the second battle round, he defeated Morgan Wallen. They sang “The Story of My Life.”

Keeping up with Stevie Jo:
Twitter: @thesteviejo
Facebook
YouTube

Editor’s Note: For links to profiles of all the Season 6 artists on The Voice, go here. And check back for live blogging during every episode of Season 6.

“Insomniac” (original)

“Feeling Good” (cover)

“Anticipation” (original)