Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Travis Ewing, 23, of Lafayette, La., auditioned with a slowed-down version of Destiny Child’s “Say My Name.” He’d barely started the song when Christina Aguilera turned around. A heck of a glory note midway through the performance prompted Blake Shelton and Pharrell to follow suit. Pharrell called him a very good singer who’s not afraid to mix things up. Travis opted to joined Team Pharrell.

His background: Travis told The Voice his love of singing began in seventh grade when his teacher started giving him solos to sing. At first, he admits, “I was so not about it.” But, eventually, that attitude turned around. These days, he’s a full-time musician and describes himself as a one-man band, using a loop pedal to create the sound of a band while playing solo. He attended Louisiana State University and performed a couple gigs a week while there, but said it’s been tough cracking into a new music scene post-college. His biggest performance pre-Voice was playing in front of 350 people at an event that earned him Musician of the Year honors in New Orleans for Raw Artists.

What the show didn’t show: His dad was both a policeman and a deejay, so he grew up around music. But Travis told The Voice it wasn’t until he was attending college in Baton Rouge that he started playing shows at restaurants and bars. He told his local newspaper that the Musician of the Year honor came just before he was about to embark on a career in marketing and convinced him music was what he was supposed to be doing. He had just moved to Charleston, S.C., when the opportunity to audition for The Voice came along.

On picking Pharrell: “I think, going into the blind audition, I had the idea that I would probably go with Pharrell if he turned for me. Just because right now — and even throughout my career as a musician — I never really thought of myself as a singer. I think of myself more as a musician. And I think I need more direction than anything in terms of music. I thought that a producer like Pharrell would have a bigger impact on me in the long run.”

On iTunes: Just his audition song, which was the best performing single from night three of the live auditions.

Update: Travis was pitted against Anthony Riley in a Team Pharrell battle round match. They sang “Get Ready” by The Temptations. Pharrell declared Anthony the winner, but Travis was stolen by Blake Shelton. In the knockout round, he was matched with Meghan Linsey, Blake’s other battle round steal. Travis performed “I Don’t Want to Be” by Gavin DeGraw, but was eliminated when Blake declared Meghan the winner.

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Twitter: @Travis_Ewing

“Trouble” (original)

“Lights” (Ellie Goulding cover)