Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Treeva Gibson, 16, of Frederick, Md., auditioned with Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful,” pouring emotion beyond her years into the performance. Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton turned around before she hit the chorus. Treeva joined Team Christina.

Her background: Both of Treeva’s parents are deaf, and the teen says she learned sign language before she could speak. Her mom is a teacher at the Maryland School for the Deaf; her dad teaches at the University of Pittsburgh. And though they’ve never been able to hear her sing, she says they’ve been supportive of her talent. When she was 13, Treeva says she suffered a hearing loss in her mid-tone range, but her doctor has assured her the problem won’t get any worse. As a result, she relies partly on lip reading and sometimes has trouble hearing the singer when listening to music.

What the show didn’t show: Treeva describes herself as having “little to no experience. I’ve maybe done five things on stage in my life.” But she says she started listening to music and mimicking singers at a young age, and people would keep complimenting her on her vocal talent. Along the way, she also taught herself to play piano and guitar. So she decided to try out for The X Factor, but failed to make it past the open call. She hoped to try out a second time, but the show was cancelled. “I was so afraid of The Voice. I didn’t think I was good enough,” she admits. But she says making the show is validation that people appreciate her talent, not just the story behind that talent. In addition to Lana Del Rey, she said her musical influences include Amy Winehouse and Florence and the Machine. “So I’m getting more into pop-rock, indie kind of things, but I’m still discovering what I like and what I’m good at.”

On picking Christina: “Blake was saying really awesome stuff, but Christina was saying stuff — I had thought about those things before — so when she was saying that, it was like an instant connection.”

On iTunes: Just her audition song.

Update: In the battle round, she was matched with Katelyn Reed. They sang “Addicted to Love.” Christina declared Treeva the winner; Katelyn was eliminated from the show. In the knockout round, she went up against Rob Taylor. Treeva sang “Chasing Pavements” by Adele, but was eliminated from the show when Christina declared Rob the winner.

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Twitter: @treevagibson

Between Two Lungs (Florence and Machine cover)

The Love Club (Lorde cover)