Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Keisha Renee released her debut country-soul EP on Friday.

And it worked out well for the 32-year-old, who advanced all the way to the Top 8.

But the former background singer who had backed Adam Lambert, Jill Scott and, most principally, Nicki Minaj didn’t “go country” under Blake’s tutelage.

At the end of her run on the show, she said she’d been working on her country-soul sound for four years before auditioning for Season 13.

She’s now served up the first example of that sound in the form of a four-track EP called “The Road Less Traveled” that landed Friday.

The standout track is “Holy Ghost,” where Keisha mixes that country sound with her gospel background. You can check out a snippet of it below.

“I’m beyond proud of this body of work,” Keisha writes on Facebook.

Here’s a look at some other new releases by former Voice contestants.

Xenia from Season 1 released “Hostages” — which she describes as the first of many singles — on Friday. “It is about trickery and deceit. It’s about letting yourself believe that you would rather live in darkness. You start to become comfortable with the lies you’ve been told – that it’s better in the dark. So you stay” Read more about her personal connection with the song here.

The Cyberiam, featuring former Voice contestant Keith Semple on guitars and vocals, released a 21-minute “epic track” called “The Butterfly Effect” on Friday. The song is broken into five parts. The progressive rock band released its debut album in 2018 and is planning a followup next year. Keith also fronts the chicago-based Semple Band.

Anthony Ortiz becomes the second Season 16 contestant to release new music, courtesy of his pop single “Watch My Fire.” Eliminated in the battle round, Anthony released his debut EP (“Unfinished Business) in 2018 and racked up 144,000 streams on Spotify last year.

Tyke James from Season 15 released “Celebrate,” his third single of 2019, last week. It’s his first since The Voice with The Moss, his pre-show alternative band that dropped a three-song EP called “Sara James” last year. Tyke’s other 2019 releases — “Alaska” and a cover of “Ring of Fire.”

The links above take you to the releases on Apple Music. Below, you can check out 30-second snippets via Spotify.

See also …
2019 releases by former contestants on The Voice