Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Recent post-Voice releases include singles from Monique Benabou, Lauren Duski and Amanda Ayala.

Holly Henry, a Season 5 standout, has also released her first cover album.

Here’s a look at each of those releases.

The links take you to the songs on Apple Music. Or you can check out the Spotify snippets below.

* Monique Benabou from Season 2 released “Just Breathe” earlier this month, noting it marks the first commercial song she’s released in five years. She says she wrote the song while on tour with three other artists. There was a falling out and “so much tension, all I could do was get out of the room and start breathing.” She said she hopes the song helps listeners deal with moments “when we get stuck in reactivity” so they can “move forward powerfully.” There’s an accompanying music video, featuring Monique, the novice dancer. And there’s more music to come. In a social media message to the fans, Monique also addressed the “trauma” of The Voice. Or rather the trauma of being a 23-year-old “super duper green” artist used to singing in front of 15 people, suddenly finding herself singing for millions on TV, then just as suddenly released into the music business with “no integration as to ‘what now?'”

* Lauren Duski, the Season 12 runner-up, recently released “I Would For You.” It’s an upbeat song from Lauren, who typically pours her heart out in sad song fashion. And the new single is being well received, based on her social media posts. On Spotify, it’s been streamed more than 275,000 times already. Lauren co-wrote the song with Phil Barton and Jason Nix. “Thank you @philbarton222 for convincing @jasonnixmusic and I to write a happy song that day,” she writes on Instagram. “We kicked and screamed but u knew!”

* Amanda Ayala from Season 9 recently released the pop single “Hooked.” It’s the first release in about two years for 23-year-old Amanda, who was 17 when she appeareed on the show. She thanks producer Mark Matter and colleageus Mikaelin Bluespruce and Randy Merrill for “for taking my sad girl song and truly bringing it to life!”

* Holly Henry from Season 5 released an album of 17 cover songs on Friday. That’s special coming from Holly, who has more than 800,000 subscribers on a YouTube channel filled with covers. Here, her a cappella cover of “Sweet Dreams” and her version of “Heart Shaped Box” are intoxicating; her cover of “Sounds of Silence” simply magical. Oh, and she just posted a photo of herself wearing shorts in snow-covered Austin, Texas. “Nice try, Austin,” she writes. “I’m from Minnesota. We wear shorts until its 0 degrees.”