Idol Chatter & Voice Views

DaNica Shirey (left) and Toia Jones prepare for a battle round match with Team Pharrell on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

DaNica, 25, made a splash about three weeks ago when she was featured on the second blind audition episode in Season 7 of the NBC hit show.

She sang Jessie J’s “Big White Room,” enticed three coaches to turn their chairs with her performance and decided to join Team Pharrell Williams.

Next up: the Battle Round, where teammates are asked to perform a duet. Their coach decides which singer advances; the loser goes home — unless stolen by one of the other three coaches on The Voice.

When I interviewed DaNica a couple of weeks ago, the battle rounds had already been filmed, but she was prohibited from talking about them.

Thanks to promo spots, we know she’ll be matched against Toia Jones, a 29-year-old R&B singer who has been performing around the Montgomery, Ala., area as a member of LyriQ with her fiance and keyboard player Maurice Chasen.

That’s quite a contrast to DaNica, a Red Lion High School grad and stay-at-home mom who hadn’t stepped on a stage for three and a half years prior to her audition on The Voice.

During her Voice interview segment, DaNica explained that her dad Joseph was her music manager and her biggest supporter. After he was diagnosed with cancer and wound up passing away, she lost much of her motivation to perform in public.

In fact, she performed a couple of times with a wedding band in the Philly area, but found it difficult because of her memories of her dad.

“The weddings were the hardest part,” she said. “I had always imagined as a little girl my dad walking me down the aisle. It was just one of those things where as soon as I saw it, I would break down crying.”

DaNica says she caught the singing bug around age 7 or 8, when the Spice Girls made the big time. She would dress like a Spice Girl and dance to all their performances on TV.

Her dad bought her a karaoke machine; Brandy’s “Have You Ever” was the first song she learned.

“I started singing that at family get-togethers,” she recalls. “Honestly, I would start singing for anybody willing to listen.”

By age 15, she was recording a demo CD and winning an adult singing competition at the Apollo Theatre in New York.

At age 19, she won an online singing competition called Total Pop Star and headed to California to record an album. But a friend’s death caused her to return home, DaNica recalls. Then came the news that the company that sponsored the competition didn’t have the funds to complete the album. And, shortly after that, she says her dad was diagnosed with cancer.

“After he passed away, I didn’t feel that same confidence anymore,” DaNica said. “I have sang, especially at home. I’ve never given that up. I’ll sit here and practice for hours at home when no one is around.”

As for The Voice, the third time proved the charm. She’d auditioned twice previously and failed to advance to a blind audition. This time, “Big White Room” proved a key to her success. And, ultimately, her performance of that song left three star coaches — Adam Levine, Gwen Stefani and Pharrell — singing her praises. Each wanted her on their respective teams.

Here’s what DaNica had to say about her blind audition experience.

The song: DaNica says she was “blown away” the first time she heard the Jessie J song and spent two years trying to master it.

“I was really nervous to practice it in front of anyone. I was scared I wasn’t doing it justice. I just kept practicing until I got better and better at it. When I went there (to a pre-audition in Philly) in January and sang it, they seemed to really love it. That gave me the confidence that I might be able to do it.”

Still, she admits, there were doubts in her mind as she took the stage at the blind auditions, which were filmed in June.

“The song was not a huge radio hit. A lot of people don’t know the song,” DaNica said. “I was really scared if they (the coaches) didn’t recognize the song, that it could stop them from turning around.”

The blind audition: “I honestly had so many emotions. I just kept telling myself, you can do this. Just sing the right words.”

Within moments of the start of DaNica’s performance, Adam had turned his chair and was facing in her direction.

“For a moment, I had to catch myself,” she recalls. “I looked right at him and started singing my song to him. It did sort of distract me. I was trying to sing from the heart, but I was really excited. I think at that point, I could breathe a little better. I wasn’t shaking quite as bad.”

Her decision to join Team Pharrell: “I wanted someone to back me up the way my father has my whole life. I just felt that support immediately and I could see it on Pharrell’s face. That he was very genuine and interested in me and passionate about me. In my heart, I knew it was just perfect.

“He’s a tremendous producer, and he works with all different kinds of artists and different music and different genres and honestly I enjoy singing so many different styles of music. I felt he was the best decision for me. He told me, ‘I know what to do with your voice.’ It was genuine. It was very confident. I knew I made the right choice.”

Watching the show: DaNica says she hosted a watch party at her York home when her audition aired in late September. Her mom, her sister, her 4-year-old daughter and some other relatives and friends were on hand.

“I could definitely not hold back tears,” she admits. “My family and my friends were crying. It was wild.

“It’s still weird to me. I keep watching it over again. It doesn’t feel like reality. I don’t feel like it happened to me. It’s just the weirdest thing in the world. I don’t know how to explain it.”

Her style of music: “I always just say soulful,” DaNica says. “That’s the hardest part for me, narrowing myself down to something, one style of music. Over the years, I’ve done shows for so many different venues and things.

“I had to sing country songs because that’s what the people wanted. Sometimes, I would just jumble different genres into my set. I always enjoyed singing everything. But even when I sing a country song, I sing very soulful, and it’s still me.”

After The Voice: “Hopefully, it will open up some doors where I can share some of my original music,” she says of the show. “To the point where I have people look at my music and listen to it and be proud of it and inspired by me.

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted. Music has inspired me in my life, since I was a little kid. Hopefully, I’ll get to work on an album, get some new fans and maybe do some touring. I have a lot of music I’ve written. Hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to share that with people.”