Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Nick Hagelin figures there were two major benefits to his time on The Voice.

First, of course, there was the exposure for himself and his music.

Then there was the message of hope for other families with a child born with arthrogryposis.

You’ll recall that doctors predicted Nick’s son, Bash, would never walk. Yet he strolled onto stage and greeted the audience following the blind audition that landed Nick a spot on Season 10 of The Voice.

The day after being eliminated from the show in ninth place, Nick told the media that moment remains one of “the coolest” from his time on the show.

“When (Bash) was born, it was hard to find those type of stories of hope and recovery for his condition,” Nick says. “I remember Googling and trying to find any ray of hope. I would find these pictures of kids doing well and would latch onto them.”

Now families facing a similar situation can look to Bash as that ray of hope, he said.

“After those early rounds, we’d be out in Atlanta as a family and people would come up to Bash and say, ‘You’re on The Voice.’ They wouldn’t say anything to me, because he was the real star of it all.”

Of course, dad didn’t do too badly either. An Atlanta resident, Nick was 28 when he auditioned, turned three chairs and opted to join Team Pharrell. He made it to the knockout round before being eliminated, but was then brought back for the live playoffs by Christina Aguilera.

He and Daniel Passino became the first coach comeback artists to advance to the finals. Daniel was eliminated last week when Nick earned an instant save. This week, the instant save went to Paxton Ingram, and Nick was eliminated in one of the closest Twitter votes in the show’s history.

Nick said working with Pharrell and Christina exposed him to two drastically different coaching methods.

“Pharrell is very — at least with me — very big picture and full of really poignant phrases and metaphors and ways to connect your artistry to yourself and your spirit to make sure who you are as a person is expressed through your music,” Nick says. “He helped me to connect to a more authentic signing voice. He really helped me open up.

“Christina is very pragmatic,” he adds. “She has the ability to give you these ab libs. I’ll be the first person to say that I was probably one of the least strong singers on her team so just to come in and immediately realize, ‘Wow, she’s going to have this really practical vocal advice’ was really, really good for me. She would be able to give me these ideas, and I would be able to implement them.”

Of course, now that his time on the show has ended, Nick is looking forward to realizing new original music.

Signed to Interscope Records at one point, Nick released a pair of EPs and a pair of albums before the show.

He says he spent about a year and a half at the label before the “people who brought me into the building left the building” and the relationship sort of “fizzled out.”

In the end, it might all work out for the best, he says. The Voice represents the first time in “came out” as an aspiring pop artist with a wife and young son.

“The interesting thing is I think because of me trying to embody some sort of pop star image and the music I was trying to make, it just wasn’t authentic,” Nick explains. “I wasn’t writing and creating from an authentic place. It just was not translating into good music.”

Now, Nick says he’s “tapped into a new authentic place in my relationship with myself and my music.” He’s promising to deliver fans pop music with a soulful twist in the not-too-distant future. He says he’ll be posting new material on his YouTube channel. Fans can also keep up with him through Facebook and Twitter.

“That was one of the hardest things about this whole process — having to stop that flow of new music. So now I’ve got all this pent-up creative energy and I’m just ready to get into a studio and then get out on the road.”

As for Bash?

“He was a little bummed we didn’t make it to finals because he wanted to wear his tuxedo,” Nick says. “(My wife and I) told him, ‘It’s just the beginning. There will be lots of other fun opportunities like The Voice.'”