Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Ricky Manning from The Voice Season 7 has released his debut single.

Last Friday, he dropped his debut single.

Since it took so long, Ricky told Voice Views he decided a standard love song or upbeat pop song wouldn’t do.

He wanted to release something more personal.

He nailed that with a heart-wrenching new single called “LA is Lonely.”

“I wrote this song in one night in my apartment,” he told Voice Views. “I think I had just gotten off work, and my friends were going somewhere that I don’t think I was invited to.

“A few of my other friends weren’t interested in helping me out with music since I wasn’t really up to much, and I just felt really alone and discouraged.

“I had a note in my phone from a few months earlier that just said ‘LA is lonely’ and I just sat down and started singing and this song just came out. This song is 100 percent autobiographical. Sad, I know.”

What isn’t sad is the end result, which you can check out below. Or the “incredible” reaction Ricky said he’s getting to the new song.

From Cape Coral, Fla., Ricky was 19 when he auditioned for The Voice. He moved to L.A. in January 2015, shortly after Season 7 ended.

Since then he said he’s had small auditions for TV shows like Nashville and Glee, none of which worked out. He also said he’s been doing co-writes for a few other pop artists that he’s “really excited about.”

If you enjoy “LA is Lonely,” the best news is that Ricky hopes to release two more singles by January, then follow that up with an EP next year. You can track what he’s up to through his Facebook page or on Twitter, where he’s simply @TheRickyManning.

“Really excited to put my music out in the world, finally!” he says.

Editor’s Note: Below is why I enjoy The Voice. Not because of the show itself, but because they round up some pretty incredible artists who deliver a wide array of new music. These are from just the last week of so. The last track carries an explicit lyric warning.