Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Tuesday night, we met five talented new artists on The Voice.

Wednesday, they participated in a conference call with the media.

I asked each to point to a song they did outside The Voice that they’d like viewers to hear.

Those songs … or links to those songs … appear below.

For part one in this series, featuring artists from Monday night, head here.

Now those songs …

Cathia, 19, Bronx, N.Y. (Team Shakira) — a cover of “Listen”

Actually, Cathia pointed to this song as an original called “Be Alright,” about picking yourself up from adversity. “Be Alright” has not been posted from what I can tell. As for “Listen,” it’s a performance from the Apollo Theatre that shows her ability to change up a song and, in her words, “proves I can sing in English.”

Tawyna Reynolds, 32, Nashville (Team Shakira) — “I Like the Way You Drink”

Tawnya has a pair of full-length albums on iTunes, but pointed to a song she referred to as still “a work in progress.” She selected it partly because it’s a fun song that shows the other side of her personality. Her debut album includes a pair of whiskey songs — “A Whiskey Kind of Way” and “I’ll Be Your Whiskey” — both far more serious. I’ve provided a link to the latter because the audio below isn’t superb.

Jon Peter Lewis, 32, Rexburg, Idaho (one half of Midas Whale, which also includes Ryan Hayes) — “A Song for Christopher Columbus” (from his 2010 EP, available on iTunes)

Jon Peter said he wanted to write a song about a holiday, but not Christmas, because … well, there are too many Christmas songs already. So he wrote one for Christopher Columbus Day, hoping radio stations would play it at least once a year. “I wrote it as a joke,” he admits, “but I ended up really liking it.” Ryan Hayes, the other half Midas Whale, said he has written many songs, but hasn’t made much music available online. One he would like people to hear if it does become available is a song called “Howling at the Moon” “that Jon and I do very well.”

Sarah Simmons, 22, Memphis, Tenn. (Team Adam) — “Someone Like You” (an Adele cover)

Sarah says she loves to put her “own spin on songs that really speak to me, and in this song I got to really express my heart and feelings from a painful past experience. I respect Adele very much.” She says to really pay attention from the 1:30 mark on.

Josiah Hawley, 27, Fort Smith, Ark. (Team Usher) — “If I Had You Here” (from his 2012 EP, available on iTunes)

Josiah says this song is about the experience of moving to Los Angeles and having your loved one there to share the experience. The song isn’t on YouTube, but you can listen to a snippet of it by heading here.