Idol Chatter & Voice Views

 

Several former American Idol contestants have won spots on The Voice.

Tuesday night, Sundance Head did what none of them could. He won the show, earning a record deal in the process.

But during a post-show press conference Tuesday night and a conference call with the media Thursday afternoon, Sundance repeated what he’d said after his blind audition.

He was woefully ill-prepared when he earned a spot on Season 6 of American Idol, both as a musician and as a person.

“The first time I tried something like this, I wasn’t very good at it,” he admitted. “It took a lot of life to figure out who I was as a singer and an artist and a beautiful woman to show me the way.

“I wasn’t ready for this 10 years ago,” he added. “I know that now. Looking back, I thought I was some kind of hotshot — that I should have won everything. At this point, I’ve learned to be quiet and listen to what’s going on and try to learn from everybody around me rather than walking into the room and thinking I have all the answers.”

Sundance, 38, said one of the differences this time around was that he entered The Voice with a strategy in mind — to cover as many songs by female artists he admired as he could, to stick to one musical style and to target a fan base.

The musical style was the country-soul sound he displayed on a pre-Voice album called, not surprisingly, “Soul Country.” It includes “Darlin’ Don’t Go,” the self-penned tribute to his wife that he performed Monday night and that hit number one on the iTunes singles chart.

As for his cover strategy, he wound up singing Alicia Keys’ “No One,” Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” and concluded his Voice run with Etta James’ “At Last.” That song checked in at number two on the iTunes singles chart, trailing only Sundance’s original from the same performance show.

“On Idol, I was all over the place (musically) and none of it was very good. There were so many things I did wrong on that show and, at the time, I wasn’t a very good person.

“Musically, now, I’m probably 50 percent of what I can be. On that sow, I was 5 percent. Maybe. I didn’t know myself as a human being, let alone as an artist.”

Next up for Sundance is making post-show music with Universal Records. Sundance said he was touched by Blake’s challenge to Universal to put its weight behind a post-show debute album in hopes of making the Season 11 winner the first breakout star from The Voice.

He’s hoping to stick to the country soul sound he created back in Texas. But most of all, he wants to continue what he did on The Voice — sing music with a positive message.

“I want sing music my 2-year old could listen to or my grandma could listen to,” he said after winning Tuesday night. “I just want to have positive music and be a positive person in the world. That’s my whole goal.”

Among his other comments during the press conferences:

* Sundance said he cast 10 votes for Wé McDonald after Monday’s show and was incredibly impressed by her show-closing performance of “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” “I would not have been sad for one minute if she had won,” he said.

* Sundance said Blake Shelton deserves much of the credit for his first chart-topping song on iTunes, “Me and Jesus.” It was Blake’s idea to do a gospel song. They considered “Happy Day” but eventually ditched it in favor of Sundance’s bluegrass style arrangement of “Me and Jesus.” The song propelled him to front-runner status on the show.

* Sundance called performing with Kiss on the finale the fifth biggest moment of his life, trailing only the day he married his wife and the days his three children were born. A month before his brother died, they attended a Kiss show together. Sundance rode his brother’s shoulders through the entire concert. He was so amazed by the opportunity to perform with Kiss, that Sundance said he “kept messing everything up” during rehearsals. “Cool dudes” Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons helped Sundance through it, and he managed to pull off the live performance though he admitted “I got choked up a little bit” by the emotion of the moment.

Wondering about those other former Idol contestants who wound up on The Voice. Here’s a list of the four most notable.

* Keith Semple: He was one of the most impressive contestants to try out at the Chicago auditions for American Idol back in 2010 (Season 9), earning a golden ticket to Hollywood. But the native of Ireland had to drop out of the competition because he couldn’t meet American Idol’s citizenship requirements. On The Voice, he finished Top 20 in Season 9.

* The Swon Brothers: Before Zach and Colton showed up on The Voice and became the most successful duet in the show’s history, Colton tried out for Season 7 of American Idol and made it to the Top 28. The brothers finished third on Season 4 of The Voice, trailing only winner Danielle Bradbery and Michelle Chamuel.

* Jamar Rogers: We first met Jamal as Danny Gokey’s buddy on Season 8 of American Idol. Danny wound up finishing third; Jamar failed to make it to the live shows. But he fared better on The Voice, landing in the Top 8 on Season 2.

* Frenchie Davis: This big-voiced diva made it all the way to the semifinals on Season 2 of American Idol before being disqualified for topless photos taken years earlier. She was 31 when she auditioned for the first season of The Voice and made it to the Top 8.