Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Voice eliminated five contestants in one night this week.

And that includes four of the five teenagers still in the competition.

But we haven’t heard the last from Braiden Sunshine, Shelby Brown, Madi Davis, Zach Seabaugh or Amy Vachal.

They made that clear during a conference call with the media earlier this week.

Here’s what they had to say.

Braiden Sunshine, who performed in his own band pre-Voice: “I know that I’m going to go home and start playing gigs and use the exposure we’ve gotten from jumping off of an opportunity to try and expand what I can do career-wise. I’ve gotten a couple of offers from people back home for like really cool gigs and management deals. And I’m really excited to see where it leads.”

Zach Seabaugh, who left the show with one of the largest social media followings of anyone on the show: “I know for me I’m just going to take what I’ve learned from this whole opportunity and keep building on my career. And I’m going to try and stick with Blake for as long as I can past this show and try and make the best of everything and with all of the huge fan base that I’ve gained from this show, I just want to continue with him and have him by side and put out some new music that they will purchase.”

Shelby Brown, who said she was extremely pleased with her decision to take a risk and join Team Adam as a country singer during the blind auditions: “I started home schooling online when I was a sophomore because I knew that this is what I wanted to pursue. And the show was just a stepping stone and as a chapter in my book that is closed and now it’s time to focus on what I want to do with my own career. I think right now, I’m ready to go spend the holidays with my family and then, you know, come time after that I’m going to get to work on something. I don’t know what yet. But this isn’t the last of me, for sure.

Madi Davis, who said she learned to appreciate music as a collaborative process because of The Voice: “I think now we just kind of have to see what happens next and see who, you know, contacts us as far as like record labels go. And it’s hard to know what’s going to happen in the future, but, you know, like Braiden said. I’m excited for it and this isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning.

“What I think I’ve realized throughout this whole process is that being talented and you know having a natural gift isn’t really enough. You know, you need people that are willing to work with you and help you. And you need people that are equally as talented, if not more talented — like in my case Pharrell Williams or the band director, Paul Mirkovich.

“I think that’s how I’ve grown, because I used to think that that was impossible, but I didn’t really want to work with other people. I wasn’t open to that idea. But I came on the show and everyone was so good at their job that I would’ve been a fool not to take advantage of just all the help I was being given.”

Amy Vachal, who enjoyed more success on iTunes than any of the eliminated contestants: She released two EPs prior to The Voice and says she’s looking forward to making her first full-length album: “I think it takes a long time to develop your sound and the kind of album you want to make. And coming into this, I had a couple of EPs up there, but they’re more or less really stripped down. And they were intended that way just so that, you know, they could single out the vocal and I could continue developing what I really wanted to be my sound for, you know, a potential full length.”

“After going through this incredible journey on The Voice and getting the coaching that we’ve been able to get, I’ve learned so much about who I believe I am as an artist. And I know that’s going to be huge in releasing this next album. I am so inspired at this point to write a lot about this experience.”