Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Zach Bridges listens to feedback from the coaches following his blind audition on The Voice Season 17. (NBC Photo)

It’s typically considered risky to perform a coach’s song for the blind audition.

And Zach took on one of Blake’s signature hits, “Ol’ Red.”

But he had his reasons, and it worked.

Zach wound up turning the chairs of Blake and Gwen Stefani and wound up joining Team Blake.

Here’s what the 28-year-old from Pearl, Mississippi, told Voice Views about his blind audition experience.

Voice Views: How did you wind up auditioning for The Voice Season 17?

Zach: I came home from work one day and my wife (girlfriend at the time) told me she created an account with The Voice and for me to pick a date and city to go and try out. Of course, I put it off as I had done for years. I didn’t think I had a chance. But later on, I was reached out to by a member of the casting team to come and try out. Next thing I know, I’m getting ready to sing on stage in front of the judges.

Voice Views: Whose idea was it for you to perform Ol’ Red, and what was the strategy there?

Zach: It definitely was a risky choice to sing a coach’s song for the blind auditions. It was a song that I auditioned with in one of my very first auditions, so I figured if it got me this far, it may get me a chair turn. I had been playing Ol’ Red for as long as I’d been playing the guitar, so I was comfortable enough with it to be confident singing it on the blinds stage.

Voice Views: What was the blind audition experience like? And Blake turned pretty early in the performance. Did that make it easier?

Zach: The blind audition was the most insane thing I’ve ever done. At the moment, it went by so fast I couldn’t remember it after it happened. When I watched it back on TV it was like re-living a dream.

I actually got more nervous after Blake turned for some reason. And when Gwen turned the nerves got even worse. I had prepared so much on singing the song, that I never thought about what I would talk about after they did turn.

Voice Views: On social media, you were promoting a new single called “Drunken Kiss”, but I haven’t seen it anywhere yet. Can you tell me a bit more about that and when it will be released?

Zach: I am currently in the process of writing and recording new music. I’m hoping to have an EP released soon and “Drunken Kiss” will definitely be a part of it. I’ll be putting out another single first called “Scared of a Little Love,” but you can definitely expect to hear “Drunken Kiss” when the EP is released. With me being in L.A. for the filming of The Voice, most of my music got put on hold.

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Learn more about Zach and his music