Year: I was 2013 until this year and now I’m taking a year off. So now I’m 2014.
Major: Philosophy but I am also taking a lot of journalism classes. I’m interested in journalism as a career.
What do you do around campus?
I sing in the Katzenjammers. I do theater from time to time. I write occasional pieces.
Pieces for what publication?
The Nassau Weekly
When did you start singing?
I started seriously singing after joining the Katzenjammers. I’ve sung for some groups before but that was always much more for fun. Katzenjammers required 8 hours a week of rehearsals. It made me take myself more seriously than I had before that. I hadn’t had voice lessons before but I’m moving in more of that direction now.
Why did you audition for Katzjenjammers?
I loved their repetoire—jazz and classical music. Their music struck me as different from most of what I was hearing at the freshman arch. When I heard them sing all I thought was these people are way way way better than I am and I wanted to be with people who could push me.
Why did you audition for The Voice?
I very nearly didn’t audition for The Voice. I went to this call in New York City and it was in the middle of midterms week in the spring semester. So in March. I knew I had to get through a ton of reading that night and although I had a scheduled audition slot – I had missed the open call – all the auditions were running behind. 14,000 people auditioned over three days for open calls. For the scheduled days, there were still several hundred people. I very nearly walked out but I talked to the check in person and she said “I’ll bump you in to go in ten minutes but you have to make me proud.” And then I got through. There were several processes to get to the televised stage.
So do you have to go to LA?
Yes. The whole thing is taped in LA.
We know you got picked by Cee Lo. What’s it like working with him?
So it was Cee Lo and Blake Shelton. I picked Cee Lo because he’s my favorite singer in the world. Working with him is exceptionally fun because he’s very strange and eccentric. Just like a lot of his music would depict him.
Who else has influenced your style of singing?
I love all jazz music. I listen to Billy Holiday, Sinatra, and some contemporaries like Michael Buble, Jamie Cullum, Janelle Monáe, Cee Lo, and this French guy Ben L’oncle Soul. He’s great.
If you could sing a duet with anyone who would it be?
Janelle Monáe and I would propose to her on stage.
What do you plan to do after The Voice?
That is something that I can’t predict. I’m at the crossroads between wanting to be a musician and wanting to be a serious journalist. The Voice might make being a musician possible. I just have to see how it plays out. I won’t be able to gauge that right until it is all aired. I’m just trying to prepare to launch into both of them and see what happens.
Best of luck to you on the show.
Thank you.