The excitement level is always off the charts when someone gets a four-chair turn on NBC’s Emmy award-winning music competition series “The Voice.”
The four coaches for Season 18, Nick Jonas, Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and John Legend each gave their all in fighting to win Mandi Castillo, who sang Juan Gabriel’s “Así Fue” in her blind audition.
Castillo, a San Antonio native who now lives in the San Diego area, said she always knew definitively what she wanted to happen.
“My plan from the beginning was that I wanted John Legend – and then Kelly,” she said during a phone interview shortly after her battle round with CamWess. “But first Nick turned around, then Kelly, and John and Blake turned at the same time. I was getting a little scared, but I was super-excited, thinking now I could choose John. All the feedback I got was awesome and so real. Nick pointed out how it important it was to represent and I was trying to represent my heritage. I wanted to showcase that first.”
Sometimes grand plans change in the moment. Yet even as Nick was scoring major points with Mandi, as did Kelly, her previous vision held fast.
“That’s what crazy. From the beginning I wanted John, because I sing R&B, but once Kelly started talking to me, and it turns out we both grew up on Mariah Carey– and her favorite song is ‘Vanishing’ that not many people know, it was insane,” Castillo said. “I thought we are the exact same person. But I also thought John would do a great job of song selection because of what he sings. As I was a little blacked out, it was incredible, and Blake has so many things interesting to say and everything Nick said resonated, but I knew the best choice for me was John. I did love everything he said and it touched me more than anything. He saw that and felt it and I had to go with my first choice.”
After seeing her perform on social platforms, producers on “The Voice” has asked Castillo to try out a year ago, but the timing wasn’t right, for a singularly crucial reason. She needed to donate a kidney to her mother, who has lupus. Although it turned out her kidney went to another recipient because it wasn’t the right type, her mother was able to get another donor and she’s recovering exceptionally well.
“I hope our story inspires people,” Castillo said. “My mom is going to the gym now and she’s doing great, lifting weights and losing weight– and back to the mom I knew growing up. To us, we want the world to know. I feel God had a plan for our lives, and we want to inspire people to show love in that way.”
Castillo grew up singing and would perform with her uncle on stage. As she got older she began writing music, and moved to California at the age of 19 to pursue a career.
Now, as part of Team Legend, she’s achieved a massive national platform. “Everyone on the team is a monster singer, and it was very intimidating but at the same time it felt honoring. We’re all best friends and have a group chat every day,” she said. “The whole ‘Voice’ team is super-sweet and will do anything to make you comfortable. I have made the best of friends that are going to last forever. You have a vocal coach, who helped each of us master our performances. It’s beautiful and full of love, with the goal of encouraging us to be better artists.”
Yet there were some awkward moments when Legend paired her with Cam for their battle round performance of “Señorita,” the hit song of last year by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello.
“The song is sexy, and it was weird because we didn’t really have a connection, so we were asked to hang out more and break the ice—and then we became really good friends,” she said, noting that her boyfriend, who is also her manager, was fine with it.
“We worked it out in our rehearsals, dancing together, and figuring out how we were going to make it sexy,” Castillo said about dueting with Cam. They definitely succeeded.
Team Kelly’s Micah Iverson also had a memorable battle round, paired with Gigi Hess to perform Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved.”
“Gigi was a really good partner for me specifically, and we also wanted to produce a masterpiece of a duet. We were determined to make a good performance and not just a competition,” Iverson said in a phone call from his home in Atlanta. “A lot of times the battles are about showing off, and I wanted something different. She was determined as well. Before our first rehearsal, we came up with a different version, and by the time we got to Kelly we were locking in to matching vibratos that showcased us together and separately. She had minimal feedback and said ‘Way to go.’ She sets the tone to give us the confidence we need, she’s someone very positive, and told us what we were doing right.”
Iverson had quit his job as an investment relations representative, a good job, he said– and moved to Atlanta from Virginia last summer.
“I wanted to start a band, yet I had no connections in music, but I wanted to be near my family. It was a decision based on a whim but held a deeper desire,” he said. “A friend whom I sang with started sending me the link for ‘The Voice’ auditions every other week. He said I really should do this, so I went to cattle calls at 6 a.m. and waited for four hours before getting in front of a producer. You sing in a room with other people, and luckily they liked what I sang. From there it was a few more steps before I was out in LA.”
Like Mandi, Micah had a definite idea of who he wanted as a coach.
“I knew my goal was to get Kelly, but if she doesn’t think I can sing, I don’t know. She was my one and only. I thought if no one turns in the first 30 seconds once I started singing…I closed my eyes and Kelly, Nick and Blake all turned.”
Kelly had turned her red chair first, and taking her blue satin jacket made Iverson the only dude on her team after his blind audition of Kodaline’s “All I Want.”
“As an artist, I think Kelly is incredibly talented at conveying emotion in one single phrase with so much feeling and depth. She’s very moving,” said Iverson. “I’m into music that more moves people, and Kelly as an artist is really good at that.”
Unlike a number of hopefuls on “The Voice” who specialize in a specific genre, Iverson says he likes everything from alt rock to pop and soul and ballads–and that he likes to flex what he called his “musical muscles.”
As the competition progresses, we’ll see how that strength resonates with the audience.
(“The Voice” airs Monday nights on NBC at 8/7c.)
