By Katie Webb, Editorial Editor
The battle rounds begin next week on “The Voice” and Hofstra alumna Erin Willett is ready to fight. From the auditions process to standing on stage for the first time and looking to future affairs, Willett tells all.
Out of hundreds of thousands of competitors ranging from seasoned professionals, to older and more experienced artists, Willett was picked out of obscurity. She had only been performing in New York City at gigs for six months when she auditioned. Now she is in L.A. performing with talented artists from around the country.
The next round is a battle royale in which singers from each of the four teams face off with each other in a boxing ring trying to out-sing each other in duets.
“I am very nervous about this round,” said Willett. “My fate lies in one person: Blake. And your competition is standing, singing right there next to you. It’s a weird situation…but I know that there will be a lot of growth during this round no matter what the outcome.”
As for her competitors, Willett said that when the cameras vanish the gloves come off. Normally, people expect rivalry to form between people fighting for the same prize, but Willett insisted differently.
“We sat in hotel after hotel, day after day with each other. You kind of have to be crazy not to become friends with people,” Willett reminisced of the beginning of the auditions. “I talk to a lot of the artists on a continual basis and there are great life long friends that I will take from this experience.”
There is only one person that Willett has become closer to then her competitors: her coach. Blake Shelton was the first and only person to turn his chair around to pick Willett during her performance.
“Once I began the song, I just blacked out,” said Willett. “I remember it was hard to breathe, since it was just such an overwhelming experience, but once Blake turned I knew I was on the show… it was so unreal. I was praying that I didn’t trip and fall.”
Of course, all the contests go on the show hoping for a spot, but often the contests have an artist they wish would pick them. Willett had her eye on a few coaches for different reasons.
“As a girl growing up in the 90s I sang Christina all day long, and Cee-lo has some dope hits on the chart, and of course Adam is fine as hell and a solid musician… but Blake, I think for this specific role as coach, is the best,” Willett said of her father-like coach Shelton. “He is so humble and such a proud papa of us all.”
As for her real father, Willett is still going strong in the competition even after her father’s recent death. He appeared beside her during her audition, but now she must continue without him.
“Since he has passed it has put a lot of things in perspective as far as my life goes. I am here on earth for such a limited amount of time, and I can’t just sit back and wait for the things that come to me; I need to create my own opportunities, and essentially manifest my own destiny whatever that might be.”
Willett will be duking it out in the battle rounds next Monday at 8/7 on Fox. Support her in her fight to win it all by following her on twitter: @erin_willett.