Heavy The Voice News
“The Voice” season 14 ended in May 2018 with 15-year-old Brynn Cartelli defeating 17-year-old Britton Buchanan to take home the crown and give coach Kelly Clarkson her first team win (in her first season as a coach).
In a June 2023 interview with MassLive.com, the Longmeadow, Massachusetts native discussed the after-effects of winning “The Voice” and what it has been like navigating sudden fame and career success at such a young age.
“I was 15 when I won and I’m 20 now, and I think the ending of your teenage years are pivotal. The difference between 15 and 20 is really noticeable to a lot of people,” Cartelli said.
Brynn Cartelli is Planning a Free Hometown Show on June 23
Cartelli went on to talk about what it was like to be dropped into fame very suddenly. “I’m a normal person that just happened to go through something like that. My life kind of blew up when I was 15, but it’s been a really amazing five years,” Cartelli said, “I’ve always wanted to do this. I never thought that it would happen to me so young.”
In her time since “The Voice”, Cartelli has seen great successes. She signed a deal with Atlantic Records and signed with her coach Clarkson’s then-husband Brandon Blackstock as a manager. By 2019, she went on to open for Clarkson during her “Meaning of Life” U.S. tour alongside “Voice” coach Kelsea Ballerini and made her first of multiple repeated return trips to “The Voice”, some just to visit with new contestants and others to perform.
Aside from just releasing new music over the past five years, Cartelli has also made a number of music videos and has dabbled in directing as well. She directed the video for her most recent single “Secondhand Smoke”, and opened up in the interview about what it has been like expressing her creativity through video directing rather than just singing and songwriting.
“This is my third time directing, and each time I’ve absolutely loved it. It’s been so different, but it’s kind of like songwriting,” Cartelli shared, “Every time you write a new song, there’s a new tactic or a new strategy that you use that makes it unlike any song you’ve written before. And I’ve done the same thing with directing. I’ve just learned so much every time, and I’m definitely still learning, but I love it.”
Now, Cartelli is preparing for a free hometown concert on June 23 at the MGM Springfield (in Springfield, Massachusetts) at 7:30 p.m. as part of the casino’s Free Music Fridays concert series. The concert is open to the public to attend, and Cartelli teased that she is preparing to debut quite a few songs at the live show.
What Did Brynn Cartelli Sing on ‘The Voice’?
Brynn Cartelli stood out from her first appearance on “The Voice”, when she turned both Clarkson and Blake Shelton’s chairs with her Blind Audition performance of “Beneath Your Beautiful” by Labrinth and Emeli Sandé. In the Battles, she beat fellow team member Dylan Hartigan with a country spin on Taylor Swift’s “…Ready For It?”, though Hartigan was stolen by Shelton and survived the round. For her Knockout, Cartelli sang Rascall Flatts’ “Here Comes Goodbye” and sent home teammate Jamella in the process.
During her six weeks of live shows, Cartelli tackled hits from Sia, Lady Gaga, and Adele, earning particular praise for her “Skyfall” performance during the finals, in which she also performed “Don’t Dream It’s Over” as a duet with Clarkson, and an original song, “Walk My Way”.
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