Finalists Josh Kaufman, Christina Grimmie and Jake Worthington prepare for the finale, which airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. on NBC.
Credit: Trae Patton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
The heat is on as “The Voice” comes to a close. We caught up with the last artists standing as they prepare to sing their hearts out for the competition’s finale.
Christina Grimmie, the 21-year-old pop singer, left her hometown in New Jersey to follow her dreams in Los Angeles. Grimmie began her music career on YouTube and now has over 2 million subscribers. The YouTube sensation got all four chairs to turn and went with Team Adam.
“I have been busier than ever before and my memory has gotten a lot better too because we have to memorize a song a week,” Grimmie says. “[But] the biggest challenge for me is being away from my family. We got to go home for a week after the Blinds, but now we stay here to work on the show.”
Josh Kaufman, the family man from Indianapolis, supported his wife and three kids as an SAT prep tutor and band member playing local gigs. This soul singer got all four chairs to turn in the Blinds and originally went with Team Adam, but was later stolen by Usher. Kaufman hopes that winning “The Voice” will allow him to support his family as a full-time musician.
“Usher has a very unique coaching style,” says Kaufman. “He has me run around the stage before rehearsal and sometimes he’ll have me sing in the mirror. [Laughs] But he’s a really good communicator.”
Jake Worthington, the country kid from Texas, discovered his passion for music after a terrible football accident. He got three chairs to turn in the Blinds and (unsurprisingly) went with Team Blake.
“I’m not necessarily able to do what I want when I want,” says Worthington. “This is work completely and not vacation, yet a major blessing and [I’m] thankful for it. I mean, [it’s] not every day do you get to sit down and talk with a huge country star like Blake. But whatever he says, on a serious or joking matter, he’s always honest with me.”
Q&A
Win or lose, what are you walking away with?
Worthington: Believing in myself. I personally feel the first time I walked on that stage, I was already a winner along with everyone else. Win or lose, I walk away with a chin held high, a good conscious and everything I learned in every vocal lesson. Worthington
Kaufman: I’ve learned that if you set your mind to something and pursue it, it will eventually pay off.
Grimmie: The greatest reward for me has been inspiring people. Despite the challenges I might face as an artist, it motivates me to see that other people are impacted by my music. I feel like I’ve been called to do this and I don’t want to do anything else.
