Bindi Liebowitz: You won't always agree with 'The Voice' coaches or feel their criticism is accurate

Bindi Liebowitz is opening up about her The Voice battle and how it feels to go from Adam Levine's team to Blake Shelton's team.


Bindi, a 23-year-old from Summit, NJ, went up against Brendan Fletcher, a 26-year-old from Randolph, NJ, in The Voice's eleventh-season "Battle Round."

After the Battle, Adam gushed about how Bindi has a sweet spot in the middle of her range, similar to the quality Rihanna has in her voice. Adam explained Brendan, on the other hand, almost tore down the building with his vocals and there is something "thunderous" and "other worldly" about his talent.

Adam didn't seem to struggle with his decision to advance Brendan -- whom he also called "astonishing" -- to the "Knockout Round," however, Blake opted to steal Bindi for his own team since she has so much potential. The coaches agreed their song "Home" didn't really show off her vocal ability.

During a recent conference call with reporters, Bindi talked about her experience on The Voice thus far. Below is what she had to say.


Going into your Battle, did you have any knowledge there was only one "steal" left? And if so, did that alter your strategy in any way or amp up the pressure?

Bindi Liebowitz: I actually don't remember. I know that, you know, there's a lot of talk about how many spots are left. But then sometimes there's misinformation or miscommunication -- kind of like a high-school thing, like rumors. So I try not to pay attention to it.

I didn't want to go onstage hoping for a "steal" or betting on "steals" or spots. I just wanted to go out there and have a really great performance, and that's what my method was. That's exactly what I did. I went out and I just had a good performance. I had no idea how many spots were left or who had which "steal." So that wasn't really on my mind.

Did you think your chances of getting stolen though were high once Adam named Brendan the winner of your Battle?

Bindi Liebowitz: I was hoping so. I got really great feedback from all of the coaches during my Blind Audition. [Miley Cyrus] and [Alicia Keys] both spoke a lot more than what was shown on air for my audition.


So I had faith that they believed in me. But you never know what they're looking for on their team. You don't know if it's kind of an idea that they have for their final person or if it's in terms of what works with the rest of the team. So I was hoping, but you just never know.

After your Battle, we saw Miley telling you that the song was too easy for you. I'm not sure what she meant by that. How do you feel about it?

Bindi Liebowitz: That kind of got a lot of feedback, that she said she felt the song was too easy for me. It's really funny because the note at the end was really, really difficult for me to hit. And I was shocked that she thought it appeared to be too easy for me.

But I also kind of was okay with her saying that. If something was difficult for me and I can make it look easy, I feel like that's me doing my job. But unfortunately... it's not always [a good thing and] doesn't always work out for you in the best ways...

You are taking something that's usually just about expressing yourself and putting it into a competitive playing field. So while making something that's difficult look easy would usually be a good thing, if it's too easy, then the other person looks like maybe they're trying harder, I guess. That's what I think she was trying to say, and then it would work against you.


So I was okay with her saying it. You know, criticism is criticism. You're not always going to agree with it. You're not always going to feel that it's accurate. But I don't think it came from a negative place. I think anything they say to us is just for us to work harder and become better artists. So I kind of stay neutral on all of it.

Now that you're on "Team Blake," what do you hope to accomplish and show the audience?

Bindi Liebowitz: I am really grateful that Blake stole me because it was him believing in me for a second time. I'm glad that there were no hard feelings or anything like that for me not choosing him for the Blinds. And really, I just need to prove that this is what I'm meant to do.

But I don't want to do anything but be an artist, be a musician. I can take all the lessons learned from any genre of artist and just kind of apply them to myself to be much better as an artist.

So I just want to learn from him and kind of use that country knowledge and experience that he has and apply it to, I guess, the blues/soft rock kind of sound that I aim for. So it's all about collecting the lessons on the way and then applying them to your performance.
   






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski