Brandon Brown, Whitney Fenimore and Gary Carpentier talk 'The Voice,' joining Adam Levine's team

Brandon Brown, Whitney Fenimore and Gary Carpentier are three talented The Voice contestants this season who joined coach Adam Levine's team during the Blind Auditions.


Brandon chose to join Adam's team although Jennifer Hudson and Blake Shelton also turned their chairs around for him. Whitney became a member of "Team Adam" instead of Miley Cyrus' team. And finally, Gary landed the very last spot on Adam's team, when the other coaches' teams had been filled with the conclusion of the Blind Auditions.

With "The Battle Round" just around the corner, Brandon, a 19-year-old violin teacher from Bronx, NY; Whitney, a 28-year-old from Tulsa OK; and Gary, a 26-year-old from Oswego, NY, talked to reporters during a recent conference call about their time on The Voice so far and what their auditions were like.

Below is what they had to say about their individual experiences.

Brandon sparked interest from Adam, Jennifer And Blake with his rendition of "Georgia on My Mind." Despite Jennifer's apparent passion in having Brandon join her team, the artist picked Adam as his coach so the Maroon 5 frontman can push him out of his comfort zone.


Just as Brandon was making his decision, he heard his mother shouting from the side of the stage that he should choose Adam as his coach.

"My mom definitely did influence my decision. It was kind of like a hard decision to make," Brandon told reporters after his audition aired on NBC.

"I didn't know whether to go with Jennifer or Adam, but I just felt like Adam could really help me get stronger in places where I was weak, like in other genres. And I did believe that Jennifer could still help my voice become more stronger and she would be a really great coach vocally to have."

Brandon therefore didn't really consider picking Blake as his coach. The soulful artist continued, "But I kind of, for a little while, I started to say to myself I wanted to go for Adam. So that made it a little easier but it was still a really extremely tough decision."


Whitney took the stage with "Hold On We're Going Home" in Americana-folk style for her Blind Audition, and both Adam and Miley fought for her.


Ironically, she sang the Drake song in Christina Grimmie's version. Christina was a former "Team Adam" member on The Voice who tragically passed away from a gun shot in 2016.

"I honest to God did not even know that she sang that song until I looked it up 24 hours before my audition and I freaked out. And I was just wondering if anyone else had done that song, and I saw that she did it, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh,'" Whitney admitted.

"I felt like I wasn't worthy to do that song, and so that put a lot of weird pressure on me, because I didn't want anybody to think that I was trying to step in any sort of shoes that I wasn't supposed to or whatever. Because that is not at all what my intentions were."

Whitney added, "But I'm glad that Adam received the song well. He said it was like she said 'hello' to him, and I thought that was so sweet, and I'm glad that he was able to have that time during the song. But no, I didn't intentionally do it."

Whitney revealed to reporters that a friend actually came up with the song's arrangement.


"I love that song, and I did not know until right before," she noted.

"And then as far as being on Adam's team, it kind of feels like it was destined to happen. I mean, I did not know he was going to turn but it felt like the right fit. I've been a huge fan of his since I was a little kid, and it was such an honor to have him say the things that he did and I couldn't be happier to be on his team."


Gary, who almost made it into MLB, sang "Home" by Michael Buble for his Blind Audition.

"Initially, the coach I really wanted [was] Jennifer because I think with her power and her precision and expertise with being on the reality kind of scene, I really wanted to pick her brain," Gary revealed to reporters.

"But I grew up a giant Maroon 5 fan, like I think a lot of us did. So I think I landed right where I was supposed to be, to be honest."


Going into his performance, however, only Adam had a spot left on his team.

"I had no idea how many spots were left. The only thing I wanted to do in all that preparation, I didn't care if I got a turn or not.  All I wanted to do was sing," Gary admitted. 

"I just wanted to perform and just make sure that if I didn't get a chair turn and I did my very best, than I was going to be okay with it. But I'm just, I'm really happy the way it turned out and hopefully things will go well moving forward."

To read more interviews with The Voice's Season 13 contestants who survived their Blind Auditions, click here for Reality TV World's show page.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski