Darby Walker opens up about 'The Voice:' I sing about so much more than just love, heartbreak and sex

Darby Walker was eliminated from The Voice when the show determined its eleventh season's Top 10 artists on NBC.


Darby, a 17-year-old who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, landed in the bottom two with Aaron Gibson, a 25-year-old who currently resides in Kennesaw, GA, based on home viewer votes cast following the prior night's Top 11 performance show.

After both artists sang a survival song, America tweeted via the show's "Instant Save" format to keep Aaron in the competition. They both represented Miley Cyrus' team, which was a tough break for the dedicated and emotionally-attached coach.

During a recent conference call with reporters, Darby talked about her The Voice experience. Below is the concluding portion of what she had to say. Click here and here to read more.

You sang a lot of vintage songs. Had you heard those songs before?


Darby Walker: I've always been into -- I always tell people I was born in the wrong time. I go back and cry myself to sleep at night because I don't feel like I'm from this time. I'm the girl that collects antiques and has a vinyl collection from the past three years.

So for me, that was very much who I was. That's who I was. I was never -- you know what I'll say? She completely gave me the freedom to do that. I never knew how and if I could do that and with her, I got to push out of the Indie box and do everything that I wanted to do.

It's something that's influencing my whole life and I'm really happy that I got to sing those "vintage" songs for everyone to hear, because it was good music and it was music that meant something, and I feel like a lot of songs nowadays talk about love or being heartbroken or about sex.

That's all that we're really hearing, and I feel that the songs that I sing were about so much more than that. It was about freedom and self-expression and love and peace and being who you are. So the fact that I got to sing songs like that and put that out there, it was beautiful. It was so beautiful and I'd do it again the same way.

What's your most memorable moment from being on The Voice?


Darby Walker: My most memorable moment. That's hard. There's a lot of them, but I think one of my favorite moments is, it was 11PM at night. We had a long day of filming and we were rehearsing for a group song. It was me, Aaron, [Ali Caldwell], and Miley on stage. The band had gone home. The crew had gone home.

They were turning off the lights and I was standing there barefoot, and all of us were just sitting there clapping our hands and tapping our foot practicing that song over and over and over, just really enjoying the music and enjoying being there and creating something. It was the last moment I think I experienced on the show and it was beautiful.

You mentioned just briefly the East Coast versus the West Coast and the Twitter save, and of course you were going up against someone from Georgia and you're from California. How do you feel about that whole Twitter save format? Do you think that could've influenced the outcome?

Darby Walker: I think it did influence the outcome completely but it's something that's out of my power. It's something I can't cry about because I knew that going into this. The thing is, I'm from Georgia as well, but I never fully got that same exposure and it's hard to be bicoastal.

Because when you live in L.A., the only people they are talking about are the A-listers. Because Aaron was from Georgia, he got first dibs on everything. I really, really, really pushed myself and promoted myself as much as I could. I was my biggest person out there fighting for myself.


So I knew when that happened that not only because he was from Georgia but because I think the mindsets are different between East Coast and West Coast, if that makes sense. And I'm not trying to make this political by any means, but I was up there singing about things that maybe more conservative people didn't want to hear about.

I was up there doing things that maybe they weren't ready to hear or ready to watch, and I think their opinions towards Miley and me being considered the "mini-Miley" could've influenced their judgment and their votes but you know what?

Like I said, it's up to the universe. I believe everything happens for a reason, so I'm happy that he's still there and I wish I could've been there, but that's just the way the cards fell.

What's next for you? Will you go back to doing Indie music? Do you advance from there?

Darby Walker: That's such an open-ended question because there's so much that I don't know about yet. There's so much in the works already. There's so many things out there. I have a movie coming out in February, which I'm really excited about.


I've got a lot of music that I've already made, but I'm more thinking about -- because I'm a person, I believe in change. I believe in evolution and I know I'm not the same person now than I was going into this. So you guys can expect to hear a lot of new music coming from me. You can expect to see a lot of me on social media. I'm going to be everywhere. Just expect a lot of art.

So you won't be singing in coffee shops anymore?

Darby Walker: No. Now I feel like I'm moving on to something bigger and more meaningful. I'll sing for anyone who listens, anyone who wants to hear me sing, but at this point, I really, really, really have a strong sense of who I am and I know who I am, and a lot of other people know who I am and believe in me and what I'm doing.

So I think it's so much bigger than what it was when I was started. So I don't think there's any going back. There's only looking forward and only new experiences.

Could you talk a little bit about your relationships with the other contestants? Who were you closest to?


Darby Walker: To be honest, my best friend on the show was Aaron, so that was real fun last night. (Laughs) Yeah. I mean, everyone here is like family. I love Billy Gilman. I love me some Billy Gilman. He's the most charming person you'll ever meet in your life.

Ali's the funniest person you'll ever meet in your life. Her impersonations of everyone are hilarious. I love everybody here. I have the utmost respect for them. And my gosh, cowboys. I love our cowboys. [Josh Gallagher] and [Austin Allsup] and [Sundance Head], they're great! I love everybody.

I love them all with all my heart, and I know that I will see them all and continue to talk to them all for many, many, many years to come. They can't get rid of me that easy. But yes, I'd say my best friend here was Aaron.

Did Aaron and yourself say anything to each other while you were waiting to hear the results?

Darby Walker: We both just were in shock. He felt so -- it was just like a lose-win-lose situation. Either way, you couldn't really fully be happy, and I talked to him and stuff last night and talked to him this morning and it's like, although he's happy to be here, that's not what he wanted at all.

And for me, it's like, I'm happy that his music still gets to be heard because I love his music, but at the same time, I still really, really want to be here. So yes, it was just -- it wasn't a fun situation to be in.


Could you just talk a little bit about the movie you're going to be in. Is this something you filmed before you were on The Voice?

Darby Walker: Yes. I'm actually super excited. This is something that I filmed before The Voice which was produced by the same man who produced Halloween and Michael Myers, so I'm super excited.

It's scheduled to come out in February. Yes, I think it's going to be cool. I can't give away all the details but everyone should stay tuned and watch. I'm excited. It's a horror film.

Are you experiencing newfound fame now that you've appeared on The Voice? What has it been like to be recognized when you're out in public?

Darby Walker: I've gotten a lot actually, more than I was expecting. It's funny. I was eating breakfast the other morning and this man walks up to me and he takes off his hat and he puts his hat on my head and he's like, "Oh my gosh. I knew it was you."

He's like, "Me and my wife watch you all the time." I started cracking up. So yes, I honestly have gotten recognized a lot, and I've gotten a lot of recognition from people in my community and a lot of people from back in Georgia so it's really fun.


Click here and here to read more from Darby Walker's The Voice interview.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski