Dave Moisan and Jason Warrior both had the opportunity to join Adam Levine's team on The Voice, but the two guys have explained why they picked Alicia Keys instead when she's a brand new coach.
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Dave, a medical device salesman and former competitive swimmer from Louisville, KY, never took a vocal lesson in his life yet managed to turn all four chairs around during his Blind Audition shown in Monday night's Season 11 premiere.
In Dave's opening package, he explained how he's a huge fan of Adam's and the pair even hung out one time following a Maroon 5 concert. With all of that said, the coaches assumed he'd join Adam's team yet did everything in their power to sway him in a different direction.
"It was an incredibly difficult decision to make, and I came on the show thinking, most likely, that if I did have the opportunity to pick between the coaches, I probably would have leaned towards Adam," Dave told Reality TV World on Tuesday.
"But the other thing I was thinking coming into this experience... [is] that I want to grow as an artist, and I want to be able to push myself in directions that I wouldn't necessarily push myself."
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Coaches Miley Cyrus and Blake Shelton urged Dave to "break the mold" and avoid becoming a clone of Adam or his little puppet. The three coaches basically teamed up against Adam, which he could only interpret as a compliment.
"When some of the other coaches started talking about why it would make sense to pick somebody other than Adam, it made me start considering that a lot more. And when Alicia spoke, she is just so incredibly magnetic, and what she said really resonated with me," Dave explained.
"And she's not exactly like I am, but that's why -- like for example, whenever I write a song, I like co-writing with people who have a little bit of a different flavor than I do. So that way, it creates something new and unique that I wouldn't necessarily normally create."
Dave is therefore extremely excited to work with Alicia going forward and learn from her.
"I think I could've learned a ton of things from Adam, and I would've been able to grow tremendously with him, but I'm really excited to get to work with Alicia because it is breaking the mold a little bit and it's a little bit different. So I'm excited to challenge myself," he said.
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Similarly, Jason Warrior from Chicago, IL, chose Alicia over Adam. However, those are the only two coaches who turned around for him when he sang "Living For the City" by Stevie Wonder for his initial The Voice audition. For Alicia, it was all about Jason's soul, energy and passion that drew her in.
"I picked Alicia because, simply, it's everything she said. For me, this whole process isn't about just winning and being the greatest person of all," Jason told Reality TV World.
Jason's backstory was very endearing, as he adores and respects his mother for raising him as a single parent after his father left. Jason also overcame a childhood in which he was surrounded by drugs and violence.
"[The Voice process] is so much more about being moved and inspiring people through music, and that's my ultimate goal, to change the world one song at a time. Everything she said, from allowing me to spread my wings, to grow and become better as an artist, that's what really, really pushed me to take her over Adam," Jason explained.
"Adam is a great person. I definitely feel like I could have grown a lot with Adam as well, but for that reason, I picked Alicia."
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski