Josette Diaz, Ponciano Seoane and Maye Thomas talk 'The Voice' battles -- What fans didn't see!

Josette Diaz, Ponciano Seoane and Maye Thomas all advanced to The Voice's "Knockout Round," but no one got to see their full Battles!


Josette and Maye are on Miley Cyrus' team going forward, while Ponciano is on Adam Levine's team.

Josette defeated Charity Bowden in her Battle, Maye beat Khaliya Kimberlie and Ponciano bested Elia Esparza.

The three artists received very little airtime in the "Battle Round," as only short clips of their faceoffs were televised during last week's The Voice episode. Since fans were barely acquainted with these talented artists, it's time to get to know them.

During a conference call with reporters, the three artists discussed their Battles in detail.


To the three artists who were montaged, how did you feel about the songs you were given from your coaches? And tell us more about the feedback you received from them after you sang.

Ponciano Seoane: So, you know, we got montaged and nobody wanted it to happen to them, but we still loved our performance and what they showed. Me and Elia, I think we really connected onstage. We definitely had a romantic vibe.

We sang "Tenerife Sea" and we loved it. We thought it was an amazing song by Ed Sheeran. He really makes you feel what he's saying and singing and we definitely brought that to life on stage.

We really connected with each other and the audience and made them feel like, you know, we were in love. And the coaches really loved what we both did and they all said that we connected really well and [there weren't] really many critiques for either of us. I think Adam just had a really tough decision to make.

To be honest, I can't say much [as to why I won]. I think we both did a great job and I think Adam just had to go with his gut or he had to go with who he thought was going to take him further. I couldn't really speak for him, but I thought we both did a really good job.


Maye Thomas: So Khaliya and I, we did "For What It's Worth" by the Cardigans and it's an Indie song. It was a different song choice. A lot of people have never heard that song before but we -- I actually knew the song going into it.

Khaliya had never heard it before but she sounded incredible on it and we had a lot of fun singing it together. I actually got sick and I had to miss the second day of rehearsal, band practice, with [Joan Jett].

And Miley had said during, or after we performed our Battle, that that was part of the reason that I was chosen -- because I had missed that practice and missed that time of rehearsal and still came out prepared and performed.

But we had a lot of fun singing together and we really bonded. We kind of bonded more as sisters, and so we had a really great time singing that song together.

Josette Diaz: So Charity and I got Patsy Cline's, "She's Got You." Charity told me that she grew up listening to Patsy. She is a country singer, so she knew Patsy like the back of her hand. I had never heard the song, so she helped me a lot with it.


And, yes, it's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful old country song and it's definitely something that I would have never chosen for myself, but it definitely went with my vibe and my singing type.

And so going into it, I didn't really know who Miley would pick, and so when she picked me, I was thrilled. Like I said, I had never heard this song; I'm not really a country singer... I honestly didn't even know who Patsy was until the "Battle Round..."

So, yes, I was going against a beautiful country singer and it was definitely an honor to win the Battle. I loved working with Charity a lot and we did become really close friends, so having her leave was definitely very rough.

Can you pinpoint something you've been working on with your coaches that you think has been most beneficial for you up until this point?

Ponciano Seoane: Working with Adam, you know, he's given a lot of good tips and pointers. I think one thing that he recognized that I did already really well was connect with the song and then be able to show that emotion to the audience through my singing.


One thing he did help me on and pinpoint how I could be better is a lot of breath control, especially in the big moments. You know, being on The Voice, you have a lot of big moments in your songs and you try to find those moments that the audience can really, really see what you can do.

And a lot of those moments really require taking a lot of breath because you're holding out big notes -- you're doing a lot of vocal runs and stuff like that. So for me, I definitely don't consider myself one of the most talented vocalists on the show.

So [Adam] helped me understand what makes somebody a better vocalist in that taking big breaths and just knowing that you're going to have to have a lot of air to complete a lot of those runs and hold out those notes. That's one thing he really told me and it hit home with me.

Maye Thomas: So with Miley, she's helped me work with my bravado. I have kind of a fast bravado similar to hers and so she's been helping me learn when to kind of use that strategically and also just on my range in general.

Because I'm not normally like a -- I don't like to sing very high or belt it, and she's challenged me to do that more. But more than anything, Miley is incredible at making sure that you are being true to yourself and feeling comfortable in your own skin.


And that goes with your wardrobe and everything that goes along with your performance, and she goes out of her way and spends extra time to making those extra phone calls.

Like, I remember for the Battles, I was concerned about the shoes I was wearing and I got to email her about it and she had already talked to wardrobe about it because she just felt like it didn't look like me. And so I got to change my shoes.

Like, it's just really amazing that she goes above and beyond making sure that we are being ourselves as an artist through and through and refining that.

Josette Diaz: Well, I think everyone on "Team Miley" can agree that she's definitely helped us stay true to ourselves, but at the same time, kind of step out of our comfort zone.

And she did help me step out of my comfort zone when she gave me and Charity a song that I had never heard about before in a genre that I don't really sing often. But I took it gracefully and I learned a lot from it.

I learned a lot from Charity as well, who's a major, major country singer. And I think that's one of the reasons why, you know, I did pass the Battle, that she was able to kind of see that I can take something new and really work with it.


She even told me she was very happy that I'm very accepting to new ideas. So, yes, she's definitely helped me step out of my comfort zone for sure and I'm really happy... Another thing that she did help me do [was] I was planning on not playing the guitar; I wanted to focus on my vocals.

But she suggested that I play the guitar because she knows that that's definitely my thing. And she wanted me to stay true to myself and she wanted people to get to know me more as an artist. So she really pushed me to play the guitar and I'm happy that I did it. It worked out perfectly.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski