Josh West on 'The Voice': Coach Adam Levine was an obvious choice but Gwen Stefani almost had me!

Josh West is heading into The Voice's twelfth-season "The Battle Round" as a member of Adam Levine's team.


Josh from Glendale, AZ, works as a full-time musician after being raised in a musical family, including his father who is a guitar teacher.

Josh has been booking gigs and traveling to various locations in Arizona to perform, but he's ready for bigger and better things and hoping The Voice will catapult his career to the next level.

During a recent conference call with reporters, Josh talked about his Blind Audition in which he sang "Ordinary World" and Adam, Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton and Alicia Keys all turned their chairs around for him and fought for him. Below is what he had to say.

You and Adam seemed to connect right away. Was there ever a question in your mind that you might not pick him as your coach? In that moment, were you actually considering choosing a different coach? 


Josh West: I mean, I was so excited at that point. My family and I, we talked about it and we prayed about it. And Adam was the one we were going to go with. Gwen almost had me.

They cut out a lot of the stuff that she said actually, but just a lot of the stuff that she was saying, they were talking about writing songs and stuff. And then she really almost had me.

But Adam had been planned all along, and I think I made the right choice... [And] obviously I'm a big fan of rock and roll.

That's obviously why I went with Adam. You know, we both just really resonate with that kind of spirit. And we play a lot of rock music in the band. We play Rolling Stones, Black Crowes, Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters. We also have, you know, stuff like Neil Young [and] Bob Dylan [on our playlists].

Why did you choose to sing "Ordinary World" as your audition song?


Josh West: Actually, that song is one of my favorite songs. I mean, it kind of rides that line that I, you know, like to write in with my father between rock and pop. And it's also obviously from the 90s.

The meaning behind the song is incredibly emotional and deep, and that's where I like to write from, and that's where I like to live.

You know, it's [about being] as open and emotional as possible, you know, when I'm singing because that's why people listen to music, to feel the feelings that they want to feel. And that song has an incredibly deep and personal meaning, so that's why I chose that song.

Adam kept saying you reminded him of his younger self. Did you see that at all or what did you think about that?

Josh West: Yes, that was awesome actually. It's really cool to connect with somebody like that, especially on, you know, useful subjects that are not quite as popular in the current market.


And it was really cool just to kind of get to talk with somebody about that let alone, you know, someone like Adam Levine, who is telling you that I remind him of a younger self.

You know, that was really awesome. And I just really look forward to working with him based on that experience because obviously it's going to be a great time.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski