Lauryn Judd talks 'The Voice': I was set on Alicia Keys going into my audition but one coach almost swayed me

Lauryn Judd, a 16-year-old singer from Draper, UT, managed to turn three chairs in her Blind Audition for The Voice's twelfth season. 


For her audition, Lauryn sang an acoustic arrangement of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cindy Lauper, and Gwen Stefani, Alicia Keys and Blake Shelton all pressed their buttons for her.

Alicia told the artist she's "really special," and at first, the coach thought there were actually two people performing on the stage because of how her voice sounded. Lauryn ultimately joined Team Alicia heading into the show's infamous Battle Round.

During a recent conference call with reporters, Lauryn talked about her The Voice experience thus far. Below is what she had to say.

Could you talk to me about the type of music you typically perform and the type of music you see yourself releasing as a solo artist?


Lauryn Judd: So as an artist, I like to kind of take older songs and put my twist on them and that's what I did with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," and I think that going forward I would like to make older-sounding songs more jazzy, kind of bring back that old vibe. And that's the kind of music I would like to make, jazzy soul.

A singer/songwriter is what I am, but jazz, soul, pop. There's not really a genre that fully incorporates what I would like to be. But some of my influences are Carol King and John Mayer, if that gives you a good idea.

Since you got three chairs to turn around for you, why did you pick Alicia over Blake as well as Gwen?

Lauryn Judd: Alicia is just so genuine and so awesome, and she's just a great example to me and my music. She's a songwriter. She started young. And so I went in wanting her and I went in just looking up to her. And so I felt like she was a good fit for me... It was really hard to pick because they all had such convincing arguments and they were all so kind to me.

But why I ultimately went with Alicia is I went in with Alicia in mind, and I was so close to going with someone else. But I just, my gut just told me that I should go with Alicia... I was super close to going with Gwen because I feel like we have a similar tone and unique sound, but then Alicia just does it for me.


In your audition, you changed up your tone to sound like two different people. Was that a strategy to get the coaches to turn around?

Lauryn Judd: I don't think that was necessarily a strategy, but it was just the way that my voice works I think. When I am in a more quiet lower place, I do have a different tone than when I open my mouth and try to get up to those higher notes. And I think that's just kind of what happened.

And also I do think that at that point when I did change my tone, I kind of realized that I got to push really hard if I have to get a chair to turn around. So that could have played a part in it as well.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski