Sharane Calister talks 'The Voice' and landing in bottom two with Christiana Danielle: It was mind-blowing

Sharane Calister was eliminated from The Voice when the fourteenth season's Top 10 artists were determined on Tuesday night's live results broadcast on NBC.


Sharane, a 24-year-old from Des Moines, IA, was ousted from the The Voice instead of Christiana Danielle, a 22-year-old from Fort Wayne, IN, who was the other artist in the bottom two based on home viewer votes cast following Monday night's Top 11 performance show.

Sharane represented coach Adam Levine's team on The Voice, while Christiana will remain on coach Alicia Keys' team going forward.

After both artists sang a survival song last night, America tweeted via the show's "Instant Save" format to keep Christiana in the competition. Sharane's survival song was "If I Were a Boy" by Beyonce.

On Wednesday, Sharane talked to Reality TV World about her final week on The Voice this spring. Below is what she had to say.


Reality TV World: There was a technical glitch last night preventing home viewers from seeing the graphic at the bottom of the TV screen that shows percentages of votes pouring in for Christiana and yourself. Did you ever find out what percentage of votes you received last night and how close the vote really was?

Sharane Calister: I actually didn't, but you know, but everybody kept telling me it was neck and neck. So I believe Christiana beat me only by, like, a few percentage points. So I'm pretty upset about that, I didn't even know actually that you couldn't see it on the screen! But yes, somebody told me we were neck and neck.

Reality TV World: Were you surprised to land in the bottom two given the coaches agreed you "crushed" the difficult song, "Hero" by Mariah Carey? And what was going through your mind after singing "If I Were a Boy" for survival? What did you anticipate was going to happen?

Sharane Calister: Well actually, I didn't think I'd be in the bottom two. It was such a surprise to me, and same with Christiana too, she is an amazing artist. So, I was just shocked to see us both. But we know somebody has to be in the bottom two, so it was mind-blowing and a little crazy.

And then I had to sing "If I Were a Boy," you know, and it's hard to just go up onstage and sing because you have to hold back your tears because you're already emotional because you might go home or you might not -- it's just an emotional rollercoaster at that time! And everything had to be at such a fast pace.


So I had to just calm myself and go up onstage and try to sing my heart out. But I sang one of my favorite artist's songs, which is Beyonce, so I feel honored to have actually been able to do that on The Voice stage and sing her song. I just went out there and did the best I could, and I still appreciate America for all of their support.

Reality TV World: For as long as I've been watching reality singing shows, contestants are often told to avoid Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey songs because they're such a huge undertaking, but obviously fans chose the song. Do you have any insight into why you didn't rack in the votes this week? Do you think it was partly because "Hero" was such a tough song to master?

Sharane Calister: That's a hard question to answer because I have no idea! Fans picked the song for me, you know, and I feel honored to this day that they picked that song for me and they thought I could do it.

I've had some bad comments but also a lot of positive comments as well with the song, so I'm going to take it all and run with it. And I still appreciate my fans for picking such an iconic song for me. But it was a big song and I'm just glad I was able to go up there and tackle it the way that I did.

Reality TV World: Sometimes I wonder how often the contestants practice their "Instant Save" songs and whether the contestants who feel really confident rehearse less. How prepared did you feel to sing "If I Were a Boy?" How much did you rehearse?


Sharane Calister: Well, I definitely practiced my song, but I wasn't practicing it as much as [if] I thought I was going to be in the bottom two, because in my mind, I wasn't there. You know, I always see things... and I honestly did not think I was going to be in the bottom two.

But I was still prepared, you know. I still practiced my song, and that's also one of my favorite songs by Beyonce (laughs), so I knew that song like the back of my hand! And I'm glad I was able to sing that song on the show.

Also during the conference call with reporters, Sharane discussed her favorite performance on the show and a comment from her coach that surprised her.

What was your favorite performance on the show and why?

Sharane Calister: I would have to say my favorite performance would be "Never Enough" from The Greatest Showman, because that's my favorite song ever and it just has so much meaning to it.


That was the one performance where I really felt everything -- the movement, the staging, the lights, like, everything just fit perfectly into the moment. And that was my one moment that I had on the show. Everything just fell into place perfectly and it was a beautiful moment, and America saved me! So that was the best moment ever.

When Adam was talking to you while everyone was waiting for the results, he mentioned how you hadn't had your breakout moment yet on the show. What did you think about the comment and did you agree with that?

Sharane Calister: I was a little surprised at first when he said that comment, but I thought about it, and he's right! You know, I definitely haven't had that one "wow" moment on the show yet, and it could've happened next, but it didn't. It could happen eventually, but I'm glad he did say that because it opened up my eyes to realize, "I can do better," you know?

It only gets better from now on; I can't get worse. I'm just going to keep working on my craft and get better and better. So I'm glad he did say that to me.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski