'The Voice' eliminee Mark Hood: The competition was so grueling but so worth it

The Voice eliminated Mark Hood and determined the ninth season's Top 11 artists during last Tuesday night's broadcast on NBC.


The Voice host Carson Daly revealed the results of the home viewer votes cast following the Top 12 artists' live performance show, and Mark Hood from Pharrell Williams' team was in the bottom two with Korin Bukowski from Gwen Stefani's team.

Both individuals were afforded the chance to sing again. Mark belted out "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)," and although it was great, America still voted via the show's "Instant Save" format on Twitter to keep Korin in the competition.

Mark talked to Reality TV World during a recent press conference call. Below is a portion of his interview. Click here and here to read more.

You've done some acting in the past and of course you've had all this success on The Voice. What do you see for yourself moving forward?


Mark Hood: You know, I see a career, a very big acting career. My acting career was already budding before the show, like with theater and television and commercials. So I see a Broadway career very in the near future. And TV as well, you know? Before I left to do the show I was going through several TV auditions and stuff. You know, next year you'll either see me on your TV screen or on a Broadway stage.

Do you think you'll be releasing music as well, and if, so what?

Mark Hood: Absolutely, absolutely. My genre is called pop/soul, so as soon as I'm able to release music -- of course you guys know that, you know, we have contracts and stuff like that -- but I'm already.

I was working before I left and even while I was there, I was writing music and getting things prepared for whenever my time was to be gone. And so, I think I'm going to be able to give a really nice sound, pop/soul thing, popular music with a soul R&B vibe. That's the plan.

Is there a certain TV show or anything that you would like to be involved in?


Mark Hood: Yes, I would really love to be on How to Get Away With Murder with Shonda Rhimes or Scandal, or if I shot in Chicago, I would love to be part of Empire or the new Dick Wolf trilogy, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med as a reoccurring character. I have been on Chicago Fire, you know, but I would like to be a regular on one of those shows. It would be great to do that in my hometown.

I was just wondering if you could give me a little feedback on the performance with Pharrell last night. You guys seemed to sing great together. How was that experience?

Mark Hood: Oh my God, man like that's the kind of stuff that makes me like sad, you know, because it's like I won't be able to do that again, you know? That was the most incredible thing ever.

Rehearsing for it the day before, I just kept saying to him like, "P, I never saw this coming, like I never thought us getting together or standing together on this stage just rehearsing and chilling and talking." He doesn't treat us like contestants. He treats us almost like colleagues. So, we're just like bouncing ideas off each other. He wants us to do it how we want to do it, like, it was just incredible.

Your performance of "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" was just fantastic. Just going out of the show on a high note, can you talk about that a little bit? It was an excellent performance.


Mark Hood: You know, I said, "This could be my last time." I looked up to God and said, "Let's do it," you know, I just wanted to give everything I had. And I did. So, I have no regrets or nothing at this point, because I can really say that I gave everything I had for my last performance and, you know, it just wasn't good enough for that moment. But it's okay.

Adam Levine was saying how he was scared to perform with Stevie Wonder. Who is someone that you would be scared or intimated to perform with?

Mark Hood: Oh well absolutely Stevie Wonder. He is one of my heroes. But somebody more close to what I do would be Usher. Usher is like my ultimate hero and I just love him so much. And so, if I have to perform with him, I'll probably be like, "Oh my God, I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it because he's so great." So he is someone like that for me.

We don't see a lot of the rehearsals and stuff that you go through because I know there's a lot of it. What was the toughest part of doing the process?

Mark Hood: The process is grueling. It's so many more hours than you can imagine. Like, you know, it's so many things. If we're going live on a Monday -- like at the "Live Playoffs" -- we had Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to get ready for a live show.


So, you know, we were recording iTunes at 1AM in the morning, we were rehearsing with Pharrell like 10PM at night, there were interviews, photo shoots. It's a grueling schedule. It is little sleep, loss of voice -- but it's all worth it. It was all worth it.

It sounds like good training for your career in the future.

Mark Hood: Yes absolutely.

Now that you're not on the show, is there anyone you're rooting for, anyone you think will take the whole thing?

Mark Hood: I am rooting for each and every one of them. I love them all as brothers and sisters, so I want them all to make it. Of course I want my hometown boy Jeffery Austin to do well, Chicago, I want to keep Chicago there.


But I don't have any bias towards anybody. Each and every one of them -- Jeffery, [Amy Vachal], [Braiden Sunshine], [Madi Davis], [Evan McKeel], everybody. [Jordan Smith], [Shelby Brown], I shouldn't call names because I'm forgetting some. But I want them all to do well.

You and Pharrell, I mean, he seemed like a very good coach and you guys seemed to have great chemistry. What was the best advice that he has given to you?

Mark Hood: He really helped me with not doubting myself. He went kind of like "uncle mode" on me, like, "Is this the end of that doubt?" Because before the "Knockouts," I was really... doubting myself and not thinking that I could do it.

But he really instilled in me that I should have no fear, that I can do anything, and like, the doubt in myself is cheating myself and that's not okay. So I appreciate him so much for that.

Click here and here to read more from Mark's The Voice interview.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski