'The Voice's Paxton Ingram: The "wildest decision I've ever made" was on the show, but magical stuff resulted

The Voice eliminee Paxton Ingram was sent home just shy of the show's two-night finale on NBC.


Paxton, a 20-year-old from Miami, FL, was eliminated from The Voice along with Mary Sarah Gross, Bryan Bautista and Shalyah Fearing heading into this week's finale.

Paxton, a member of Blake Shelton's team, was known for belting out hits by icons such as Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. He wasn't afforded the opportunity to sing for the "Instant Save" during the latest live results show.

During a recent interview, Paxton talked about his experience on The Voice.

Reality TV World: Were you prepared at all for your elimination, and how did it make you feel to have to leave the competition at this point?


Paxton Ingram: For me -- and I think I speak for all of us when I say this -- when we went into the Top 8, we were all full-battle mode, beast mode. We were preparing for our last time on that stage.

So, I guess when last night rolled around, it does such being eliminated, but we all knew our time was going to come regardless. And there's only one more week left of the show, so most of us will go home. When you do get eliminated, it's like, "Oh snap, I'm going home," but look how far I made it!

Oh my God, I was a finalist. So I was definitely not as sad as I thought I was going to be. I was happy and grateful for the opportunity and just excited about the future. It was a really cool feeling.  

Reality TV World: I believe you had three coaches turn around for you in the Blinds and you went with Blake, which was a little bit of a surprising choice since he's a country artist and you love pop. What made you pick him and was it a bit of an adjustment or transition to be on his team considering your song selections?

Paxton Ingram: So, me picking Blake in the Blinds was the wildest decision I've ever made. It wasn't pre-planned; I didn't strategize. It was just something that organically happened just because of what he told me and how quick he turned around. In his words, he sold it in a way I couldn't ignore, him calling my "greatness."


In doing that, I feel like that just opened a world for some magical stuff to happen. And going into rehearsals, I noticed that we're like kindred spirits, you know? He's such a bright, lovely spirit that makes people comfortable and makes people laugh. He's a joy to be around, and that's something that I admire and want to be and strive to be in my life.

So, going into rehearsals, they were always fun and we were always laughing. But when we got down to business, he allowed me to be myself. There was so much trust between the both of us. He allowed me to, in terms of song choices, if he didn't like something, he'd tell me the reasons why.

And then I'd bring back another song and he would 100% love it and support it. In rehearsals, he was very hands-on in making sure it was perfect, that I was perfect with no errors. So it was cool because he always challenged me and pushed me to the next level every single week.

Also during the conference call, Paxton talked to reporters about topics ranging from the best advice Blake gave him to whether he has any regrets from his time on The Voice.

What's the best advice Blake gave you?


Paxton Ingram: Blake is just an all-around -- every single time we went into rehearsal, it's like you learn something new every single time. He was the ultimate coach. He just knew how to let us be ourselves, which I think is very important. He never really tried to alter anything about us.

He just navigated where he thought we should go, but he fully allowed us to be ourselves. And I thought that was just an amazing way to grow. To see the way he trusted me made me trust myself even more, and it was really cool, so I'm forever grateful to him for that.

Do you have any regrets? Is there any one thing you wish you could have done differently during your journey on The Voice?

Paxton Ingram: You go on that stage every week -- even since the Blinds, every time you hit that stage, you're not knowing when your last day [in the competition] is going to be. You don't know if you're going to make it on the next show. Even if you make it past the Battles, you've got to make a team and make it past the Knockout.

So every time you hit that stage, it was like balls-to-the-wall, giving it all I've got -- here I am, here I go. And I feel like in doing that, I have zero regrets, no regrets, nothing. I did everything I wanted to do and I went up there and gave it my all every single time.


What's next for you? What type of music will you make?

Paxton Ingram: I'm a huge lover of pop music, that's like my favorite foundation. So the type of album I would make would just be a glorious pop album with a lot of soul and a lot of influences in it, so it will be cool.

What advice would you give to a future contestant on The Voice?

Paxton Ingram: My advice would be to just always remember what your intention is for why you sing, why you perform, why you make music. Never lose sight of your intention, what made you start this whole thing. Because once you get into the competition and it starts to become a competition, that can't be your ultimate motivation.

You have to have another motivation. Why do you do what you do? And I feel like that will propel you even further in life -- not only on the show... And your biggest competition is yourself. As long as you can out-do yourself each week, you'll be okay.


For more interviews with the four semi-finalists, check out Reality TV World's The Voice Season 10 webpage.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski