by Todd Betzold

 

This season on The Voice, we saw Jermaine Paul go from a backup singer for Alicia Keys to front man as the winner of Season 2 and the title of The Voice. His journey started with the urging of his daughter and his wife to audition and ended with the crown and victory for Team Blake. Today, Jermaine spoke with RealityWanted and other reporters in a conference call about his experiences on The Voice, his upcoming album and much more.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: You got very emotional during the performance show and the finale...the moment with your wife after you won made me cry. What has this whole experience meant to you?
A. Jermaine: If I could sum it up, in words, it would definitely be full circle. I've been working for 17-plus years trying to seal a record deal and possibly trying to get a chance to have an album, to put an album out...you know, the whole dream of being an artist. It's been really my focus since I was about 16 years old...I signed my first deal, unfortunately life takes you through turns and mountains and valleys...all types of twists and turns. It just felt like everything came full circle, For me, it was definitely an emotional time...an emotional moment. It definitely means the world to me...it means everything that I have done up to this point wasn't in vane...it's only helped me and prepared me.

 

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: Any details on the upcoming album? Who will you be working with on it?
A. Jermaine: We're looking to work with, of course, Alicia Keys. We put in a request to work with Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic...I'm a big fan of his work and other folks that we are going to bring in. I have a really, really great team over at Universal...I'm really excited about the album and the first single.

 

 

Q. As a background singer, how difficult was it to be vulnerable and alone onstage instead of being in the back?
A. Jermaine: I've been performing, trying to do my own thing for about a year and a half now...still doing background work, but also doing gigs and things like that. Before I did the background singing, I was trying to be an artist myself. Coming out of the back is definitely a change...a big difference. Being in the background helped me...it helped me harness my energy and hold on to my own originality and my own feelings and my own vulnerability...just being out there feels right. When I get out there to sing and I'm out there...it feels like I belong there, it just feels right. I don't mind sharing myself with the world.

 

Q. After being on the show, how is your message different now than before you auditioned?
A. Jermaine: This show really helped me find out exactly what I wanted to say. This show is so great for a guy like me because I had to deal with so many different opinions and thoughts on what I should sing, how I should sound, how I should dress, what I should wear and this was me saying this is what I want to do. For so long, I had folks telling me I should sing this type of song and at the end of the recording I would hate the song...hate that I even recorded certain songs. It would just make me sick on so many different levels. With this show, it definitely gave me the platform sing exactly what I want and say exactly what I want to the world and to my kids and my wife. It really just brought out the realness of this thing called artistry and called music and called singing in the voice, It brought the realness to it and that's all I ever wanted. The message definitely has changed and it's definitely hit home...it's real...it's not a façade.

 

Q. How do you think your past experiences are going to help you in dealing with things now, with your new record deal and the exposure and everything that comes with that?
A. Jermaine: I feel like being in the background was a trial period. I was able to make silly mistakes and fix things, vocally and personally. All the way around, I was able to better myself. I had a chance to do that...not in the spotlight and not in the face of American or in front of a camera or anything like that. I was able to do that in downtime, which I feel every person should be allowed...to get themselves together. Now it feels right...it feels like I am supposed to be where I am. I intend to holding on to the values and principles that I've learned in the background and taking them with me in this journey as a solo artist.

 

Q. Does it help you out knowing that your coach, Blake Shelton, has a track record of being very supportive for his team, even after the show...he took Dia on tour with him and he helped promote Xenia's album...so, does that help you through your journey knowing that?
A. Jermaine: Definitely...I've gotten calls from other contestants on the show and they've let me know they've been in contact with their coaches, so I'm sure the other coaches are supportive of the other artists also, but Blake definitely has a great track record from last season taking Dia out on tour and even this season having Gwen Sebastian singing background for him. He's definitely been a tremendous support for me throughout this whole process and has helped me out on so many different levels. I don't take that for granted at all.

 

Q. The other day on "Ellen," you told Ellen your name was going to be called for fourth and then for third and you were kind of surprised. How was your confidence level throughout the season?
A. Jermaine: When you do a competition like this...if anyone has ever done something like this, they'll probably tell you the same thing...you don't go into it with this crazy, crazy, overzealous confidence. You hope to get through that first, whatever it is...in this case, it was the blind auditions. When I auditioned, my mind could only fathom possibly getting a chair to turn around. I was more or less thinking how many chairs would turn, or if a chair would turn around. It's so amazing to do something like this...its stages. You never look at the big, overall picture in the middle of the battles...in the middle of the competition. You're always just thinking about the task at hand. At the end, I felt I left everything on the stage and at the same time, I also knew that most of the contestants. We all knew that Juliet (Simms) had some really great breakthrough performances throughout the competition and it definitely made us all nervous.

 

(Image courtesy of NBC)

 

 

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