by Gina Scarpa

 

When Jared Blake took the stage during the blind auditions of The Voice, none of the coaches turned around to select him for their teams. He got a second chance, late in the audition round, and changed things up to get the attention of Blake Shelton. Now, he's preparing to enter the battle round, where he'll face off against another singer on his team. We spoke to Jared today in an exclusive interview about life before The Voice and his experiences on the hit reality show.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You talked about the ups and downs you've had in the music industry. Was there a time where you felt that you had almost made it?
A. Jared: There were lots of times I thought that! When you have a huge company behind you, you think something is going to happen. There are several times that a record label offered something and nothing went through. You start to get to the point where you say to yourself, "I'll believe it when I'm on the shelf in Wal-Mart." Even with The Voice, they surprised me at my home to let me know I had been selected for the show. I wasn't that excited because I wasn't on tv yet! You get so tired of the let downs.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you end up auditioning for the show?
A. Jared: My fiancé told me to! That was it. One of my buddies that I worked with in the past told me about the show and thought it would be a good idea for me to audition.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you feel about your initial song choice, "Good Girls Go Bad"? Do you feel song was the only reason that the coaches didn't initially turn around?
A. Jared: I think it was a big portion of it. Looking back on it, we had a few songs that we auditioned with. The producers seemed to like that one so that's what I went in and did. You have to remember that the producers were seeing it and the coaches were not. Looking back, it wasn't a smart selection for me. The audience probably got a vibe that I had done this before a few times. It wasn't a challenging vocal song.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What did you do differently the second time around?
A. Jared: The next go around, once I heard that Blake wanted to hear me again, I picked a song that I felt the most comfortable with, that represented myself. I went out there with me and my acoustic.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What went through your mind when you saw Blake turn around for you?
A. Jared: I think I was in just as much shock when he turned around as when he didn't turn around. I was telling somebody, "I'm used to rejection but not on a national level." Usually, it's just me and a record label. When the coaches didn't turn around, you were just in total shock. When they did, it was still shock!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Blake seemed very happy to see you. How is he as a coach?
A. Jared: He's been awesome as a coach. I dug him and wanted to work with him because of his personality but he's also been very, very positive. In this industry, you get told what you're not doing right. Blake's approach with me is what I was doing right and what my strengths were. It's been awesome working with him and you know exactly where you stand with him which is the most you can ask out of a leader of any kind.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did seeing the first battle round make you nervous at all for yours?
A. Jared: No, I just got excited! That's been the coolest thing about the show is getting the opportunity to be in front of this many people. There haven't been that many nerves because I'm just excited! I think that's where the performer comes out. On the first audition, I didn't even notice that the coaches hadn't turned around until the last couple bars of the show because I was so wrapped up in my song.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What singers in the competition are you a fan of?
A. Jared: That kind of puts me on the spot because people will be like, "You didn't say me!" I always tend to lean towards the ones like Beverly and Javier and Justin that have poured a lot of time into this and worked really hard on their craft. Not to take anything away from the young people because I'm amazed by the younger ones. I don't know that I could've done this when I was 16. The only reason I don't get stressed is because I've been in a lot of situations with big artists and put on the spot. I have the utmost respect for those guys. At the same time, I think you root for the guys whose clocks are ticking.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What do you want to say to your fans or fans of The Voice?
A. Jared: I love you guys! We desperately need your votes! I thought so many times since I've been in this... you see someone on tv that you dig and you don't vote for them because you don't think about how much your vote matters. That person doesn't win and then it's like, "That's my fault because I didn't vote for them." The time on Facebook and Twitte - we love that. We love hearing what you guys have to say, whether you think we put on a great performance or a crap one!

 

 

The Voice airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.

 

(Image courtesy of NBC)

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa