by Gina Scarpa

 

Only one chair may have turned around for Diego Val during the blind auditions on The Voice this season, but it was quite fitting that sitting in that chair was Cee-Lo Green. In the battle round, he took on fellow teammate and friend JR Aquino, performing Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl". Cee-Lo liked his presence and thought he had a better shot with him on his team, and Diego was declared the winner. Following last week's battle round, we talked to Diego in an exclusive interview to get to know him a little better and talk about his experience competing on The Voice.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What brought you to audition for The Voice?
A. Diego: The Voice is a show I've been a fan of because of how real they are. It's not really about your looks. It's really about you singing in some way that the judges might want to turn around because they see something in you. I was thinking, "Let's give it a shot, let's see what they think of me." Either way, I was going to continue my career because I believe in me. But being out there can get you pretty nervous. Thank God Cee-Lo turned around!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How would you describe your nerves right before you stepped on stage for the blind audition, on a scale of one to ten?
A. Diego: Oh my god, are you serious!? What's funny is that I was the one in the group that was like, "Guys, it's just a show. Come on, relax! It's not that bad!" Some people have never performed on a live show. I've performed before. I did some meditation before I started but I think the moment I stepped on that stage, it was from one to a thousand. I've never felt like that before. It was pretty nerve wracking. My hands were shaking, my eye was twitching!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Tell us about your performance experience prior to The Voice.
A. Diego: I'm 26 and I've been doing this professionally for five years. You have to give your everything to it. You have to give a hundred percent. I've been performing at shows, working with artists and producers, I've been hustling for my career in Miami. I'm very focused on what I want. At the same time, I was doing the NACA Tour for colleges and I've been doing that for the past two years. I've been staying busy. If you wanna make it, you have to stay busy and go through ups and downs and be able to deal with them.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: One thing I really like about Cee-Lo is that he seems truly invested in the artists he puts on his team. How has it been to work with him so far?
A. Diego: You know, you're completely right. Cee-Lo is a great guy. I don't know him on a personal basis. I don't wake up next to him every morning. But the time I've gotten to hang with him has been pretty great. He's been real, which I appreciate a lot. He's taken his time to teach me new things. I really appreciate someone like that.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How was the first battle round for you? It's gotta be tough!
A. Diego: For you guys, I don't know if you knew about this, but JR and I were roommates for almost two months. In a small period of time that you're on the show, you become really good friends with everybody. JR and I just became great friends through this whole period. We said, "Instead of making this a battle, let's perform and make this a good act." If you watch the performance, we did everything we planned, we gave a show to America, and those were our intentions. Our intentions were not to hurt one another. My intentions were not to take JR out. JR's fans are super upset at me but I understand the game. It just sucked that I lost a friend but at the end of the day, it's a game and you have to play the game. Do not let the game play you.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What kind of style would you say your music is?
A. Diego: Well, the style of my band is a lot like Kings of Leon, The Fray, I've a big fan of U2, Coldplay, old rock from Stevie Wonder to The Doors. If I could consider a style for myself, it would be the pop/rock range which is a huge range. Definitely entertaining music.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Anything else you'd like to say?
A. Diego: Stay positive, stay happy, be yourself, and dreams come true. Fight for who you are! If you guys wanna check out my music, diegoval.net.

 

The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC.

 

(Image courtesy of NBC)

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa