turn their chairs around to see her— and effectively select her for their teams— after her blind audition.” captionposition=”right”] She was the first contestant on The Voice this season to have all four celebrity judges turn their chairs around to see her— and effectively choose her for their teams— after her blind audition.
Now, Long Beach native Caity Peters is well positioned to go far on NBC’s singing-competition reality show, having earned a spot in the top 20.
Peters, who just turned 22, will now be competing for audience votes on the two-time Emmy Award-winning show, having won the Battle and Knock-Out rounds of the competition during the last few weeks.
When she spoke to the Signal Tribune Wednesday afternoon from NBC studios in Los Angeles she said she was preparing for Monday’s show by vocally challenging herself with a song that is different from the slower ones she has already performed.
“I’m pushing myself,” she said. “I think this song is the most different that I’ve had on the show. I’ve had pretty slow ballads up to this point, so I’m going to give it my all and change it up a little bit.”
Unfortunately, local fans of the show will have to wait until early next week to find out just which song that is; she’s not allowed to divulge.
She did however say that being the first singer this season to prompt all four superstar coaches— Christina Aguilera, Pharrell Williams, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton— to turn around to see the woman behind the voice was “the coolest moment” she has ever experienced.
With all four vying for her to be on their own team, Peters had a choice to make: which celebrity would she pick to mentor her?
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Screen-Shot-2016-04-08-at-10.49.40-AM.png” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”Those who would like to vote for Long Beach resident Caity Peters can do so by visiting nbc.com/the-voice and clicking on the link for voting immediately after Monday night’s show, or by by logging on to The Voice Facebook page or downloading The Voice app. Voters can cast 10 votes on each medium.” captionposition=”left”] She chose Williams— the Grammy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated musician who wrote and recorded the hit “Happy” — not only because she has long admired him for his talents, but primarily because of who he is as an individual and what he told her after her audition.
“I chose Pharrell as a coach because, first of all, I love who he is as a person,” Peters said. “And what he said to me was just so encouraging. He said, ‘I’m not going to stand in front of you and take the glory. I’m not going to stand beside you. I’m going to stand behind you and push you and catch you if you fall.’And I was like, ‘Okay.’ I mean, this guy can do everything. He’s just incredible. He’s a musical genius.”
Luckily for Williams, Peters has allowed herself the time to invest in her performances. After having attended Long Beach City College the last two semesters to pursue a teaching credential, she has taken a break from school to dedicate time to The Voice.
After all, she’d already cut short a trip to visit family across the Pacific so that she could fly back to Los Angeles
to attend the show’s auditions.
“I was on a family vacation visiting my family in Hawaii but [flew back] four or five days early to do the audition,” she said,
adding that now she’s glad she did. “That was a leap because I was like, ‘Okay, I could get a no.’ But I just knew I had to.”
Those who would like to vote for Peters can do so by visiting nbc.com/the-voice and clicking on the link for voting immediately following Monday night’s show. They can also vote by logging on to The Voice Facebook page or downloading The Voice app. Voters can cast 10 votes on each medium. Peters also earns additional votes for each download of her performance from the iTunes store.
