On Tuesday (May 2) The Voice eliminated Team Alicia Keys member Stephanie Rice after she lost an Instant-Save sing-off against Team Adam Levine’s Mark Isaiah.
Stephanie came into the competition with a moving backstory. When she was 17, her parents found love letters she’d written to girls. He father, a Christian pastor, did not approve. After Stephanie met her first girlfriend at 18, her parents cut off their relationship. With little money, she moved to Houston with a cheap car and a guitar and made her own way. That was nine years ago. Now, she gigs with local band Colonial Blue and is engaged to her fiancée Janeth.
On Wednesday, Stephanie answered questions from reporters on a conference call about her Voice journey, which included picking Gwen Stefani as her coach in the Blind Auditions, and then being stolen by Alicia Keys in the Knockouts. Alicia chose to save Stephanie when America didn’t vote her through in the Playoffs. Stephanie shared that one of her dream collaborations, performing with Alicia Keys, came true when she hit the stage with her team to sing “Natural Woman” on Tuesday. Read the full interview below.
On why she chose “Issues” as her save me song: I chose that song to sing because I hadn’t really shown that style of music before and I’m honestly just a really big fan of the artistry of Julia Michaels.
Does she think the song had any impact on her elimination? I don’t think that it was a song choice per se. I think that wasn’t my strongest performance of that song. I’m the type of singer that I always wear my heart on my sleeve. When I realized I was in the bottom 2 I had a pretty heavy heart and I think I let my emotions get the best of me. That’s just the kind of person that I am. I’m always honest and open about it. You could kind of see exactly what was going on in my heart, I think in that moment.
How much of a role does she think Adam Levine begging and pleading with home viewers to save his team member Mark Isaiah play in her elimination? It’s huge to have Adam in your corner for many reasons. I think Alicia also had some amazing things to say about me. Adam’s been on the show since the beginning. He has a very large support and fan base. I knew also that Mark had more of a twitter following than I’ve been able to gain on the show. I don’t know how much of it is the performance [quality of] the save song. I do know that it has to do with how many fans you have in that one 5 minute window. Mark killed his performance and [had] a great quality performance. Honestly, Mark has always been a super-sweetheart. What you see on TV is actually who he is. I’m very happy for him.
What does she want The Voice fans to remember her by? I want to be remembered as a person who has a story of survival. I represent everyone who has ever felt unloved in their life. And that you can find something positive to dedicate your life to. My goal was hopefully to impact just one life and fortunately I’ve been able to receive a lot of love. And that’s just from people all over the world saying that my story has helped them in their own personal journey. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that much of an impact. I felt like that [the impact] was even more important than the singing itself.
On homophobia having an affect on her elimination. That’s a tough question. I think everyone has their own beliefs. I can’t really speak for everyone’s own mindset or opinions of me. Also, I try not to worry myself with that. My goal in sharing my story was for people who were feeling alone. And I didn’t want them feel like they were going through that alone. That’s all I really have to say on that.
On the differences between working with Team Gwen Stefani and Team Alicia Keys: I definitely felt there was a pure magic working with Alicia Keys. I’m definitely grateful for Gwen turning her chair for me, and everything she imparted to me when I was working with her. I definitely feel that working with Alicia Keys was meant to be. Her artistry is something that I connect to. I’m a songwriter myself as she is. I write a lot of songs on the piano as she does. I aspire to sing with as much soul as she does. I’ve learned so many invaluable things from her. She’s impacted my life permanently.
On being at a disadvantage because Alicia had to save her: I felt a little bit at a disadvantage knowing that I wasn’t saved by America that first live round. But I always felt like I had to work harder every day. I felt like I was the one in the competition that had the least exposure to music, and songs were chosen for me. And I didn’t know the songs. I had less than a week to learn, arrange, and comfortably perform a song for live television. I was really proud to say I made it as far as I did.
How intimidating was it to come into the competition without a vast knowledge of pop music? What was it like to perform songs she didn’t know ahead of time? It was really intimidating going in, but I was up for the challenge. I think every time that you challenge yourself you grow. I’ve had exponential amount of growth being on this journey. The biggest challenge for me was when it went live and therefore, the time constraint was a lot shorter. There were times where I felt like ‘Oh no, I wonder if I can do this’ But, each week I was able to get up there and deliver a performance. That gave me more inspiration going into the next week.
On what was going through her mind as she waited to hear her fate. Did she feel like Mark had won the save? I knew Mark had a larger twitter following than I did. I also knew that Adam had a large fanbase, since he’s been on the show from the beginning. I wouldn’t say that I was feeling defeated in that moment. I feel like my emotions got the best of me in that performance. I can’t have any regrets about that because it’s the type of performer I have been and always will be. I was obviously feeling very emotional being in the bottom 2. I was just not ready to go home. I was apprehensive about what the outcome was going to be. When they said his name, I had a moment of “ooh ouch.” And then immediately began making peace with it.
Do the bottom 2 singers have any awareness of the votes as they are coming in? No. We have no idea.
On which artists she would most like to collaborate with: My favorite band is Coldplay. Actually before coming on the show, one of my dreams was working and singing with Alicia Keys. I used to fantasize about that in my head. Despite the fact that I’m not on the show anymore, I’m still feeling on cloud nine about the performance last night. But, Coldplay is a band that I grew to love at a young age. It was the first secular band that I was exposed to. I think Chris Martin is an incredible singer/songwriter. I think a lot of my songs I’ll be releasing will have a little bit of a Coldplay feel to it.
What’s next for Stephanie: I’m already working on what I plan on doing next! I have received so much love from so many people. My one goal is to return that love in the form of songs. I have written new songs already. I’m already trying to get into a studio and record a song to release [as] my first single. I cannot wait to release this new music. The people who have been so supportive and following me on this journey are excited about this. I don’t feel like this journey is over in the least bit. I feel like it’s just the beginning.
