Television November 12, 2015
Meet 'The Voice' Season 9 Top 12! See Who's Going Into the Live Shows
After a tough night of cutting the competition down by half, "The Voice" Season 9 has its Top 12!
ExtraTV.com caught up with the remaining contestants backstage and found out some fun facts about each of the aspiring singers.
Team Blake
Emily Ann Roberts
Who She Is: This Tennessee girl grew up singing with her grandmother. At the age of 13, she decided to pursue music and learned how to play the guitar. For the last three years, she's put her heart into country music.
Fun Fact: She loves to bake. "When I first came out here doing Blinds and Knockouts, there was no kitchen. So I started to get upset and started watching 'Cupcake Wars' on Netflix and watched it every single night. And the first chance I went home, I have literally been cooking tons of cupcakes! And I have found cool things on Pinterest. I mean, I would come home from school and whenever I was home and 'The Voice' would come on, that would always be cupcake night. I would make them, invite friends, and my friends would judge them.
Barrett Baber
Who He Is: This Arkansas native lived in South Africa when he was young and experienced culture shock when he moved back to the U.S. He survived a plane crash at the age of 19 that killed 11 people. After the tragedy, he became a high school teacher.
Fun Fact: He had an interesting encounter with a one-armed man. "I was knocked unconscious by a one-armed man [in a football game]. That is how bad we were getting beat! I never played football again."
Zach Seabaugh
Who He Is: This cutie is the only singer in the family, and comes from a huge sports town in Georgia. He grew up swimming and playing football and tennis. He recently made the decision to move from sports to the arts.
Fun Fact: He was willing to wear tight shorts for the sake of a sport. "I pole vaulted. I did pole vault for one season of track. I was not good, I was not good! But the reason why was because I had to condition for football, but that didn't make me good at running track since everyone in that region was so good. And there was no guy pole vaulters, and there was one girl pole vaulter. So my buddy and I did it and I think I got to nine feet by the end of the season. It was the scariest thing I have ever done, handing your life away to a pole… and I watch YouTube videos of people failing — they are funny! And then you wear tight shorts, which is embarrassing. So if you don't make it over, then everyone stares at you!"
Team Gwen
Jeffery Austin
Who He Is: This guy from Chicago came out as gay at the age of 16 with the support of his family, which included his mom, grandparents, and brother. He pursued music in high school, but agreed to major in communications and advertising at his mom's suggestion. After finishing college, he worked in a PR company.
Fun Fact: He has comedic chops! "I did stand-up comedy before this. I was doing stand-up and sketch comedy when I was living in New York. That's what I was doing and then I kind of just wanted to try singing one more time."
Korin Bukowski
Who She Is: This girl from Miami was surrounded by music growing up — her parents were both in bands. She used music to help her get through tough times and is currently a third-year pre-med student.
Fun Fact: She has a fraternal twin. "I'm a twin. He sings. I wanted to audition with him, but he was like, 'It's not my scene Korin.' She says, "There's a lot of twins on this show, actually. Evan, Victor… There's two Victors, you guys. They're identical."
Braiden Sunshine
Who He Is: This Connecticut native is in his first year of high school. Even though he is just a teen, he has been in two bands and performed at over 300 shows.
Fun Fact: He loves classic cars. "I have a car. I don't really have any fun facts, but I do have the fact that I went home as soon as we got off from the pre-taping and I saw this car on the side of the road. It was there for a while. I was like, 'I'm going to get that someday.' Then I drove by it once the day after I got home and was like, 'I'm buying that.' I got a 1959 Plymouth Belvedere. That's going to be my first car. It needs about a year's worth of work. That's why I bought it so early. Runs and drives and everything. I'm a 15-year-old with a car."
Team Adam
Who She Is: This Alabama girl's love for karaoke got her interested in music. She took voice lessons and participated in high school choir. She is now homeschooled and focusing on music full time.
Fun Fact: Her spirit animal is a giraffe. "I love giraffes… they're so cute, and if I could be an animal, I would be a giraffe because I'm so clumsy and awkward. I love them."
Amy Vachal
Who She Is: She played competitive lacrosse, but suffered an injury that allowed her to rediscover her love for music. Once she recovered, she sold her own paintings to buy a ticket to NYC.
Fun Fact: She is totally old-school with technology. "I miss my typewriter. I'm from Brooklyn, and the first thing I did this year, which marked the year for me, was buy an old-school typewriter. It has the ribbon and everything; it's from, like, the '50s. I miss it so much. There's something about the musicality of it, and i's self-contained element that makes it perfect for what I need. It sounds silly, but in Brooklyn, people do take them out and clack away. I'm a pretty fast typist, but I haven't done Mavis Beacon [typing classes] in a while and I may have to."
Jordan Smith
Who He Is: This guy from Kentucky gets a lot of attention for his high-pitched voice. In the past, he has been mistaken for a woman on the phone. He grew up with a family of musicians. Since he struggled with fitting in, he hopes his music sends out the message that it is okay to be yourself.
Fun Fact: He has yet to go trick-or-treating. "I've never been trick-or-treating. But I'll dress up and watch Charlie Brown and hand out candy, but nobody would come to our house for the candy so I'd eat all of it. I've dressed as Scooby-Doo, my girlfriend and I dressed up as the Fox and the Hound — that was fun — but I have never been out trick-or-treating."
Team Pharrell
Who He Is: This Chicago native is multi-talented — he can sing and act. He grew up with a strong church background.
Fun Fact: He is a total theater geek. "I'm a professional actor. I do theatre, television, and film. I was on 'Chicago Fire,' 'Sirens' on USA. I do a lot of musical theater; I can act and sing at the same time. People ask me, 'Which one do you like better?' I love to act as much as I love to sing. That's why I'm doing well on 'The Voice' — I'm giving them performances. I just love to perform. When no one is out there, I'm having a ball."
Evan McKeel
Who He Is: This Virginian started performing with the church choir at the early age of 5. He is putting ministry school on hold while he pursues a career in music.
Fun Fact: He's an avid sports fan. "I know more about sports than anyone around me. I can't tell you how many staff on the show's fantasy teams I fixed up. I fixed up their fantasy teams and now they're winning their fantasy leagues. Sports is a passion for me — I love it. I'm not good at any sports. I played basketball for a few years… I obviously don't play football. I'm going to go home and catch up on basketball, sports — that's the first thing I'm going to do."
Madi Davis
Who She Is: This Texan suffered severe hearing loss, but had surgery at the age of 7 to help improve her hearing. Afterwards, she discovered her love of singing and has dedicated her time to her music career.
Fun Fact: One unfun fact is that Madi was the one contestant we didn't have a chance to talk to! She tweeted her excitement after making the Top 12, writing, "What a world we live in. So happy to get to continue this journey with @Pharrell and the rest of my team. Love love love!!!"
On the same night, the teams also chatted with "Extra" about Gwen and Blake. Watch!