Olivia Henken, a native from Kentucky, is taking “The Voice” by storm. After winning the battle in Part 1 of the “Voice Knockouts,” the artist is now advancing to the live rounds. While the artist is no stranger to singing competitions, Henken spoke with us about how being on “The Voice” stands above the rest:
“With Christina (Aguilera) being the artist that she is, she is able to ad-lib and do all these crazy runs. Working with her is like bringing all of that to the country world. It’s setting me apart from everyone else, and she is helping me be my own artist and not some cookie cutter karaoke singer type. She is definitely bringing me out of my comfort zone, and I’m so thankful. I wanted to learn and do something different. I didn’t want to go out there and sing the traditional country song. Any song can be country; it’s just the story that you’re telling. She’s helped me with that, work with things on how songs are sung, and it’s been a whole other world out here. I wanted to come out here and have a textbook full of knowledge that I leave with, and Christina is definitely helping with that.”
Now that Henken is transitioning to the live rounds, she spoke about what she is most looking forward to in the next phase:
“There are five artists left, who are completely different from one another. Christina does things for us as individuals. She says, ‘Olivia, you ARE a country artist, but I don’t want you going out there doing something predictable. Let’s change it up a little bit, and bring country into something else. Try to make something original out of this.’ I’m really excited for America to see what we’ve done, and for them to see my first live performance. It goes back to making something my own and making it ‘Olivia.’ I think the biggest example of that is coming up in my live performance.”
We talked more with Olivia about the fan response she has received during “The Voice” competitons.
Fans can follow Olivia Henken on Twitter: @OliviaHenken.
“The Voice,” hosted by Carson Daly, airs Mondays at 8/7c and Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
Download the full podcast with Olivia Henken by clicking on the player below: