Backstage after night 1 of the Voice finale, the four finalists seemed relieved to have finally finished their last judged performances of a long season. A true test of endurance, each finalist performed 3 songs this evening, including a duet with their coach as well as an original song. My prediction is that Pharrell’s contestant, Hannah Huston, will take home the title tomorrow, but Laith Al-Saadi, Team Adam, is my personal fave. Here’s what each of the four finalists had to say backstage.
Alisan Porter
On her bond with coach, Christina Aguilera, ” We connected on so many levels. As 
women who want to make a difference, as mothers, as singers, and we love the same shoes. I adore her because she was 100% real with me at all times, she didn’t put a wall up. I think that sometimes you don’t think that women will connect so much; it’s hard to have women friends, but we definitely broke down those walls and I’m grateful for her. I know she’s going to be in my life for a long time.”
On her only regret of the competition, ” I love Incubus, I would have loved to have done an Incubus song, but it didn’t work out. If I could go back, I would have sung an Incubus song, that is my one regret.”
Adam Wakefield
On how Blake helped him prepare for the finale, “He’s the one who chose that song for me, I sent him a Dropbox of my demos and that was the one he really gravitated towards because he thought that first line would grab you. Having him, I mean he 
recognized the same thing about that song as I did, that the first two lines were the best. Just to know that I’m on the same page as him about songwriting and that kind of thing is great and makes me feel good.”
On using his final night as a showcase, ” I crafted my last show to be a show for Nashville, it wasn’t my for sure “win” show, but it was songs I wanted to do and my last chance. Because I know that this is the kind of stuff I want to be doing, now I can find out tonight if that’s the kind of stuff people want to hear. It’s a good little class project about the industry.”
On Los Angeles, ” I’ve been to some cool bars, but there is an air of bullshit and plastic—it’s Hollywood, it is what it is.”
Laith Al-Saadi
On how he ended up on The Voice, ” People always told me I need to do the Voice, but I wasn’t going to cancel gigs to go and wait around for two days outside a building and see if I could get an audition. I was contacted via email by an agency 
related to the show and they gave me a VIP audition time, so I went and had an appointment. It took me a while to commit to it. I’ve made my living playing music for 22 years. I’ve done alright for myself, but getting closer to 40 I thought where else am I going to have the opportunity to get to the next level and stop playing bar gigs.”
On hearing Adam say he plays music for the right reasons, “It means the world because he gets it. I feel like music is the thing that brings me the most joy and the way I can bring the most joy and happiness to other people. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else knowing that if I were a lawyer I may make more money, but I wouldn’t be bringing happiness to people around me like that. Music is something that is beautiful.”
Hanna Huston
On performing her original song, “It was super fun to sing it, and I felt like my anthem this whole season was be more confident, more assertive, and more vocal 
about what I want as a musician and an artist so it was kind of therapeutic for me too.”
On her future as an artist, “When you listen to a Beyonce album and it’s all over the place. She’s got these vibe songs and this country song and these ballads. For me, I don’t ever want to be singing one thing over and over again, you know? That just sounds boring to me. I hope in music I can go across different genres and just have fun with it. For me, this season it meant more to me knowing that I got to sing lots of different stuff across the board, it kept it interesting.”
Find out the winner of The Voice LIVE at 9:00 pm Tuesday 5/24 on NBC.
