Sometimes being last may be the best thing that happens to you. Just ask Chris Blue, who Tuesday night was crowned the winner of the 12th season of “The Voice” after being the very last contestant to audition months earlier.
Music superstar Alicia Keys was the only judge still left with a place on her team, and she chose Mr. Blue, thus making her the winning judge.
“Chris has a really uncanny ability, no matter how nervous he might be — who wouldn’t be nervous under that amount of pressure — who can perform to that capacity,” Miss Keys said at a press conference immediately following Tuesday evening’s finale. “No matter how much he might be battling internally, somehow he gets on stage and he delivers in a way that is not only emotional but powerful.
“I felt so good that Chris can take a moment, get centered, and really put in all his artistry and just leave it,” Miss Keys said of the winner. “He is going to grow into one of [the greats], I really believe it,” she enthused.
Miss Keys spoke about the stress of waiting for the right person to pick for her team, and of biding her time in the selection.
“I knew something was coming that I was waiting for,” she said.
And then, when Mr. Blue sang, she slammed her button to spin her chair around.
“I never felt so happy in my life, because I knew no one else could” pick him for their team before she did, Miss Keys said. “At that point, I said, ’This is what I waited for.’
“I enjoyed his performance so much, and at the right moment, I hit that button.”
Mr. Blue then joined Miss Keys.
“This is it,” she enthused of her choice and “The Voice” winner.
Mr. Blue said he felt a kinship with the Grammy-winner, adding he too hoped she would choose him for her team.
“There was something about Alicia, I just knew we were supposed to work together,” he said. “She was the one I wanted to have mentor me through this entire process. “
Calling Miss Keys “one of the greatest minds to ever walk the face of this planet,” he said that the relationship with his mentor grew as the season progressed.
“As time went along through the season and teams started to dwindle down, we grabbed more time together,” he said. “That is when I really began to feel the magic of the relationship that we have. The love that you feel when she smiles, you just feel everything is going to be OK no matter what you are going through.”
When he heard his name declared the winner, Mr. Blue could barely speak.
“For a second there, I thought about the moment I was in my car driving to Atlanta [to audition], and fear began to overtake me,” Mr. Blue said of working up his courage to try out. “I called my fiancee at the time, and she talked me into going and just trying it.
“My mom and my family always believed in me, so I was like, ’If they don’t like me, I won’t tell anyone that I tried out for “The Voice.”’”
Surely he is now grateful for listening to his supporters as Mr. Blue’s prize for winning “The Voice” is a recording contract.
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