Spensha Baker Advances to the Top 8 on NBC's The Voice
Spensha Baker has gone from not even wanting to sing to the radio to the Semi-Finals on NBC’s The Voice. Baker advanced with her fellow Team Blake members, making Team Blake the only team that remains intact this season going into next week.
From the very beginning coach Blake Shelton has show extreme confidence in the talented Baker. During the the live playoffs a few weeks ago Baker had to be saved by Shelton after not getting Americas vote to advance to the Top 12. According to Shelton he saved the talented artist because he feels Country Music needs Baker. Baker is humbled every time she hears Shelton talk about her like that.
“…I don’t know how I feel about that. I'm humbled when Bake says that because all I'm doing is singing music that I love. For him to see it as a bigger picture than that and see it as more than that it feels great. I just want to keep making country music proud, remaining true to myself and telling the stories that country music offers. That’s really my focus, but it’s really nice to have Blake believe in me as much as he does,” said Baker.
This past week on The Voice Baker performed “Red” Taylor Swift. Baker blew all four coaches away with her performance. Shelton even called it her best performance on the show so far and the fans agreed voting her through to the Semi-Finals. No matter the praises she may receive from Shelton, the rest of the coaches, and her fans it always surprises Baker each time she advances to the next week.
“Oh my god, every week I'm so surprised. This whole process has continued to surprise me. Actually Carson [Daly] and a lot of the other contestants always poke fun at me because they’re always asking me are you really surprised and shocked every single time ? and the answer is yeah. Nothing in this process is a shoe in. Nothing’s guaranteed. You have to take it week by week and I'm so honored that America is listening with their hearts and accepting me and wanting to see more,” said Baker
With each week that Baker advances her fanbase grows more and and more. To see the fans voting for her, and believing in what she is doing makes the talented artist happy and excited to perform each and every week.
"[The fan support has been] amazing. You know I was singing gospel music a lot of my life and now I'm singing country music. It’s authentic to who I am now, and to have their support, to have country music fans appreciating the type of music that I'm singing, and the way that I sound It mens a lot to me to know that they are accepting me. Yeah it makes me happy.”
One of the reasons Baker has been able to remain in the competition is because of the guidance of Shelton. According to Baker, Shelton has encouraged her and her teammates to be themselves.
“It’s really more of the stuff Blake doesn’t say. He so relaxed, calm, and just an authentic… He makes us all feel comfortable. He lets us drive our own bus. He’s kind of just guiding us and telling us what might sound better or what might feel better. So yeah there’s not one specific thing that Blake’s said to me that’s stuck up above the rest. He’s always encouraging us to be authentic and be who we are. That’s really important to remember in this competition where trying to become somebody else would be a lot easier. He really reminds me to be who I am. It’s ok to be myself and that is good enough,” said Baker.
Baker believes that in order for her to remain on the show is to continue being herself. Baker also believes that she must continues to tell the stories of the songs she sings.
“Well that’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot this week. I think all I can do is be myself. I'm not a loud singer, I'm not a powerhouse vocalist, I just am who I am. That’s really all I try to bring to the table every week and people seem to respond to that. I really just want to keep being myself put my own stamp on certain songs that I’m singing and continue learning bout myself. But mostly staying authentic and genuine, telling the story of the song is what’s most important and I think that really resonates with people,” said Baker.
Baker now finds herself In a position to advance to the Finals after giving up on music for a few years. Baker has shown that not only does she belong on The Voice, but she belongs in Country Music.
