In a new interview with Out, The Voice finalist and Team Gwen artist Jeffery Austin discussed how it was working wth Gwen and what he learned from her throughout the last season.
When asked what he took away from being mentored by Gwen, Jeffery shared that she pushed him to open up more while he was signing to connect more to songs. “In the earlier performances, I kept a lot of it inside, and I was just singing the song, hoping to get by on ability. And she forced me to be really open and connected with how I felt and how the lyrics made me feel, and I think that helped me connect with the audience more.”
Jeffery says that Gwen was very “motherly” with all of the artists on Team Gwen and was “personally invested in our journeys”. “She was just really emotionally invested and she just really cared about us. And to have someone with all that knowledge and that lengthy career, it was incredible.” He shared that it was also really cool to have her sense of style and glam teams around which was an advantage being on Team Gwen. “She sat us down with all of her team (stylist, hairdresser, makeup) to really go over our looks and image, and I think that was a really big benefit about being on her team.”
“Just a Girl” is Jeffery’s favorite song featuring Gwen since he’s a big fan of the 90s classic Clueless.
Jeffery made it all the way to the finals this past season on The Voice and is Gwen’s most successful artist to-date. She was able to participate and record alongside Jeffery on their finals duet with “Leather and Lace”.
#Gay finalist from @NBCTheVoice, @JefferyAustin, on what he learned from @gwenstefani: https://t.co/MiXjR4exUm pic.twitter.com/CJLggQZlUK
— Out Magazine (@outmagazine) February 5, 2016
1 thought on “‘The Voice’ Finalist Jeffery Austin on Working with Gwen: “It Was Amazing””
Sorry… but their duet for the finals was not the right fit for them. Maybe something more upbeat. Can you imagine if they had done Under Pressure?