The journey that started March 2 when all four team coaches on the NBC network reality show “The Voice” hit their “I Want You” buttons to turn their chairs around and watch Thunderstorm Artis perform ends on Tuesday. The Haleiwa born-and-raised singer-songwriter will face off against four other finalists in the last round of the show’s 18th season.
Due to COVID-19 precautions, the contestants and coaches are participating from their homes in the final “live” rounds of competition.
“It’s been a crazy experience,” Artis said Friday, calling from California. “I’m happy I got a taste of being on the stage (in the early rounds). When you have an audience to feed off and the coaches are there, you have that energy to feed off of. It’s a challenge to be able to tune into that (desire) and be able to deliver something special without that energy.”
Since the start of the stay-at-home order in California, Artis has being singing for an audience of one, his wife, Faith McMaster Artis; the couple got married on Good Friday.
“When I’m singing, I’m kind of singing to her and feeding off her energy,” he explained. “It is a blessing being newly married, and being able to bounce some ideas off her. (But) this isolation has taught me that sometimes you just have to manifest that feeling and that energy within yourself and not be so reliant on a crowd.”
“The Voice” has been “a crazy, cool journey” for Artis, 24, even without the pandemic complications. Artis started off on a high when he was the only contestant in his round of “blind auditions” to get a four-chair turn from the celebrity coaches. He chose John Legend’s Team Legend, but hit a dead end after his Knockout Round sing-off against fellow Team Legend member Mandi Castillo on April 20 when Legend chose Castillo as the winner.
Legend’s decision, no matter how reluctant it may have been, would have made it “pau hana/game over” for Artis — but seconds later rival coach Nick Jonas “stole” him for Team Jonas.
“That moment right there really changed things a lot, especially my perspective of the show,” Artis recalled. “It was ‘OK, I need to bring it, really, really bring it,’ more than I thought I was capable of bringing it. To have that second chance from Nick really was a blessing. Nick has become a tremendous friend, and he is also a very, very good coach. We’ve had a lot of really good discussions about music stuff, but also relationship things — he’s newly married, I’m newly married. It’s been really sweet to dig into a lot of that.”
“He and John have very different coaching styles, but (they’re) both very, very good. I learned a lot from both of them, so it has really been a blessing.”
The “Live Finale Top 5 Performances” will air at 7 p.m. Monday on NBC. The results will be announced during a two-hour finale, which airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday; a new episode recapping the season begins at 7 p.m.
Artis couldn’t reveal any details, but said that the five finalists will each do “two or three songs” and “will share some really cool and intimate things.” At some point in the two-night finale, there will be some duets pairing the finalists with their coaches.
Whatever the outcome, he thanks Hawaii for its support.
“Big shout-out to my mom, Victoria Artis, and also a big shout-out to my church family all over the North Shore, to Jack Johnson and Kelly Slater for supporting me on social media, and to all of Hawaii!”
If you can’t wait until Monday to hear Artis sing, he plans to perform live on his Instagram account (@thunderstormartis) at 4 p.m. Saturday.
