It was a nail-biter for Savanna Chestnut.
There she stood, a 25-year-old girl from tiny Americus, Kan., on a Los Angeles stage during her blind audition for the current season of NBC’s music competition “The Voice.” She strummed her guitar and sang her own slow, emotionally layered version of “Hold Me Now,” the hit ’80s pop song by Thompson Twins. But nobody was turning around to claim her for their team. Not country superstar Blake Shelton, nor pop stars Kelly Clarkson and Nick Jonas, not R&B singer John Legend.
“I was trying to stay calm and collected,” said Chestnut this month, during a long drive back to her home in Table Rock, Neb., after a gig in Oklahoma.
“I didn’t think I was nervous until I started singing. My voice came out shaky, and I felt like I never got control of it. It was looking like nobody was going to turn around. I was mentally preparing for it, trying to be a good sport.”
And then it happened — Shelton turned at the last minute. She’d been hoping either he or Clarkson would pick her.
“I’m going to push you,” Shelton said. “You’ve got a great voice.”
