Darius J is hoping to be the second Georgian to take home “The Voice” crown on NBC.
The quirky 35-year-old Florida native has had a convoluted path to the top 20 and will perform Monday for a shot at the top eight and the live shows.
He said he sang Usher’s “Caught Up” for his blind audition which aired in February, to show his fun side while also honoring Atlanta. It worked. He received chair turns from three coaches: Adam Levine, Kelsea Ballerini and Michael Bublé. John Legend was the only coach to not turn his chair.
“Where have you been all my life?” burbled Bublé after his audition. “The Lord has filled you up with so much light and love and charisma.”
Ballerini called him electric and “such an artist. I’d be so deeply jazz hands honored to be your coach.”
Levine compared Darius’ outfit to something his friend, former “Voice” coach and Atlanta resident CeeLo Green, would wear. “Clearly, you’re fearless,” Levine said. “I just feel it will be a very magical ride. Please pick me.”
Despite very enthusiastic pitches from Ballerini and Bublé, Darius ultimately chose Levine.
“I know from his experience coaching, he’s super technical, which is something I knew I could work on,” Darius said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I also figured he’d give me an opportunity to explore different genres.”
And he was cool with Levine’s CeeLo Green comparison.
“CeeLo is amazingly talented,” Darius said. “I don’t mind at all. A lot of my fashion inspiration comes from CeeLo. ‘The Voice’ had us create a fashion vision board and he was included.”
During the battle round last Monday, Darius lost to Britton Moore as they duetted on Radiohead’s “Creep,” a song he knew well and understood because he always felt like an outsider.
“‘Creep’ was one of my top 5 songs I wanted to sing,” he said. “I was super excited.”
Levine took the option to “save” Darius. But Ballerini and Bublé tried to steal him from Levine, placing Darius in the same position he was after the audition round.
Bublé likened him to a great chef: “You’re like a less sweary Gordon Ramsay.”
Ballerini aped Julia Roberts’ line from the rom-com “Notting Hill”: “I’m just a girl standing before a boy asking him to love her.”
“You’re a different spark,” Levine said. “I hope you remember that in formulating your decision.”
Darius said he felt loyal to Team Levine and decided to stay put.
Unfortunately, during the knockout round that aired last week, Levine placed Darius up against powerful singer Conor James and he lost yet again despite getting plenty of praise for his take on Estelle’s “American Boy.”
Darius, who is gay, said singing a song from a woman about a man didn’t matter to him. “I believe in telling a story,” he said. “I wasn’t going to change it to ‘American Girl.’ It’s just a happy song. Every time I have sung that song, it has put me in a great mood.”
Fortunately, Ballerini still had an open spot to steal him and she grabbed it.
“He has this certainty about him and this joy,” Ballerini said on the show after the steal. “I don’t have anybody on my team at that level of full encompassing performer.”
Darius has a steep hill to climb to make it to the live shows. Each coach will only be able to keep two of their five remaining team members Monday night, eliminating 12 people on one single show.
He’s struggled to break into the music industry over the years, he said. He came to Atlanta in 2020 after a prominent music producer promised to help him out. But he said he wasn’t given much help once he arrived.
“When you do things you’re not necessarily supposed to do, it’s hard to find gigs,” Darius said. “It’s very hard to find your crowd. I’m not necessarily an R&B singer or a pop singer. There isn’t a box to put me in. It’s hard to navigate in music when you don’t fit into any box.”
On the show, he said he has dealt with unspecified addiction issues and even lived in his car for a time.
“Those dark times are what made me who I am today,” Darius said. “I’ve been through the worst. I’ve been on the bottom. I ultimately got back on my feet.”
He now makes a living as a call center worker while pursuing music, including songwriting for other artists.
But Darius hopes his exposure on “The Voice” gets him the connections to enable him to be a full-time musician. And he has kept his head high during his entire run on the show.
“I have never really thought about going home,” he said. “I think that has worked to my benefit. I am in my favorite place in the entire world performing on that stage. I’m proud of how far I’ve come and the obstacles I’ve overcome.”
He couldn’t say which artist’s song he’s singing for the playoff round, but he said it’s another Atlanta act. (Outkast perhaps?)
WHERE TO WATCH
“The Voice”
8 p.m. Mondays on NBC, available next day on Peacock
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