Jan Dan of Douglasville makes top 8 on season 26′s ‘The Voice’

Dan, an emotive singer who sees himself as R&B alternative, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he came into “The Voice” just wanting to perform “and however it landed, I was OK with it. But as I went on in the competition, I switched my mindset to go for the win. I’m going for it.”

He opened with a song by R&B star Brandy during blind auditions because he wanted to honor his late uncle, he said, who worked with her. But he has shown versatility ever since, performing songs by the unlikely trio of Miley Cyrus, Stevie Wonder and Kansas.

“There’s a new thing going in music,” said Dan. “Some people are genre bending like Beyoncé and Post Malone.”

After his Kansas performance, coach Michael Bublé asked, “What else do you have up your sleeve?”

Added coach Snoop Dogg: “You ain’t supposed to be knowing these songs! You put your own twist on it, which gives it the soul and the original version.”

“He’s a painter with his voice,” his coach Gwen said.

In an interview, Dan said he likes bands like Coldplay, Paramore, OneRepublic and the Fray.

Dan said Gwen’s playoff adviser Machine Gun Kelly “encouraged me to go for what I feel is in my heart and makes me smile. Be bold and ignore the naysayers.”

When Dan first heard that Kansas song, “I loved the warmth of his tone and depth of the lyrics. It really spoke to my heart.”

Dan, 29, grew up in New Jersey singing in church from age four. He moved to Douglasville as a teen and graduated from Chapel Hill High School. But he decided to go to culinary school after high school, figuring it was a safer route career wise than music.

Over the years, he has worked as a youth minister, in Verizon retail and as a chef in recent years in New Jersey, Ohio and Georgia. But he decided to give music a try again after he came back to Douglasville last year while his wife was pregnant. In fact, his wife Nicole — a worship leader, social media business owner and songwriter — delivered their daughter, Nori Arabella, during the taping of “The Voice.”

Jan Dan is his stage name, a derivation of his real name Najee Daniels. “Creating a stage name gives me permission to be something outside of who I am personally,” he said. “I feel like myself as an artist is different from Najee the dad or husband. I really want to tap into a creative, out-of-the-box place.”

Dan said he has watched his previous performances and felt “my nerves have crippled the potential I have to show on the show.” He hopes to be able to rise to the occasion when the live shows arrive. “I can’t wait for the world to see me. I believe that America will hear my heart.”

In the meantime, 35-year-old Christian singer Lauren-Michael, a Birmingham native who grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Woodward Academy, made it into the playoff round by singing Lauren Daigle’s “Hold On to Me.”

“I lost my mom three years ago and I found my faith three years ago,” Lauren-Michael told Reba and mentor Jennifer Hudson on the show. “For me, this song is quite literally ‘Hold On to Me.’” Her mother died of an overdose and Lauren-Michael said she didn’t have a chance to say goodbye.

“I was crying,” said Reba after her performance. “You touched my heart immediately.”

In an earlier challenge, Reba praised her “ferocious ferocity.”

Lauren-Michael, a longtime special ed teacher, became a professional songwriter in Nashville over the past three years. But she also recently decided she could be a performing artist in her own right and was rewarded with a four-coach chair turn during the blind auditions.

“That was the shock of my life,” she told the AJC. Reba as a coach, she noted, “is honest. She’s concise. She’s very wise and doesn’t sugarcoat stuff. She told me how you have to remain emotionally connected with whatever you sing.”

IF YOU WATCH

“The Voice,” Mondays at 8 p.m. and Tuesdays at 9 p.m., NBC and available next day on Peacock