When The Voice winner Jake Hoot walked onto the stage of the reality TV talent show for the first time, he had one goal: to get Blake Shelton to turn around. But after he began singing, performing Luke Combs‘ “When It Rains It Pours,” he saw Kelly Clarkson turn her chair around instead, and doesn’t remember much else.
“I blacked out. I don’t remember finishing the song,” Hoot told PopCulture.com. “I just remember my mouth was super dry. All I could say when they were making their comments was, ‘Thank you very much.’ I think that was the only phrasing that I used the entire time. It was just really special.”
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Clarkson was the only one who turned her chair around, which in hindsight Hoot says was the way it was supposed to work out.
“I’m very grateful that she did turn around,” Hoot said. “I think it worked out that I was on her team rather than Blake’s team because I was with a different coach, out of the country genre. So it worked out pretty well.”
It was Shelton who Hoot initially wanted, in part because he knows all of Shelton’s music so well. Although Shelton has stated he wishes he had turned his chair around for Hoot, Hoot is glad he ended up on Clarkson’s team.
“I love Blake Shelton,” Hoot said. “I went in there hoping it was Blake just because I played his songs at all my shows. I’ve been a huge fan for a long time. So I went in there hoping that, but I don’t think it could have turned out any better. The fact that he says he wishes he could go back, that’s special to me because I think so highly of him. But, regardless, it turned out just the way it should.”
It didn’t take long for Hoot to become a household name, but that doesn’t mean it was easier for him to perform in front of millions of fans week after week.
“I don’t think there’s a point where I stopped [being nervous],” Hoot admitted. “There was one moment where I wasn’t nervous and then it came back the next performance. When I did ‘Desperado,’ that was the first performance that I wasn’t nervous at all. I just went out there and I said, ‘I’ve done this song a million times, I’m just going to sing it.’
“Then when it came back to the finale all my nerves were back, because there’s just so many different moving things going on,” he continued. “You had to perform three songs and whatnot. That was definitely the moment where I was just like, ‘I’m just going to leave it out here on the stage.’”
Hoot’s strategy clearly worked for him. The Tennessee native was ultimately crowned the Season 17 winner, beating out Katie Kada, Ricky Duran, Rose Short in the finale. Although he is still working his day job, Hoot is also working on new music, which he hopes to release later this year.
Photo Credit: Getty / Jason Kempin
