Can Gwen Stefani Win 'The Voice' With Her Sole Country Preacher BIAS?

BIAS

Gwen Stefani is down to only one artist in the semifinals for Season 24 of The Voice, but one artist may be all she needs to win the singing competition if her country soul preacher BIAS can make it into the Top 5. Gwen did it in Season 19 when she went into the finale with only one artist and won that season of The Voice with Carter Rubin.

Monday night, BIAS performed the fan selected “Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts, to compliments from Niall Horan, who called it his “most mature performance of the season.”

“What I wanted to do with this performance tonight was go out there and let America know that I'm not a pushover,” BIAS told Parade. “If I’m going out, I was going to go out the way that I wanted to go out. I feel like I represented myself well.”

Of course, he’s hoping that isn’t going to happen. “As the last standing member of Team Gwen, you want her to have a chance in the finale along with the other coaches, and, for me, that also means that I get an opportunity to perform with her and do a song on TV. That's something that I would love to do. But I think God just wanted to go out there and give it my best performance.”

During our chat, BIAS also talked about what his album would sound like, his dream of becoming a touring artist with a record label, and how it was his wife who encouraged him to audition for The Voice.

Related: The Voice Season 24 Recap: See All Top 9 Live Show Performances

Tonight, the fans picked “Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts for you to sing. Do you think they gave you a great song? Do you think they understand who you are?

I think America is starting to get an idea of who BIAS is. With everything that I've sung up until this point, it's all got a theme to it. It's got a message that I would like to portray and the way that I do that is through song, and so I think that America’s saying, “OK this is the message that I think this guy could portray really well. Let’s give him this song because we feel like he can deliver it.” That's a huge compliment in the first place to be given this song because of how amazing Gary LeVox recorded it with Rascal Flatts. So, it’s big shoes to fill, but I wanted to try to change the arrangement a little bit, kind of strip it down. That way I could make it my own and I think I did that.

If you win and your album is coming out, what is that going to sound like?

I see it being a blend of country pop and then what I like to call torn down country pop. I've already written some songs that are strictly country pop. They've got some 808s [drum kits] in it, they've got the trap beats and things like that, so I've got some of those in the works. But I've also got things in the works that are only analog instruments and analog recordings. I just want to try to represent myself in the best way possible and I feel like the best way to do that is by creating music that I like to listen to and that I like to hear, so that's what I try to do.

You did sing a Blake Shelton song earlier. What does Gwen think of your impression of Blake?

She actually hasn't talked about the impression itself. I know that she's seen it and it was a big thing when I was auditioning for the show. I had to do my impression in every interview that I was in. I think the cast and the employees probably liked it more than she and Blake did.

Related: Team Reba McEntire's Ruby Leigh Initially Thought of Her Audition for The Voice As a Joke

If you do have to sing tomorrow night for the fifth spot in the finale, what is it that you want America to see that they haven't seen already?

That particular song, it is ready to rock 'n' roll and it is a classic country tune. What I want America to see is that I can sing classic country just as much as I sing country pop and the new stuff. I think that's important as a country artist. You have to be able to go back into the archives and see what made country music what it is today. So being able to do that, I think I'll be able to go back in the archives and pull up a nice piece of country history.

In your intro piece, you talked about starting to play music when you were 4 years old and your dad assigned you to the drums and your twin was given the guitar. What happened between 4 and now that makes you the singer out of the two of you?

My twin brother sings as well. He just doesn't do it on the same level. He does it for fun at Thanksgiving and things like that, and I think he even helps out at the church that he works at down in Orlando. So yeah, he sings a little bit. But my dad told me that I was going to play the drums and that he was going to play the bass. I still do some session drumming in Nashville, so it hasn't been thrown out completely. I love to do it.

Through my time going to high school, I had a couple friends that encouraged me, “You could really do this,” and I've brushed them off, “whatever.” They really got a hold of me one day and they said, “Man, I'm telling you, you need to try this.” So, I would start doing little festivals, small competitions and things like that just to see and I won a few. I was like, “OK, maybe people do like to listen to me a little bit.” So, that's how I got my start in it with just a couple friends saying, “Hey, I really believe in you. I think you could do this for a full-time living.” It's really cool that the opportunity this show is giving me is the ability to do this for a living.

Related: The Real Reason The Voice's Team Reba Contestant Tom Nitti Left the Competition

What is the dream? Where do you see yourself?

The dream for me would be to be on the tour bus with my wife and kids who are being home schooled while dad goes and does shows and has them all backstage with me. The dream is a touring artist. I'd love to be signed to a label and all the good stuff that comes with that.

How did you come to The Voice?

I auditioned for The Voice in 2018 and I didn't get a call back or anything like that. It was an open cattle call and I never heard anything from them. So, I was sitting on the couch about 10 months ago now and my wife was like, “You should do that.” We were watching the show and she's like, “I really believe you can get up there and you can do that.” I'm like, “Babe, I'm not doing it.” She's like, “No, I'm just telling you. All you’ve got to do is send in a video." So I was like, “Alright, I'll send in a video.” I sent in a video and within the first two minutes, I heard something back that they wanted me in for a call back to hear more about me. And here we are.

Another aspect of The Voice in Season 24 is social media. How important do you think social media is?

I think social media in today's age can't do anything but help you. Even if they're talking bad about you, they're still talking about you. The important thing with social media today is you just want to be the topic of conversation, so I do think that it's a very helpful tool for every artist that's on this show. I’ve got a following on Facebook. There’s a bunch of my people and I say my people because I've got parents—my dad's 63 and my mom's 65— that age group loves Facebook, so those are my people. Yes, it's a helpful tool for sure and I think over the past couple of weeks, it's just been blowing my mind what the capabilities are with social media.

The Voice returns on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC when the Top 5 finalists for Season 24 will be revealed.

Next, The Voice Reveals Coaches for Season 25—And There’s an Exciting Twist!