Los Angeles — Ava Lynn Thuresson is an 18-year-old singer from San Diego, Calif. She is one of the singers competing on season 22 of NBC’s “The Voice” airing Monday and Tuesday evenings.
Thuresson sang a custom version of the popular Britney Spears hit song “Baby One More Time.” Her blind audition aired on “The Voice” last Monday. I had the chance to interview Thuresson via Zoom.
Q: I was wondering… At what age did you first start singing?
A: “I’ve been singing for the majority of my life. I’ve been singing in choir forever, i’ve done a couple of musicals but I really started taking music seriously maybe a couple of years ago when I started writing my own songs. But I’ve been singing forever and anyone that knows me can tell you that.”
Q: Do you have a favorite musical genre that you like to sing?
A: “You know, I feel like my voice sounds comfortable on soul, on blues, a little bit of country but I love all genres of music. I love all genres of music so I think all of the songs that I write have little tiny pieces of each genre of music.”
Q: I understand you got to participate in The Grammy Camp. Can you tell me more?
A: “I did. I participated twice–once in the journalist track and then once in the vocalist track. That was through USC, it was awesome practice for The Voice. I made great friends and connections. I learned so much there. I met some really cool artists.”
Q: I saw your performance on “The Voice” and you chose “Baby One More Time” as your blind audition song. What made you choose that song?
A: “Yes…The Britney song. You know, it is a challenging task to take a song and make it different. To everyone’s ear, it sounds different. It’s not what you’re expecting. I really wanted to show that I take covers of songs and I make them my own and different. I really just wanted to show my artistry and you know, I took the challenge. Hopefully, it pays off. I feel like it did and I’m so grateful I’m on Camila’s team. It was a big leap but i’m excited to punch my ticket.”
Q: You sort of did a twist on the Britney Spears song. I kept hearing the word juxtaposition over and over.
A: “Yes, that’s the word that Camila was always using, the juxtaposition. I almost feel like the loneliness is very evident in the rendition that I did. Even seeing the comments on Youtube, just one comment was saying how it really touched her heart and it made her feel seen. That’s all that I wanted… to put an emotional connection to a fun, boppy song.”
Q: Can you describe the feeling as you’re on stage and the chairs start spinning around?
A: “Oh my gosh, I have to say that I was so nervous about getting through the song, I feel like I did not even take into account the chairs turning until I took that breath after I finished the song. You could see it on my face. I was so relieved but yeah I was so nervous just trying to get through the song. I definitely felt the relief after the song finished.”
Q: First you had John Legend turn his chair and a few seconds later Camila did. Why did you end up picking her as your coach?
A: “Yes, it was hard because John did turn first and that does mean a lot to me. He is such an incredibly established artist. I knew how much I would be able to learn from him. But I think Camila’s comment about having experience as a young girl on a singing competition show. You couldn’t hear it in the episode but the in-person audience was just screaming Camila’s name. I felt like the choice for me was definitely evident and she doesn’t have a specific genre. She floats between a bunch of different genres and that’s is above all else is the most appealing to me.”
Q: What will your next couple of months look like? How many times will you meet with Camila and do tapings?
A: “I am going to meet with her to do the battles so that’s the fall. The next couple of months are going to be a crazy whirlwind. I am so excited for everyone to see the rest of ‘The Voice.’ It is an amazing season with amazing artists that are not only amazing on stage but just amazing people aside. We’re all just extremely supportive of one another. I’m really excited for people to see ‘The Voice’ and the rest of my musical career. Hopefully, songs coming out, more performances, more gigs. I’m really excited for the future.”
Q: Where can people watch some of your performances?
A: “My performances are going to be on all of my social media apps…Twitter, Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram and so many more. Also, something that’s really fun is NBC has The Voice app and it’s really interactive. You get to make your own roster of contestants that you like. There’s trivia questions and all of the performances are posted there. So that’s a fun, really interactive way to kind of keep up with the show and obviously, following all of my social media. I’m posting like crazy, I have so much content. It’s really fun so hopefully, you get to tune in.”
Q: That’s great… Where do you hope to go from here after the show?
A: “After the show is over, I’m praying that I get to release my own music. I have songs flowing out of me left and right. I have so much to say. ‘The Voice’ is amazing, I love the covers of songs but you’re covering someone else’s music so it doesn’t really resonate with you as much as you want it to so I am so excited for my own music to be released. It hasn’t yet so I’m just so excited for everyone to hear what I have to say. It’s gonna be really cool for me.”
I’d like to say congratulations and best of luck in the future.
“Thank you so much. Oh my goodness, it means so much.”
Follow Ava Lynn Thuresson on her social media channels @avalynnthuresson and watch for her on NBC’s “The Voice” airing Monday and Tuesday evenings.
Watch Ava’s blind audition on “The Voice” below: