Jadyn Cree Talks ‘The Voice’ Live Shows, Working With Michael Bublé, and ’99 Red Balloons’

Jadyn Cree advanced through all the previous rounds of “The Voice,” and on Monday night she will be among the artists performing live on the program. Cree was kind enough for a second interview with Deepest Dream, and she talked about having Michael Bublé as her coach and growing as an artist her journey on “The Voice.” Full video and transcript is below.

Question: So I’m here with Jadyn Cree from Team Bublé. How are you Jadyn? Good to speak with you for a second time.

Jadyn Cree: I’m great. It’s a lot of fun and it’s really warm out here in California, so I’m excited to be back.

 

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I’m glad you’re back. I know you really can’t say too much about the lives, but in big picture sense, have you been able to relax or has it been constant work?

Jadyn Cree: We’ve been pretty busy. Actually, today is probably one of the most open days that we have and I’m definitely gonna try to tan because I’m very pale and this is the only time I’m gonna be able to get some sun. So we’re gonna probably do some laundry and relax a little bit today ’cause we have a little bit of a free day.

But yeah, up until now we’ve had a lot of busy full days of rehearsing and all of that. It’s been fun.

When we talked several months ago, a couple months back, you talked about your job that they let you back in, but you couldn’t really tell me that you actually made the lives back then.

How were you able to realistically just spend your downtime? Was it a lot of downtime or were you working, or what were you doing during those months?

Jadyn Cree: I was definitely working full-time, so it was just going back to normal life. And so yeah, working my eight to five job and so it’s nice being back and getting that kind of, as much as we’re still like working here, it’s at least like a change of pace from my usual routine.

So I’m definitely excited to be back.

Have you been able to just look at your just accomplishments on what you did? Were you able to soak it in and enjoy? And even to this day with the lives coming up, is it still surreal to see how far you’ve made it and how much you’ve accomplished as an artist?

Jadyn Cree: Oh yeah, for sure. Just being this far at first it was like, oh, this is taking forever to air. But then now it’s “Oh my gosh, we’re in the last two weeks.” It’s almost done. And it definitely went by super fast and I don’t think it’ll ever fully register in my head that America is also watching this too.

And it’s not just airing in my mom’s living room! But yes, it’s definitely been fun. I’m excited for the lives. I’m also sad for this experience to be coming to an end, but I’m definitely excited just to see where this all goes.

I wanted to follow up on last time. You had, I think, was it one cat or two cats?

Jadyn Cree: Two cats.

I’m secretly a cat lover. I love dogs too. But what is it about cats that you are so passionate about?

Jadyn Cree: I feel like with dogs, it’s like a dog’s always gonna be super excited to see you and love you no matter what.

When it’s a cat, you have to earn their trust and love. So it’s more special to me that they wanna be around me and love me so much. I miss them a lot. I work full-time so it’s really difficult for me to even have a dog because then I’d have to go let it out. My cat can just take care of itself.

And I have my cats at home and I don’t like putting them somewhere they’re not used to. So I just keep them at home. And then I have people come in to my house and check on ’em and take care of ’em in that way.

I’m gone for months. I’d have to find somebody to take it. But at least with my cats, they’re friends and they have each other and they can keep each other entertained and take care of each other. So I just love ’em so much and I miss ’em. And I wish I could bring them here.

What was it like watching back your performance of ’99 Red Balloons?’ How hard was it to pull off? That was just an amazing performance.

Jadyn Cree: Thank you so much. That was actually my favorite performance.

This is the one that I was like, “Oh, I not wait for this one to air.”  Because my ears went out when I did it, so I couldn’t even hear myself. And so this is like the first time that I really get to hear it too. And I’m glad it was good.

I’ve performed (’99 Red Balloons’) before with my band. So thankfully I had that experience. The muscle memory kind of kicked in a little bit after I couldn’t hear anything anymore. And so that was nice.

And of course, watching back, seeing your dad cry, you’re used to that.

But is it great just to have him as a support and as a fellow artist who can give you pointers and I guess as father and daughter, you learn from each other, not as just as loved ones, but as fellow artists.

Jadyn Cree: Yeah, and I grew up watching my dad perform on stage and stuff and just seeing him be goofy and himself on stage.

That kind of just helped me be fine with being goofy and silly on stage. It was definitely nice seeing him there. They didn’t really totally show him a ton at the beginning, but he was sitting directly in front of me when I started sitting there. So I even told him before we started, I was like, ‘I can’t even look at you,’ because he was already crying.

He was crying before I even started. I sat down and he’s just bawling.  So I didn’t even end up singing to him at all because I can’t just watch my dad cry while I do this song.

You have a double threat because your coach Bublé is, feels like a proud big brother.

Whenever he looks upon you and he says, you could win ‘The Voice.’ You have such a unique voice and you can tell looking at him, he really means every word he says. What has that been like having Michael Bublé as your coach.

Jadyn Cree: It’s just been insane. He is just like a dad and so just seeing him so proud of just it’s super sweet and I don’t know, just having somebody of that caliber of accomplishments. Even with him and Sheryl Crow giving me the compliments – (it) is just insane in my brain.

I’m the worst at accepting compliments. I never know what to say and I’m always awkward about it. It’s the most awkward and worst experience for me, but also the coolest because it’s insane hearing those things. I just am terrible at accepting them.

One of those many compliments you’ve received was early on in the  competition, Bublé mentioned how humble you are. Did you get that level of modesty and lack of pretension from your family?

Jadyn Cree: It’s probably the way that I was raised.

Being complimented and everything just makes me so awkward. I’m just like, I don’t know. I don’t ever, and I’m also my biggest critic too, so when people do compliment me, I’m like “Are they just saying this to make me [00:07:00] feel better? Are they just saying this because they care about me, but it’s like not that good?”

So I like having some opinions where it’s completely unbiased. It was like they didn’t know me, they didn’t have to be nice to me. They didn’t have to spare my feelings or anything. I’m not their daughter or something like that. It’s nice that I’m still getting compliments.

I’ll never get to a place where I feel like, “Yeah, I’m good.” And so then I think that’ll just force me to keep working at it. So I think no matter what, I’ll just keep getting better.

What’s the key to actually having a soft voice? You’re really good on the soft register, but then when you did “Keep Holding On,” you also proved that you can just really belt it out with a power pop. How hard is it having that transition? Is it something that you easily mastered as an artist, or is that something that you had to grow into those really amazing transitions?

Jadyn Cree: That’s just what my voice is. And I’ve always actually grown up not liking it. ’cause I was like, oh my, my softer voice sounds so much different than my belting voice. I felt like it never fit any of the songs I was singing. And I just felt like I just didn’t have a good voice.

Because I (couldn’t) make them sound the same. But that’s just how my voice sounds with those different amounts of air going through them. And so the fact that I couldn’t make those sound the same and just consistent actually made me feel like I was just a bad singer. And so it’s weird to have that kind of more praise now.

That’s just kinda how I sing. I don’t really do anything to it.

Thank you so much for your time. And last question is I know you, again, you really can’t say much about lives, but are is it weird jumping back and doing all the work again because you had some time off? Or is it like riding a bike because you started remembering how much work you did put in before you had that time off between shows?

Jadyn Cree: It’s been like we’re back in the groove of it and we have curfews and we always have to text in. We’re back in that mindset again. I think one of the one things that I forgot was just how dry that studio is.

We had a dry blocking rehearsal and I just, I wasn’t even singing like we were just. practicing moving around the stage and I, it was just immediate dryness. Like your throat’s dry. You can’t even talk. So it’s reminding myself how much I need to hydrate and how much I probably need to start doing more cardio.

People just don’t understand how dry that studio is. And it definitely affects peoples’ singing because like I can sing a song way easier at home than I can in that studio. And so I definitely need to be drinking a lot more water than I have been.

How do you feel about the save element this season? I’m sure you’re very cool with it. And then the second part of it. Post “The Voice” – how much confidence do you have just going back home and just performing with your band and how much have you grown within the past year as an artist?

 

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Jadyn Cree: Yeah, the super saves. It’s a . . . I don’t wanna say love/hate because there’s no hate in that, But it’s like there’s two things in your mind where it’s “Oh my gosh, yeah, I have more friends coming back.” And then the other one’s “Oh shoot, there’s more people to compete against that are coming back.”

But it’s definitely exciting and I think whatever’s meant to be is meant to be. So the thought of more people coming back isn’t too scary. That’s something that was meant to be, and that’s what was gonna be happening. And obviously you guys don’t know who they are, but I know who they are and so I’m really excited to have them back.

I’m excited to compete and everybody that’s here deserves to be here and I’m super excited for it. And yeah, with my band, definitely a lot more confidence. If you can sing in front of those four judges and just a bunch of random people and the cameras and the lights, it definitely makes singing at home a lot easier for the little small town bars.

Jadyn, again, thank you so much for the second interview. I know you you don’t have too much time, so I just enjoy the rest of the week and like you said, get some sun!

Jadyn Cree: Thank you so much!

Catch “The Voice” Live Shows starting May 12 at 8 pm et/pt!