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Chilean American singer-songwriter Marilyn Hucek made it past The Blinds with her rendition of the Shakira song “La Tortura.” Tonight on The Voice she squares off against fellow Team Adam member Lexi Stephens in the Battles. Hucek talked to Deepest Dream about her Blinds performance, gigging in Washington D.C., and how her song “Neil Young” has a personal connection. Full interview in our post!
Read more: Marilyn Hucek Talks ‘The Voice,’ Performing Shakira’s ‘La Tortura,’ And Her Personal Song ‘Neil Young’“‘La Tortura’ holds such a special place in my heart,” said Marilyn Hucek. “I’ve been singing that song for years already. I was very familiar with it (and) it’s my favorite song. I do a lot of gigging her in DC – I’m from Washington, DC. And that’s one of the cover songs that I’ll whip out with me and the acoustic guitar, and I’ll kind of strip it down and make it my now.”
“(With) The Voice being such a huge platform, I wasn’t playing around,” added Hucek. “I treated it like a brand new song (and ) I dissected it line by line, playing around with the instrumentation (and) really trying to make it my own. And yeah, I put in a lot of time.”
Hucek also puts in a ton of time into her music, and one of her most evocative songs is “Neil Young.” “That’s one of my most personal songs about my dad’s battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s,” said Hucek. “He was diagnosed when I was 16 and battled it for several years, and it was really tough to see him go through that and watch him lose his memory day by day. And one of the things that he eventually forgot was my name, and it was really a hard thing to process.”
“That’s why I love music so much, and that’s why I got into songwriting, was to be able to process all those feelings and also be able to share my story on that front with my dad’s disease,” added Hucek. “That’s kind of a dual purpose for me, is to use my platform to not only write music that I love, but to also share my story in regards to what I went through with my dad’s disease. But my dad loved Neil Young, and as his memory faded, one of the things that kept us connected was music. I would play him his favorite songs, and he’d come to life.”
“Neil Young” is one of the songs featured in Hucek’s self-titled 2025 album:
As for any advice for people wanting to try out for The Voice, Hucek cites that prospective participants should get ready for a lot of “hard work.” “All the artists are so talented,” said Hucek, who reflected on her performance on ‘La Tortura.’ “It’s a lot of work to sing those songs, and we’re looking at where we’re taking breaths, our cadence, and what stylistic choices we are making. It’s not just someone gives you a song and you sing it. To sing that one song for 90 seconds, there was so much work that went behind that.”
Full interview with Marilyn Hucek:
