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Paxton Ingram says he felt high on life while competing earlier this year on Season 10 of the NBC singing competion "The Voice." Ingram had country singer Blake Shelton as his coach and pop star Gwen Stefani as an adviser. After his performances, Ingram was often praised by the other coaches, Adam Levine, Pharrell Williams and Christina Aguilera.

After being eliminated in the semifinals in May, he felt as if he were going through withdrawals.

"From one day to the next, it's all done. That's the wildest feeling," Ingram, 23, says. "It was a lot of emotions going on. I was so happy that I got to live this dream. But then, it's over now, back to normal. I was like, 'Man, how do I recover? How do I sustain myself with what I have now? And how do I make sure I rise to the occasion?' "

When Ingram returned to his home in Doral, he had dozens of ideas for new songs. He moved to Los Angeles a few weeks later to work on his first album "Recover," released Oct. 28. In a smooth, airy voice, Ingram sings pop songs about returning to his normal life after leaving the show.

He'll perform these and other songs Saturday, Nov. 5, at Ali Cultural Arts in Pompano Beach. The show is part of the first anniversary celebration of the cultural center, and will be Ingram's first performance in South Florida since he left "The Voice."

"It's just so great to see my dreams kind of unravel. I waited so long for people to hear what I had to say," Ingram says. "That's been my passion ever since I was a kid, writing my own music."

Ingram began his career a few feet away from the microphone, working as backup dancer. He appeared in commercials dancing behind Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez. He danced on Univision's former variety show "Sabado Gigante," and on the first season of Telemundo's "La Voz Kids," the Spanish version of "The Voice Kids."

"It took complete control of my life. I started getting jobs, working professionally, right out of high school," Ingram recalls. "But then, being surrounded by music and artists, and seeing them creating music. I was like, 'Oh, my God. I want this for myself. I want to be an artist, and have my vision come to life onstage.' "

He quit dancing in 2012 and joined the music group at his church, Metro Life, where he performed during services.

"I just felt I wanted to sing, I felt like I did what I wanted to do as a dancer, and my time was done," he says.

The videos from his performances with Metro Life Church gave him a spot in the blind auditions for "The Voice."

"That really shaped me," he says. "It shaped my voice. It shaped me to get ready for the show. It shaped me to have durability. I can last long. It was great training."

His coach, Shelton, finished what Metro Life Church started.

"He taught me how to be a monster and go out there and give it all you've got. I take that with me every day," he says. "I'm a different person, a different performer than I was before." - South Florida.com

So long for now, Paxton Ingram. The local singer was eliminated last week from The Voice last week, but we are pretty sure we’ll be seeing Ingram (Team Blake) performing again soon. The final four will battle it on the NBC reality competition at 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday nights.

We spoke to the former backup dancer for Britney Spears who teaches hip hop at Show Stoppers Studio in Hialeah.

How did it feel to say goodbye to “The Voice?”


I think I speak for all of us when I say this — we all went in there in like full battle mode, beast mode. We all knew our time was going to come, regardless. There’s only one more week left of the show, and that’s how the game rolls. Four people must go home. When you do get eliminated, it’s like, snap, but look how far I made it. My God, a semifinalist! So I was definitely not as sad as I thought I was going to be. I was definitely grateful for the opportunity and excited about the future. It was a really cool feeling. I have zero regrets. I did everything I wanted to do because I went up there and I gave it my all every single time.


What are your upcoming plans? Have any thoughts on doing an album?

I’m a huge lover of pop music. That’s like my biggest foundation. So the type of record I would make would just be a glorious pop album with a lot of soul. It would be cool.

What was it like working with Blake Shelton?

We’re like kindred spirits, you know? He’s such a bright, lovely person and makes you comfortable and laugh. He’s a joy to be around. That’s something that I admire and that I want to be and what I strive to be in my life. So going into rehearsals was always fun. But when we got down to business, he allowed me to be myself. There was so much trust between the both of us. There was a couple of song choices he would [say no] then give me the reasons why. Then I would bring back another song and he would 100 percent love it and support it. He was very hands on and making sure that it was perfect. Like no error — perfect. He always challenged me, pushed me to the next level every single week.

What advice would you give the final four?

It would be to just always remember what your intention is — why you sing, why you perform, why you make music. Never lose sight of what made you start this whole thing. Because once you get into the competition or when it starts to become a competition, [winning] can’t be your ultimate motivation. You have to have another motivation. Why do you do what you do? And I feel like that will propel you even further in life. Always remember your biggest competition is yourself. As long as you can outdo yourself each week, you’re OK. - The Miami Herald

As a singer who’s made it to primetime, Paxton Ingram has learned to improvise both onstage and off.

He's quick to pull out a stick of incense from his backpack and light it during stressful moments like, for instance, when his interviewer is 45 minutes late and panicked because she got stuck in hellish Midtown Art Basel traffic at ten in the morning.

His penchant for thinking on his feet came in handy for Ingram last year during The Voice’s blind auditions. He'd hoped Pharrell would be the first coach to hit his “I Want You” button and turn his chair around. Instead, Blake Shelton’s chair was the first to spin, with Adam Levine and Pharrell pressing their buttons as he sang his last note. Surprising everyone — most of all himself — Ingram chose Shelton to be his coach on impulse.

“He just touched my heart,” Ingram remembers of Shelton. “He said the right things. He said he's never recognized greatness so quickly. And that was heavy to me. I just felt more of a connection to the unknown — and it was Blake. It was such a God moment. It spoke through me.”

Half a year out from wrapping the show, Ingram believes the wild-card pick worked in his favor. “I was the only African American artist on my team, the only pop artist on my team. I stuck out, and it opened me up to a new fanbase, 'cause Blake is a country artist and he has all of that fanbase and all of that side of America," he says. "I think if I was on Pharrell’s team, it would've just kept me in a certain type of box."

Like all talent competition contestants, once the safety net of the show was gone, Ingram’s success depended solely on his efforts. After the show finished taping in May, he delayed his return to Miami to complete his first postshow release, Recover, which recently debuted on the iTunes 200 Albums chart. Its lead single, “Sober,” has garnered over 100,000 streams on Spotify already.

"I think if I was on Pharrell’s team, it would've just kept me in a certain type of box."

“A lot of the album I wrote on my own, but I had countless sessions with new writers and different writers, and I learned from them," he says. "I didn't come home until the album was finished. It was the best thing for me to do, 'cause if I'm here in Miami I'm not in the middle of the pop writers. If I'm in LA, I'm in the middle of it. I'm with the writers that are writing for Ariana [Grande].”

One of the criticisms of talent shows like The Voice is that while many of the contestants have some earth-shattering pipes, once they're left to start their music careers without the help of professional songwriters, dramatic staging, and celebrity coaches, they're at a loss as to how best to harness the attention they've gained.

Ingram thinks the artists on his season were different. “Our season was so special because all you wanted to do was write.” During downtime from the show, contestants would hole up in his room to cowrite songs, and their collaborations continued beyond their time on The Voice. The song “Barricade” on Recover was cowritten by Jonathan Bach and Joe Vivona, two contestants who were eliminated during the Battle rounds, and this month Ingram will head to LA for two weeks with fellow Season Ten finalist Nick Hagelin to work on a song they've written for a major recording artist. “I can't say [who] but it's a super-amazing artist. It's huge,” he says.

While he's jetting to different cities for studio time and songwriting projects, Ingram isn't done calling Miami home. Last month, he played a capacity show at Wynwood Yard. “Everybody was there to see me! It was a home show. I almost cried," he says. "I sang ‘Hometown Glory,’ and everybody was singing it with me. It was such a moment.”

Reflecting on the priceless comforts of home, he adds, “I have my band here. It’s my drummer, my guitarist, and my piano player.” He also collaborates with local videographers and photographers. “You could be based from wherever you want to be, but just keep that work hustle," he says. "The hustle never stops. Get in on this project. Let's do it all together; that's why we here. That's how empires start.”

He remembers getting into a conversation about Miami with his Voice mentor Miley Cyrus. “She got sidetracked talking to Blake about going to Pharrell's house," he says. "She's like, ‘I love Miami! I go to Pharrell's house to record!’ I'm like, ‘I can't relate, I can't!’" - Miami New Times

Paxton, a 20-year-old from Miami, FL, was eliminated from The Voice along with Mary Sarah Gross, Bryan Bautista and Shalyah Fearing heading into this week's finale.

Paxton, a member of Blake Shelton's team, was known for belting out hits by icons such as Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. He wasn't afforded the opportunity to sing for the "Instant Save" during the latest live results show.

During a recent interview, Paxton talked about his experience on The Voice.

Reality TV World: Were you prepared at all for your elimination, and how did it make you feel to have to leave the competition at this point?

Paxton Ingram: For me -- and I think I speak for all of us when I say this -- when we went into the Top 8, we were all full-battle mode, beast mode. We were preparing for our last time on that stage.

So, I guess when last night rolled around, it does such being eliminated, but we all knew our time was going to come regardless. And there's only one more week left of the show, so most of us will go home. When you do get eliminated, it's like, "Oh snap, I'm going home," but look how far I made it!

Oh my God, I was a finalist. So I was definitely not as sad as I thought I was going to be. I was happy and grateful for the opportunity and just excited about the future. It was a really cool feeling.

Reality TV World: I believe you had three coaches turn around for you in the Blinds and you went with Blake, which was a little bit of a surprising choice since he's a country artist and you love pop. What made you pick him and was it a bit of an adjustment or transition to be on his team considering your song selections?

Paxton Ingram: So, me picking Blake in the Blinds was the wildest decision I've ever made. It wasn't pre-planned; I didn't strategize. It was just something that organically happened just because of what he told me and how quick he turned around. In his words, he sold it in a way I couldn't ignore, him calling my "greatness."



In doing that, I feel like that just opened a world for some magical stuff to happen. And going into rehearsals, I noticed that we're like kindred spirits, you know? He's such a bright, lovely spirit that makes people comfortable and makes people laugh. He's a joy to be around, and that's something that I admire and want to be and strive to be in my life.

So, going into rehearsals, they were always fun and we were always laughing. But when we got down to business, he allowed me to be myself. There was so much trust between the both of us. He allowed me to, in terms of song choices, if he didn't like something, he'd tell me the reasons why.

And then I'd bring back another song and he would 100% love it and support it. In rehearsals, he was very hands-on in making sure it was perfect, that I was perfect with no errors. So it was cool because he always challenged me and pushed me to the next level every single week.

Also during the conference call, Paxton talked to reporters about topics ranging from the best advice Blake gave him to whether he has any regrets from his time on The Voice.

What's the best advice Blake gave you?

Paxton Ingram: Blake is just an all-around -- every single time we went into rehearsal, it's like you learn something new every single time. He was the ultimate coach. He just knew how to let us be ourselves, which I think is very important. He never really tried to alter anything about us.

He just navigated where he thought we should go, but he fully allowed us to be ourselves. And I thought that was just an amazing way to grow. To see the way he trusted me made me trust myself even more, and it was really cool, so I'm forever grateful to him for that.

Do you have any regrets? Is there any one thing you wish you could have done differently during your journey on The Voice?

Paxton Ingram: You go on that stage every week -- even since the Blinds, every time you hit that stage, you're not knowing when your last day [in the competition] is going to be. You don't know if you're going to make it on the next show. Even if you make it past the Battles, you've got to make a team and make it past the Knockout.

So every time you hit that stage, it was like balls-to-the-wall, giving it all I've got -- here I am, here I go. And I feel like in doing that, I have zero regrets, no regrets, nothing. I did everything I wanted to do and I went up there and gave it my all every single time.

What's next for you? What type of music will you make?

Paxton Ingram: I'm a huge lover of pop music, that's like my favorite foundation. So the type of album I would make would just be a glorious pop album with a lot of soul and a lot of influences in it, so it will be cool.

What advice would you give to a future contestant on The Voice?

Paxton Ingram: My advice would be to just always remember what your intention is for why you sing, why you perform, why you make music. Never lose sight of your intention, what made you start this whole thing. Because once you get into the competition and it starts to become a competition, that can't be your ultimate motivation.

You have to have another motivation. Why do you do what you do? And I feel like that will propel you even further in life -- not only on the show... And your biggest competition is yourself. As long as you can out-do yourself each week, you'll be okay. - RealityTvWorld.com

Paxton Ingram performs Tasha Cobbs' "Break Every Chain" on "The Voice." - LA Times