The Voice / YouTube Gina Miles & Niall Horan
Winning “The Voice” opens a singer’s career up to many opportunities, including landmark live performances, recording new music, and a gateway into the music industry.
The latest winner Gina Miles spoke with Parade one day into her reign as “Voice” champion about how she felt in the immediate aftermath of her May 23 victory, her relationship with her coach Niall Horan, and how she hopes to keep in touch and work with Horan in the future.
Gina Miles Reflects on Niall Horan’s Role in Her ‘Voice’ Victory
Miles spoke about how Horan supported her from her Blind Audition through to her victory (the closest margin of victory in “Voice” history, Carson Daly shared before announcing her as the winner of Team Blake’s Grace West), saying that the Irish singer and musician “has been nothing but supportive and encouraging and I attribute [my win] to him. Niall is very encouraging, and our friendship has definitely helped me be a better person and a better artist. But he always is the most supportive person and so encouraging. Support from somebody that I respect so much is a very big thing in my life and in my career.”
Now that the show is over, Miles said that her “dream” would be to collaborate with her coach on her first album, “and to make music that feels authentic and real to me. I have an EP that I put out before the show. It was very experimental. I was just learning about myself in the music industry. I hope to make songs now that are authentic to me now.”
Miles briefly reflected on her “Voice” experience in a May 24 Instagram post fresh after her victory, with a promise to share more with her followers after the news has had a chance to settle. She wrote that she “will be crying til the end of time. i won’t be able to get this out all at once, but to all of my fellow contestants, to the crew, to the coaches and to my family, i love you so so much and am endlessly thankful. this has been such a special experience and i will cherish it forever. more on this later, love you ❤️”.
Gina Miles Explains How She Chose Her Songs From ‘The Voice’
Miles began her season of “The Voice” with a Blind Audition to Katy Perry’s song “The One That Got Away”, getting Horan and fellow coach Kelly Clarkson to turn their chairs for her, with Miles opting to join Team Niall. In the Battles, Miles beat out teammate Kala Banham after the pair performed a duet to Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” (with Banham being Stolen by Clarkson, allowing her to remain in the competition).
While Miles chose “The One That Got Away” and Horan assigned her “Skinny Love”, the pair worked together to choose her songs for the Knockouts, Playoffs, and Live Shows. Miles called choosing her songs “a very collaborative process,” going on to say, “You can’t just sing anything. You have to be a little bit strategic about it, but it was a very collaborative process. We were very particular about the kinds of things that we wanted me to sing.”
For the Knockouts, Miles eliminated teammate Kate Cosentino with her rendition of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know”. She then sailed through the Playoffs and Live Shows with her takes on Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”, Kodaline’s “All I Want”, Taylor Swift’s “Style” (which is rumored to be about Horan’s former One Direction bandmate Harry Styles when it was first released), and Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U”.
Miles’ final performance on “The Voice” was a duet with her coach to Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind”, a song which Horan has “seen on Gina’s list of songs that she potentially would like to sing, and it’s also one of my favorite songs ever, and every time I get drunk I sing it at karaoke,” making it the perfect final collaboration between the winning duo.
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