The Show Goes On
Julia Golden’s time on The Voice came to a close Monday night during a battle round, where two contestants sing the same song, together, competing to advance to the next round. Julia and Abigayle Oakley sang “Rhiannon.”
- Fun fact: Blind audition rounds and the first battle rounds are actually filmed months in advance, only the last rounds of the show are live.
While prepping for the battle round, Kelly Clarkson was going through a difficult time in her life so the two artists worked with Jennifer Hudson as a guest mentor. “She said our authenticity and our unique tones are what really sets us apart as artists,” says Julia, so she plans to lean into that going forward.
“Abigayle is super talented and we have such different styles. It was cool to find a middle ground between what the two of us do,” says Julia. Ultimately it was a 2:1 vote for Abigayle.
Post-elimination, Julia says overall she’s grateful for the experience. “The truth is, you get so close with the entire cast that you’re genuinely rooting for everybody. While I was upset about my elimination, I got to celebrate all of my amazing friends moving up. So it’s a bittersweet feeling.”
While in LA, Julia explained that they weren’t on set 24/7 which meant they had time to explore, gather by the pool or, the collective favorite, have game nights. She said their favorite game was called “Mafia,” a murder-mystery sort of game. “We took our game nights so seriously. Honestly, at times Mafia felt like higher stakes than the actual competition. We had so much fun.” she says.
Julia says the hardest part of being on the show is trying not to have imposter syndrome and know that it was earned. “But we’re all very good at hyping each other up,” she says, adding that the season 29 group chat is still very active.
But she’s far from finished with the stage. Julia has used the experience to catapult her forward.
In addition to new gigs all around the country, Julia just signed with Global Management 101, who will represent her for modeling, acting and music projects. “I just love performance art – acting, singing, modeling. I think they are the perfect team to help dip my toe in every different kind of water and do everything I want to do as a performer,” says Julia.
Julia says her parents are her lifeline and without them it’d be hard to do everything she does. “We as a collective get very little sleep,” laughs Julia, who is always on the move. “But this is the life that I wanted and dreamed of my entire life.”
During a recent gig at Red’s Corner fans of all ages flocked to get her autograph. “Seeing the younger generation of artists be inspired by my journey, that’s just been the coolest thing ever,” says Julia.
As for your next playlist, she told us she has some new music coming very soon. You can hear her perform original (and unreleased) songs at the Sunrise Theater, April 17 during “The Golden Hour” concert.
