UCLA ScatterTones singer India Carney impresses on ‘The Voice’

India Carney stood in front of the turned chairs of Adam Levine, Pharrell Williams, Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton.

Carney, a fourth-year music student with a concentration in voice performance and music director of UCLA’s a cappella group The ScatterTones, made an appearance on the Blind Auditions, which aired March 2 for Season 8 of NBC’s reality singing competition “The Voice.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEyq8pzw0pI

Carney performed Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind,” garnering the interest of all four judges, who one by one, turned their chairs around to see Carney and exposed illuminated signs reading, “I want you.”

“When all four of the judges turned around, I could not actually believe what I was seeing or even believe that I was in the situation I was in,” Carney said, whose blind audition has received over 710,000 views on YouTube.

However, Ross Gordon, a UCLA and ScatterTones alumnus who performed with Carney for two years, found nothing about the situation hard to believe.

“When I found out that she was going to be featured in the auditions on TV and get chosen by a judge, I wasn’t surprised at all. I probably just smiled and said, ‘Of course she is,’” Gordon said.

Carney’s musical background includes classical opera training, but she also sings pop, R&B and jazz. When she found out she had made it onto the show, she saw it as an unexpected blessing.

Carney, who is a Brooklyn native, said she is emotionally connected and comfortable with “New York State of Mind,” one of her go-to songs that comes as second nature. But when all four judges turned their chairs around in the middle of her audition, she had to remain collected to complete her performance.

“I suppose when all four chairs turned, I actually did feel at ease a little more, but then I was like, ‘India, you have to finish the song. It’s not over,’” Carney said. “Even when they were giving me comments, I still just couldn’t believe I was there and I just had this grin on my face the whole time because that’s not something you get every day.”

When Carney finished serenading the audience, she received a standing ovation from all the judges. Aguilera praised and even pleaded directly with Carney while she deliberated which coach to pick.

“You’ve been the answer to my prayers so I’m really hoping that we can bond together,” Aguilera said. “That jazz ad lib at the very tail end – I mean, you followed through the entire time. I’m so impressed. You are a vocal beast.”

Going with her gut reaction, Carney chose to be on Aguilera’s team, Team Xtina, for a number of reasons, including how Aguilera was the first to turn her chair and expressed strong interest in Carney’s performance. Carney also said that Aguilera played a large role in her musical experience while growing up.

Once Carney revealed her choice, Aguilera referred to Carney as one of her all-star players and said that Carney could sing anything, including the phonebook.

Isaac Mirzadegan, a third-year psychology student and ScatterTones member, said Carney has the potential to win the competition with her power of emotion and technical vocal abilities.

“I think (Carney’s) voice is unlike any other voice I’ve heard before. She has such a deep, warm tone so her riffing, her vocal melisma is … perfect,” Mirzadegan said.

Gordon, who sees Carney as simply another relatable Bruin, shared similar sentiments and added that Carney has the ability to make the audience feel comfortable by having self-assured stage presence. Carney is no stranger to the stage, with performances including UCLA’s Spring Sing in 2013 and JazzReggae Festival in 2012.

“(Carney) is so talented. When you’re singing with her and everyone in the group so much, you hear it all the time that they’re amazing,” Gordon said. “But you forget that she could be one of the best singers in the world or the nation.”

The Battle Rounds of “The Voice” started Monday and Carney’s performance of Rihanna’s “Stay” with fellow teammate Clinton Washington will air next week.

Each Battle Round eliminates one contestant out of the pair, allowing the other person to advance onto the next stage of the competition, the Knockouts. Teammates are paired up and compete against each other once again in this stage, but sing individually. In the end, the winner will receive $100,000 and a record deal.

Carney said there is an interesting dynamic in competing with and directly against an individual.

“On one hand I feel, ‘OK, I still need to show off,’” Carney said. “But on the other hand, which is where I was coming from was, ‘No, you shouldn’t have to show off. You should show both of you guys off at the same time.’”

Moving forward in the competition, Carney said she hopes to nurture herself as an artist and have more time to work with Aguilera and guest mentors like Nick Jonas, who will advise Carney for the Battle Rounds, which will continue for two more weeks.

“I’ve been more in group settings and as awesome as that is, being in group settings doesn’t really allow for you to focus on yourself,” Carney said. “I feel that this experience is opening my eyes to India as an artist, which I never really thought about before.”