Gwen Stefani sticks with Team Alyssa. Fresno singer continues her run on ‘The Voice’
Alyssa Witrado still gets taken aback seeing video of her performances on “The Voice” as they get shared around fan blogs or pop up in TV new media.
“Always,” says the 19-year-old Fresno singer.
“Every. Single. Time.”
She could be excused for it.
Before earning a spot on the show during the blind auditions in September, Witrado had performed on stage less than a dozen times.
Since then, she’s won her battle round (singing the Billie Ellish song “Happier than Ever”) and survived Monday night’s Knockout Round with her performance of the Queen song “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
Witrado has now earned a spot in the show’s top 16 and will begin competing in this season’s head-to-head matchups, which begin Monday with winners determined by a vote of the TV audience.
The Bee chatted with Witrado from Los Angeles, where she is preparing for the next show.
On her song choice for the Knockout Round
Witrado says she was intimidated having to tackle the Queen classic.
“Getting handed a task that big is really terrifying.”
She tried to change the song, but said she wasn’t allowed. Her approach was to “just have fun with it.”
“I just wanted to show off who I was as a performer, and not just a vocalist.”
It worked out. Though some argued Sasha Hurtado had a better technical performance, coach Gwen Stefani chose to stick with Witrado.
“There is something about you,” Stefani said.
“It’s one of those things you can’t really put words to.”
What to expect next on ‘The Voice’
Without giving anything away, Witrado says fans will want to tune into her next performance to see something different from the upbeat, high-energy songs she’s done so far.
She thinks people will be surprised.
“I just want to showcase a different side of me.”
Alyssa Witrado’s dream song to perform
Witrado takes a few moments to contemplate the one song she’d like to perform on the show given the choice and change.
“It’s definitely a Beatles song,” she says, before settling in on “Yesterday.”
She already has her own version of it worked out that’s she’s never really shared.
“I’d love to do my take on that one day.”
On her future in music
Witrado hopes to parlay any success from “The Voice” into a career in the music business. She would love to be able to return to the show as an adviser or coach one day. But before that, she’d like to get into the studio and record some songs.
And also start writing some songs of her own, she says.
“I really want to get into making my own music.”
She has tried writing songs before, she says, but those will “never see the light of day.”
The #teamalyssa support
The amount of attention and response Witrado has received from fans, especially in Fresno, has been “more than I’ve ever dreamed.”
“It warms my heart,” she says.
Witrado’s mother has been hosting watch parties with friends and family at Livingstone’s Restaurant in the Tower District. There may be something larger in the works for Monday night’s show, Witrado says.
She’ll be sure to alert fans via social media, including @alyssadaniellew on Instragram.
Not the first Valley native to be featured on “the Voice”
With her latest win, Witrado has now made it further on the show than Rudy Parris, who was chosen by Blake Shelton in season three back in 2012 after singing a countrified version of the Police classic “Every Breath You Take.”
The Visalia country rock singer was 46 at the time and had been playing music for 28 years — longer than most of the other contestants had been alive. He was eliminated in the Knockout Round, but returned for the season finale to help sing the Kiss tune “Rock and Roll All Night.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2022 at 2:00 PM.