Javier Colon: Winner of The Voice

Javier Colon said it plainly: "It means everything winning The Voice. It's a new life. I get to support my family doing something that I love. It means…" — and Premier Guide Miami was in the room when it happened.

Javier Colon made history as the first-ever winner of NBC's The Voice, coached by Adam Levine. A singer-songwriter with credits including EmcQ and The Derek Trucks Band, Colon had previously been signed to Capitol Records before the show gave him a second shot at stardom. Premier Guide Miami's Judith Wallace caught up with him fresh off the win.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Congratulations on winning The Voice. You must have had a huge celebration.

JAVIER COLON: There was a Voice wrap party that they had for us, which ironically was just right across the street from my old record label, Capitol Records. It was very strange to get out of the limo and look across the street and see the iconic Capitol Records building. It was a great, great night. We had a really fun time. We did some performances with some of the guys from The Voice band — they are so amazing. We sang some Journey and Cee Lo got up there, Vicci got up there, Nakia, Curtis Grimes. Almost all of the people from the top 16 were there, which was really great. It was such a fun night.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Did you expect to win?

JAVIER COLON: I knew what the talk was and I knew that folks were calling me the frontrunner. But it's just not in my nature to let that even seep into my brain for a second. I knew how talented everybody was and I knew that basically you have to go out there and perform your absolute best every week. If you don't, you could be outsung or outperformed and go home. So the fact that people were saying things like that was really flattering but it didn't seep in at all. I knew what my task at hand was — to go out every week and focus on one song at a time and perform that song to the best of my ability. That was the only thing I could control. I was actually expecting Carson Daley to say the winner of The Voice is Dia Frampton. That's what I was preparing myself for. I've been through so much in the business and I have a habit of having either very low or no expectations based on my past experiences. And Dia is absolutely amazing — she's an incredible person and an incredible artist. When he said my name I honestly was in shock. I just couldn't believe that I had come so far and actually won.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: As the first winner of the competition, what does the future hold for you?

JAVIER COLON: The album is going to be out in September, from what I was told. I'm a singer-songwriter at heart and it's probably going to be more of a pop genre — a cross between James Taylor meets Maxwell meets John Mayer. Adam Levine and I talked a lot about getting in the studio and either him producing a track or at least us getting together to work on writing a song. He had some ideas and wanted to share them with me so I'm hoping we get to do that really soon. I love working with him. I love singing with him. Singing Man in the Mirror with him was amazing — I thought our voices blended really well together and I'm looking forward to getting together with him on more music in the future.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: As a seasoned performer, did you enter this competition with an open mind?

JAVIER COLON: I went into it pretty open. I'm a huge fan of Christina and her music. I love country music. I would have been so happy to get on any of their teams. But I did think about the possibility of all of them turning around and I really just wanted to go with someone who was really excited about having me on their team. My favorite artist in the world was Blake Shelton — but he was the last one to turn around in the very last seconds of the song, which doesn't necessarily show that he's super into what I did. So even though he's my favorite artist in the world, that doesn't necessarily mean for this competition I should choose him. You really had to put more weight on who really wanted you on their team. And that person for me was Adam Levine. He was very animated when I was up there — almost distracting at times — jumping up and down, just making it very clear that I was really important to him. That spoke volumes to me and I was honored to be on his team.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Earlier you used Blake Shelton as an example — what are your true thoughts of him?

JAVIER COLON: Blake is awesome. I spoke to him at length after the show as well as with Miranda Lambert, his wife. They are just such down to earth people. I absolutely love them. What you see is what you get with Blake. I'm actually going to send him a couple songs I had written that I wanted to get his feedback on. He welcomes everybody with open arms. Obviously his artist was Dia but he was just so friendly and so genuine with all of us. He's just an amazing guy.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: You had a lot of celebrity support from Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Pia Toscano, Adam Lambert and others.

JAVIER COLON: Yes. I was really happy to get their support. Kim Kardashian tweeted at one point and Pia Toscano from American Idol also tweeted her support for me, which I thought was really nice. Adam Lambert was one of the first to send a nice tweet — he's hella talented so yes, I was really happy to get that tweet as well.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: How do you feel about your former record label, Capitol Records?

JAVIER COLON: I harbor no ill will towards Capitol Records or anybody in the building. I think everything happens for a reason. It just wasn't supposed to happen the way it did back then and I'm just glad that things came around and I was able to make it work this time. I'm hell bent on making sure that it works this time. Back when I was with Capitol there was a push to try to make me someone that I was not. They were trying to pigeon hole me into a straight, strict R&B genre when I thought it was more of a pop singer-songwriter kind of vibe. I felt they didn't know where to put me with regards to the marketplace and genre. I'm just glad that this time around I'm going to have a chance to be myself and really show folks who I am.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: You performed with Stevie Nicks.

JAVIER COLON: I am still in shock that I got to perform with Stevie Nicks. Adam surprised me and told me I would be singing with her and I just about lost it. I couldn't believe it. I have a feeling Adam wanted me to sing Landslide with her — she's such an icon and it's just such a timeless, amazing song. I was so nervous going in. We ran through it one time on the stage before we even stepped up to the microphones, just standing in a circle with her guitar player. And then we stepped up to the microphones and started doing a couple run throughs on the stage and it really hit me when I looked to my left and saw her standing there looking back into my eyes, really intently and really focused. I'm like, oh my god, I'm singing with Stevie Nicks right now. I got a little emotional in the rehearsal. I mean there are so many accomplished artists who have been doing music professionally and successfully for years and years and they haven't had this opportunity. I just felt very, very blessed in that moment and I will never forget that for as long as I live.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: What was the advice you received from Adam Levine moving forward?

JAVIER COLON: He said hold on for the ride, man, because it's going to be crazy. We were standing at one point on the red carpet over at the Warner Brothers lot and everybody was just snapping pictures and there were flashes everywhere. And he's like, get used to it because this is now your life. It's something that he's been living with for many, many years that all of a sudden I'm thrust into. With my things in the past with Capitol Records, the awareness about me as an artist wasn't such that I couldn't walk around — people wouldn't even notice me. But now that I've been on the show, you go to the grocery store and people recognize you and show you a lot of support. He told me that some big things were coming and to brace myself and I'm doing my best to do just that.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: Are you looking forward to The Voice tour?

JAVIER COLON: Yes. The tour is going to be awesome. We don't exactly know what the format is going to be and how many songs each of us are going to sing yet. But we know the top eight of us are going to be on tour. There are going to be some duets that we'll get to do with each other. We're going to sing some songs from the show as well as some songs you have not heard us perform yet. We're going to have the band from the show with us as well. I'm so looking forward to it as are my other seven contestants from the top eight. We're all really looking forward to getting together and having some fun. He'll be joined by fellow finalists Beverly McClellan, Dia Frampton, Nakia, Xenia, Casey Weston, Vicci Martinez and Frenchie Davis.

PREMIER GUIDE MIAMI: I understand that both your parents are cancer survivors. Are you currently supporting any organization that deals with this issue?

JAVIER COLON: Absolutely. My mother and father are actually both cancer survivors. We have done a lot of charities in the past — golf tournaments and things like that that support a lot of charities all over the country and some all over the world. And I plan on definitely supporting charities like the Susan G. Komen Foundation as well as the Jimmy Lee Foundation that is based out of North Carolina, which gives millions of dollars to research through their events every year.

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