“It means everything winning The Voice. It’s a new life. I get to support my family doing something that I love. It means stability for my family. It means hopefully not having to not pay one bill one month so that I can pay another one that is more important or that is more overdue. I can take care of my wife and my babies and that means the world to me. family always comes first and I’ve got a beautiful wife and two little girls that are 3-1/2 and 22 months (My wife Maureen, my oldest daughter is Solana, and she is 3-1/2, and my youngest is Amaia, she’s 22 months). And they’re my world. They are the reason that I live and breathe and the reason that it was so important for me to get my career going because if I didn’t, if this show didn’t come along I guarantee you by this time I would have been doing something other than music to support my family because the income just unfortunately wasn’t enough.” _Javier Colon_
Javier Colon: Winner of The Voice.
Singer, Song-writer
NBC, The Voice | EmcQ | The Derek Trucks Band
By: Judith Wallace
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 go to walk in and then I look across the street and there was the old record label that I was on, 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 that are so amazing. We sang some Journey and Cee Lo got up there, Vicci got up there, Nakia, Curtis Grimes. I mean almost a lot of the people from the top 16 were also there, which was really great. It was such a fun night.
Did you expect to win?
Javier Colon: I knew what the talk was and I knew that folks were calling me the “frontrunner” or what have you. But it’s just not in my nature to let that even seep into my brain for a second.I mean I knew how talented everybody was or is and I knew that basically you have to go out there and you have to perform your absolute best every week and if you don’t you could be outsung or outperformed and you could go home. And even if you went out there and did your best you could still get outperformed or outsung and go home. So the fact that people were saying things like that was really flattering but I mean it didn’t seep in at all. I knew what my task at hand was and that was to go out every week and to focus on one song at a time and go out there and perform that song to the best of my ability. And that was the only thing in this competition that I myself could control. And that was the goal and I know that folks early on had mentioned things like that and I would just shrug them off and I would say thanks but it’s that we have a long way to go and that was where I left it. I was expecting Carson Daley to say and the winner of The Voice is Dia Frampton. That’s what I was preparing myself for. I didn’t think I was going to win. I’ve been through so much in the business. I have a habit of having either very low or no expectations at all based on just what my past experiences have been. And Dia is absolutely amazing. She’s an incredible person, she’s an incredible artist and if she had won I mean I would have been extremely happy for her. And I would have completely supported her, I would have given her a hug and I would have told her how much I loved her. And I just would have supported her 100% and I really felt that that’s what was going to happen. And when he said my name I just honestly was in shock. I just couldn’t believe that I had come so far and I actually won.
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. And the type of album that I’m going to make is going to be kind of a mixture. I’m a singer-songwriter at heart. And it’s probably going to be more of a genre of pop. It’s going to be 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 maybe or at least us getting in together to work on writing a song together. He had some ideas and he wanted to share them with me so I’m hoping that we get to do that really soon. I want to try to get together in the next few weeks to try and work out something. I love working with him. I love singing with him. I mean 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 some more music in the future.
As a seasoned performer, did you enter this competition with an open mind?
Javier Colon: I went into it pretty open. I knew that it was a competition. And I wanted to think of it from a competition standpoint what would be the best thing to do. I had favorites. I’m a huge fan of Christina and her music. I love country music. I mean I would have been so happy to get on any of their teams if only one person turned around. But I did think about the possibility of all of them turning around. I really just wanted to go with someone who was really excited about having me on their team. For example my favorite artist in the world was Blake Shelton. Well, he was the last one to turn around in the very last seconds of the song, which doesn’t necessarily show to me 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 that I should choose him. I think you really had to put more weight on who really wanted you on their team and who was really saying the things that you wanted to hear and that you’d have to believe that they really wanted you. And that person for me was Adam Levine. I mean he was very animated when I was up there, almost distracting at times when I was playing because he was trying to stress Blake’s vibe. And he was just jumping up and down and he just made it very clear that I was really important to him and that he wanted me to be on his team. And that spoke volumes to me and I was honored to be on his team.
Earlier you used Blake Shelton as an example, what are your true thoughts of him?
Javier Colon: Blake, he’s awesome. I spoke to him at length after the show as well as with Miranda Lambert, his wife. And they are just such down to earth people. I absolutely love them. And like what you see is what you get and Blake. I’m actually going to send him a couple songs that I had written that I wanted to get his feedback on. He welcomes everybody with open arms. I mean obviously his artist was Dia but he was just so friendly and so genuine with all of us. He’s just an amazing guy and it’s great to have gotten the chance to meet him though I didn’t get a chance to work with him.
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. We had Kim Kardashian who 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, which he’s hella talented so yes, I was really happy to get that tweet as well.
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 mean 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. And I’m hell bent on making sure that it works this time. I think that back when I was with Capitol there was a push to try to make me in a way sometimes someone that I was not. And also even with my first album on Capitol, which I was happy with a lot of the songs on my first album. The problem with it, I thought that it was being marketed in the wrong way and they were trying to kind of pigeon hole me into just a straight, strict R&B genre when I thought that it was more of a pop singer-songwriter kind of vibe that they just unfortunately just didn’t know how to. I felt at the time they didn’t know where to put me with regards to the marketplace and to genre. I’m just glad that this time around I’m going to have a chance to be myself and to really show folks who I am and that it’s going to be more of a pop leaning direction.
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 that I would be singing with her and I just about lost it. I just couldn’t believe it. I have a feeling that Adam wanted me to sing Landslide with her. She’s such an icon and it’s just such a timeless, amazing song. And I was so nervous going in and singing with her. And we ran through it one time on the stage like before we even stepped up to the microphones just kind of standing in a circle with her guitar player. And then we stepped up to the microphones and we started doing a couple run throughs on the stage and it really hit me when I looked to my left and I saw her standing there looking back into my eyes just really intently and really focused. I’m like oh my god, I’m singing with Stevie Nicks right now. And I just got a little emotional in the rehearsal because I was like I cannot believe that I have this opportunity. I mean there are so many accomplished artists that have been doing music professionally and successfully for years and years and they haven’t had this opportunity. So I just felt very, very blessed in that moment and I will never forget that for as long as I live.
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 just flashes everywhere, every which way you could look. 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 that I had done in the past with Capitol Records, the awareness about me as an artist wasn’t such that I couldn’t walk around. And these people wouldn’t even notice me and it was never a thing. But now that I’ve been on the show it’s like you go to the grocery store even before the live shows started when I was back home and people would 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.
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 and all of those logistics yet. But we know that there is going to be the top eight of us are going to be on tour. And it’s going to be awesome. There are going to be some duets that we’re going to get to do with each other. We’re going to sing some songs from the show as well as some songs that you have not heard us perform yet. We’re going to have a great time.We’re going to have the band that was on the show with us I believe is going to be coming out with us as well. And it’s just going to be such a good time and I’m so looking forward to it as are my other seven contestants out of the top eight. We’re all really looking forward to getting together and having some fun.
The Voice Live on Tour. He’ll be joined by fellow finalists Beverly McClellan, Dia Frampton, Nakia, Xenia, Casey Weston, Vicci Martinez and Frenchie Davis.
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. We do some 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 that is based out of North Carolina that gives millions of dollars to research through their events that they hold every year.