'The Voice's' Erin Martin is More than Just a Model Turned Singer: Interview

When Erin Martin wowed judges Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton with her otherworldy rendition of “Hey There Delilah” during The Voice’s famed blind auditions last month, an enamored Green called her an “exotic creature” adding, “Quite naturally you belong to me don’t you think?”

While the unconventional beauty with the even more unusual voice ultimately chose the wild and eccentric Green to mentor her on NBC’s hit competition show, it’s clear that she belongs to no one.

When Erin Martin wowed judges Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton with her otherworldy rendition of “Hey There Delilah” during The Voice’s famed blind auditions last month, an enamored Green called her an “exotic creature” adding, “Quite naturally you belong to me don’t you think?”

While the unconventional beauty with the even more unusual voice ultimately chose the wild and eccentric Green to mentor her on NBC’s hit competition show, it’s clear that she belongs to no one.

Martin had her mom and her girlfriend at her side for the audition, where, despite her varied résumé, The Voice’s intro to Martin’s blind audition focused almost exclusively on her status as a model turned singer. But the Chicago native is really a Renaissance woman of sorts with an extensive theater and music background that stretches back to childhood and with her flair for fashion as a designer of one-of-a-kind recycled / recyclable headbands.

With Martin and the rest of The Voice contestants heading into the Battle Rounds, which begin airing March 5, SheWired caught up with Martin to discuss the audition process, her desire to be taken seriously as a musician--not just as a "model turned singer"--and about having her girlfriend at her side for the auditions. 

SheWired: First off, congratulations on becoming a contestant on The Voice.

Erin Martin: Thank you. I’m happy to be a part of it.

At what point did you realize that you wanted to audition for The Voice?

You know, it’s kind of funny because I’ve been a big fan of The Voice since it came out. And, watching it, I just thought it was a really cool show and Jenny (Erin’s girlfriend) asked me if I was interested in auditioning for it. I was like, “I don’t know. I don’t know if I want to put myself out there like that. I don’t know if I’m ready.”

But it is a show that helps develop artists and get coaching and I was like, “Well that could be good for me.” So I auditioned and so here we are.

Your audition set off a little bit of a bidding war between Blake and Cee Lo.

Yeah, it was cool that both of them turned around and, obviously, on the show clip you can see it. I’m like, “Ah, I didn’t know that anybody turned around.”

I was scared to death when I was up there. As anyone should be going into this situation like that.

But toward the end I felt more comfortable and I was just hyped up by the crowd and just really enjoying being on that stage.

How did you choose your audition song?

Well, the song “Hey There Delilah”… I think it’s a really cool song. I’m from Chicago. They’re (Plain White T’s) also from Chicago. It’s a really quaint, cute song that gave me the ability to sort of turn it into an unplugged song, and that’s what we did with it. So just the guitar and the really simple love song ended up being perfect.

At the end of the day you chose Cee Lo. Was there a moment where you were considering going with Blake?

You know, when I went up there, I had in the back of my head to be just live in the moment and go with your gut feeling. I really wasn’t too conflicted. I knew that I wanted to have Cee Lo. I said when I used to watch the show, if I was ever on the show, I would have to be with Cee Lo.

I think if all four coaches had turned around, unless somebody had a really good argument, then that may have swayed me a little bit. But, you know, Cee Lo said to me, and they didn’t show it, but he said, “You are the voice.” And I was like, “That’s what I need to hear.” You know, if he thinks that I am the voice, then I’m going to go with him because I want someone who believes in me enough that’s going to take me to the end of the show. I want to develop a career beyond this and I think that it would be so cool to see like Erin Martin opening up for Cee Lo.

That would be very cool.

What kind of crazy show would that be? We’re both very unique individuals and that’s definitely what I was looking for when I was thinking about choosing a coach. Blake is certainly a unique individual. If you’ve read his twitter, you’ll see that [laughs]. But he’s a great person and a great artist, but I’m looking for someone who’s as quirky and crazy as I am. From a music standpoint, Cee Lo fits best.

When you auditioned it was written in the lower third that with you were your mom and your ‘girlfriend.’ I went on line the next day to find about your having a girlfriend and I could not verify that she wasn’t just a platonic friend. Nobody seemed to pick up, or care, that she’s not just a friend.

You know, I don’t think people pick up on it because it’s not really put out there as anything. People can throw out speculation on what the word girlfriend means. I didn’t put it out there that this is my girlfriend, we’re in a relationship, one way or the other.

People haven’t really written anything about it because honestly we don’t think anyone really realizes that she is my girlfriend. I think people were in the moment of watching the show and I don’t think people really even noticed.

I noticed, but then it’s my job to pay attention to that sort of thing.

Obviously nobody really likes putting labels on anything, and I’ve dated guys my whole life and I’ve dated women. You know, Jenny and I, we’ve been together for quite some time and I would consider myself bisexual, if there has to be a label put on it.

Some people embrace labels and others don’t.

My take on the whole thing is you love who you love, and at different times in your life you are in love with different people, and whatever shape that person happens to take is who you end up loving. I guess that falls under the bisexual category. Honestly, no one really says much about it.

I do think it’s a testament to your love with this person that you chose not to hide the relationship but to put it out there. With kids facing bullying it’s great to have role models who are proud to love who they love.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, it’s important for me that through this show I’m able to show more than just my voice. I want to be able to reach people in a positive way. I want it to be about acceptance too, and breaking boundaries and stereotypes.

Sure I’m the model who is turned singer and sort of gets up there and seems happy go lucky. People are like, “Oh, she’s a model,” and sort of like write you off. But, you know, I think that once I start singing they are like, “Wow, she has a really positive vibe to her.” I think it’s interesting. Once people get to know me more, I think that they’ll see that there’s more to me than just a model who’s trying to sing. I’ve been singing my entire life. I grew up in theater.

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