Baldwin Wallace University alum, Jeremy Beloate 21’, returned to campus for an evening of performance after finishing in the top five on NBC’s “The Voice.”
Each year, a select group of performers are chosen to show their talents in front of a national audience. Beloate finished in the final five under “Team Snoop.” Going against over forty people this season.
“It’s like they’re trying to build a show,” said Beloate. “They’re going to have every kind of character you could imagine, every genre, every X, Y and Z. And there are people from the middle of nowhere that have never even sung on stage before with a microphone. And there are people who have been nominated for a Grammy or have sung backup for Beyoncé, like it is literally that far apart.”
On the day of his return to campus and in partnership with BW, Beloate worked with music theatre students throughout the day with masterclasses. He also did two performances, one during convocation and the other in the evening with an open Q&A.
“I just talked with the seniors, and it felt like the most concise I had spoken about this [post-graduate life],” stated Beloate. “They’re about to go do the [senior] showcase and all these things, and I just wanted to ingrain in them that…everyone has their own individual journey.”
Beloate got his start at a very young age in a unique way. “I started when I was a four-year-old, and I was in the back of my mom’s van and she said I was singing along to this thing,” Beloate said. “I just told her, ‘Mom, I want to be a singer, and I’m really good at it,’ which I was four, you know.”
After developing his skills in local children’s theatre and strengthening his knowledge at BW, Beloate went off and began his career in New York City.
“I was living in New York and had nine million jobs, as you can imagine, and just running around like every day,” Beloate said. “I was a personal trainer, a nanny, a coat check. I put on a million different hats, but it was such an honor to finally get to put on the hat of the artist.”
In a reflection of his time working with “The Voice,” he recounted how the whole process felt less like a competition and more like a large master class for success.
“Everything on ‘The Voice’ is truly an opportunity for you to come in as an artist and gain so much. They always set you up to succeed,” Beloate said. “They run the show like a machine, yet they’re so kind and really care each year about everyone who’s part of it.”
With a reality TV show like “The Voice,” there is a lot going on behind the scenes. The stress of the show can get to a person, especially a finalist.
“I will say the moment I got nervous was just the fact it was live, because if you make a mistake, it’s live,” Beloate said. “I picked my songs the day before [the finale] with Snoop, and that evening we performed.”
While Beloate didn’t win, he was able to take away a lot of lessons from the show, especially when it came to finding his voice and what he was comfortable doing.
“You know, honestly, it’s a dream come true, and I believe in timing and timing is divine. And this whole opportunity and experience was just in conjunction with some kind of magnificent thing.”
