While Jordan Smith’s The Voice victory may not have come as a surprise, Smith said he didn’t want to risk disappointment. This season of The Voice was his second encounter with the singing competition; when he first auditioned in 2014, he was rejected.
“It was difficult because it was something that I wanted very badly,” Smith says. “I had this dream in my heart to be a part of the show, and I thought that I was meant to do it.”
Now, Smith sees he wasn’t ready the first time, and that his year-long wait prepared him through what he describes as small, everyday things: working two jobs, attending class, traveling with Lee University singers and performing in Lee’s alternative chapel band.
Upon deciding to audition for The Voice a second time, Smith made a prayerful decision about the attitude he would maintain throughout his music career.
“I said, ‘I don’t want to use God’s name to promote my position, but I will use what position I have to promote Him and His name,'” Smith says. “When I started gaining this platform, that was something I had to keep reminding myself of.”
Since his win, Smith has performed at the People’s Choice Awards, sung the national anthem at various sporting events, traveled around the country meeting with press and spent many late nights recording his newly released album, Something Beautiful.
Throughout his success, Smith says it’s been important to stay grounded in his faith by reading the Bible and keeping an active prayer life.
“It’s very important for me to keep that foundation so I have that to build everything else on,” Smith says. “It allows me not to get caught up in this whole whirlwind. … It’s easy to get caught up in that and become stressed and worried but … once I prepare myself in that way, I go into every situation feeling already prepared, already ready, knowing where my strength comes from [and] knowing where my help comes from.”
