The Voice returned to NBC for a third season of Blind Auditions on Monday night with singer Joe Kirkland earning a spot on Team Adam Levine.
Although Joe Kirkland found early success in the music industry with the band Artist vs. Poet, which played the Warped Tour in 2010, Kirkland quickly got a lesson in the harsh reality of making it in the music business.
After landing a record deal, the lead singer of Artist vs. Poet left the band. The singer’s departure prompted the multi-talented Joe to step up to the microphone and attempt to fill the void. However, as fate would have it, the label wasn’t happy with the change and the band’s early success was short-lived.
During Monday night’s Season 3 premiere of The Voice, Joe Kirkland proved that he has what it takes to be a frontman after getting Maroon 5 singer and coach Adam Lveine to turn his chair.
So, after getting an early taste of success in music, what did Joe learn about the music industry as a business?
“The industry is extremely cutthroat,” Kirkland told The Deadbolt the day after his Blind Audition on The Voice. “It was honestly a very difficult time. We were given everything and we were a favorite of the label. But once everything went down, it was like, ‘Who are you again?’ It literally went from love to nothing. It’s extremely ruthless.”
Although losing a record deal often marks the end of a career, Joe wasn’t about to give up on himself at such a young age.
As it turned out, the early negatives in his career turned out to be for the better.
“Being told no is probably the best thing that could happen to someone in their career,” Kirkland continued, “because it straightens you up and makes you figure out what you need to do. That’s what happened to us and we couldn’t be more grateful.”
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