Why Huntley Calls 'The Voice' the 'Best Summer Camp of My Life'

Huntley

Monday night was the final night of competition on Season 24 of The Voice, with each of the Top 5—Huntley, Jacquie Roar, Lila Forde, Mara Justine and Ruby Leigh—performing a ballad and an upbeat tune, but there’s something special about being given the closing spot of the night and that honor went to Huntley’s performance of Creed’s “Higher,” which according to his coach Niall Horan, “Blew the roof off the studio.”

Huntley and Team Reba McEntire’s Ruby Leigh have been neck and neck all season, but Huntley’s electric performance of the rock song may have given him a slight edge.

“Suppose I win tomorrow night?” he ponders when asked on a Zoom call after the show. “It's a very hard question because I think this whole time chasing this dream, I know it's important to ask for votes and ask to win, but really, I think that we all know that sometimes that doesn't really matter. No matter how great the artist that comes out as the winner of the show, it really comes down to the hard work after the show.”

It’s a modest answer, especially since the 33-year-old rock singer from Fredericksburg, Va., has been considered a frontrunner all season since his stellar journey began with his cover of “She Talks to Angels” for his Blind Audition.

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But he’s more interested in talking about the moments he created on the show that will be his resume into expanding his music career after The Voice.

“I think if I won the show, it would feel like I did the impossible because at this point, it's the luck of the draw,” says the only male left in the competition. “Look at the artists… did you hear the show? That was intense. I'm sitting up here with these really strong ladies that are strong belters and Lila, she has the voice of an angel. Mara, she's rocking out in such a stage performance. It's been crazy to see all of us together put on a show. It's like, ‘Let's take this thing on tour. Let's go.’ But I think if I won, I really don't know. It's very hard. I think I would be shocked, kind of like how I look every single time I’m up there.”

Following is more of our chat about Huntley's performance closing the show, the challenges of his time on The Voice, and what he will be satisfied with for his career after it ends—and, of course, his rock 'n' roll hair.

How much fun was that last performance?

I think that last performance speaks a lot to my heart. When I'm doing this music stuff, I really am taken to another world. I leave the world behind that isn't always as bright or doesn't really make that much sense to me. So, to get up on stage like that and sing a song that big for the moment that I was looking for meant everything to me. Regardless of what happens with this competition, I left everything out there. Every single performance I've done on the show, I can say that I left my heart out there. That last performance meant everything to me. That was cool.

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Going into it knowing you were the final singer of the night that alone had to bolster your confidence not that your confidence needed bolstering, but it had to help.

When I started this competition and I was going to the Blinds, everybody got to sit with each other before they went out to the Blinds and I actually was the last of the block of people that I was going with. I was the last out of that group and I had to sit by myself and that's how it felt today waiting for that moment, waiting to be the last person, and just knowing that God has my back the whole time, so when I was singing ‘take me to that higher place,’ that's who I was thinking of. God's got my back. To sing a song last like that, I knew I wasn't alone that I had him there with me 100 percent of the time. Especially standing up there [on the raised platform], I didn't fall, so he's got my back.

Was that on your mind?

I love heights. They kept getting scared because I kept stepping towards the edge and I'm like, “I'm good. I'm alright.”

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It's all over now. You've done everything that you could possibly do and it's in America's hands. Is there a sense of relief? Is there something you look back on and wish you could change? How are you feeling right now?

There is not a single thing I would change about this experience. The first moment that I had on this show was with my mother and my daughter and that's something that my daughter and I will always share together. It's very special to me. Every moment throughout the show wasn't easy. I've been challenged and I've made some of the best friends a guy could ask for on this show. We all root for each other.

I went out there every single performance and I had to do some things that I'm not really comfortable with, kind of tame the beast inside Huntley a little bit and having Niall as a coach and really the whole The Voice system here, it's been a really great experience. As a guy who literally didn't think he was going to be doing this last year, I'm sitting here on the finale of The Voice talking with you guys. It still feels like a dream come true.

When you say you were challenged, do you mean it’s because they have themes and there are songs that you had to sing that aren’t in your normal repertoire?

I would say I've known a lot of these songs that I sang, even “Wanted Dead or Alive,” I love that song, but I've never really learned the lyrics or performed it before. The song I sang tonight, “Another Love,” I guess I'm out of the loop but I've never heard it before, but it's actually a song that really resonates with me. I think that's one thing that gave me a confidence boost throughout all these songs is that I really didn't know them that well, so when I learned them, I felt really connected to them in the present rather than just a song that I've known for many, many years. An exception is “With a Little Help From my Friends,” the Joe Cocker version. But I've never played any of those other songs before, so in real time, I've been getting a connection to these songs at the most valuable time to have that.

I would think that as a musician, you would appreciate that. It’s like going to school and getting new skills. What do you think is the most important thing that you learned at The Voice?

It definitely doesn't boil down to one thing that I've learned. That'd be impossible because a lot of us that came in, we've been great vocalists, but it doesn't really have to do all about the voice. Even though the show is called The Voice, they really teach us and give us a peek behind the blinders on how the industry is really run from makeup to wardrobe to live shows to production. I would never have been open to that without the show. So, there's not really one thing that I could take away, but just a blessing as a whole that I do belong in this industry. It's kind of like a boot camp for artists. That's what it feels like. It was the best summer camp of my life.

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The Voice unfortunately doesn't have its Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood or its Jennifer Hudson yet, but it has changed a lot of people's lives in that they are making a living making music. Are you okay – even if you win – if you don’t achieve superstardom but make your living making music? Is it enough?

It's all in God's hands. Honestly, I've been doing the whole three to five shows a weekend, local gigs at holes in the wall and bars, and as much as I love my hometown and hanging out, I just feel like I'm at the level right now to -- I would hate to say stardom or become a Kelly Clarkson, because in my opinion, that's impossible because let's be honest, Kelly Clarkson is Kelly Clarkson and regardless of American Idol, Kelly Clarkson can sing.

I think what's important to me is that America has seen how genuine I am and this has been so much fun being on a show, but to me what’s more important is, it's about chasing this dream and how much I've already inspired people just being on the show. It’s just shown me that what I really want to do is just inspire and motivate people and release my songs to where somebody who  feels like they can't lean on something, leans on music like I have my whole life. I would really like to do that regardless of whether I’m the male version of Kelly Clarkson on The Voice or if you know I'm just touring the world.

Tell me about your decision to grow your hair long?

I'm a rocker, baby, come on let's go. My hair is all real. It's not extensions. It's all real hair I've been growing for about four years now. I was just hanging out with Bret Michaels a couple weeks ago. It’s for the ladies. Come on, you already know.

The Voice returns tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC when the winner of season 24 will be revealed.

Next, The Voice Reveals Coaches for Season 25 – And There’s an Exciting Twist!