Meghan Linsey Reflects on Her Time on ‘The Voice’

Meghan Linsey will find out Tuesday night (May 19) whether or not she is the winner of Season 8 of The Voice, and the former Steel Magnolia member is reflecting on her time on the singing competition show.

Linsey is now the only remaining member of Blake Shelton's team, but as viewers will recall, Shelton -- with whom Linsey once toured -- was initially the only judge who didn't show interest in the powerhouse singer.

"The blind auditions were insane. Kind of really at the last minute of my song, I got three chairs, and then I could breathe again," Linsey recalls with a laugh.

Coaches Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera and Pharrell Williams all tried to recruit Linsey, and she ultimately chose Williams.

"He had, like, a thing about him that was -- he's very present," Linsey says of her original coach. "He seemed like a really, really sweet guy, and I've obviously been a fan of his for a long time, and he's obviously really talented, so I feel like this whole thing has worked itself out."

But when Linsey went up against fellow contestant Paul Pfau in the Battle Rounds and lost, Shelton saved her.

"Blake is an amazing coach. He is very genuine," Linsey gushes. "He lets you be an artist, and I think that sometimes that's what artists really need, is to feel like it's okay to be yourself."

Week after week, Linsey belted out songs like "Girl Crush," "Natural Woman" and "Something," keeping her spot as a finalist as her fellow contestants dwindled in number.

"The live shows are crazy. It gets really crazy," she says. "Two of my favorite performances were "Amazing Grace" and "Steamroller [Blues]." I did them in the same week, and I thought they really complimented each other well. I had the song that I grew up singing in church, and then I had the song that I used to use as my tip jar song when I worked at bars in Nashville."

And whether or not Linsey hears her name announced as this season's The Voice champion, she says that she is already a winner.

"I've learned a lot about myself throughout this process," she notes. "I was in a country duo forever with another person. So to be out here on my own and do my own thing and [be] trying new things and genres, it's been really good for me to realize that I can do this on my own, and it's instilled a lot of confidence in me, as a performer and an artist.

"It's been a really good experience, overall," Linsey adds, "and I definitely think it's shown me what I'm made of and that anything is possible."

The season finale of The Voice begins tonight at 8PM ET on NBC.

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