Delaware's Kelsea Johnson shines on 'The Voice'

Before Newark's Kelsea Johnson left for Long Island to go to college, her mind was on academics, focused on what she ended up accomplishing in just three years: earning bachelor's degrees in psychology and sociology from Stony Brook University.

But after graduating in May, Johnson wasn't busily looking for jobs as a fresh-faced college graduate or contemplating another degree. Instead, she was California dreamin'.

After singing on Snapchat last spring for a social media channel version of "The Voice" audition, producers contacted her and asked her to audition for real in Philadelphia.

Soon, she was practicing Meghan Trainor's "Like I'm Gonna Lose You," a song that would later wow all four of the show's celebrity coaches on the show's season premiere, which aired late last month and drew more than 12 million viewers.

"You are absolutely stunning from the way that you sing to the way that you look,"    Maroon 5's Adam Levine gushed after Johnson was done with her performance.

Added pop star Kelly Clarkson, "Hands down, you could make a record right now, release it and have a career."

Johnson ended up picking 14-time Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Alicia Keys to be her coach on the show, which now finds Johnson competing against 47 other singers.

"You have a gift and you have a reason why you were given that gift," Keys told Johnson her before leaping from her chair to hug the Delcastle Technical High School graduate on stage.

Now that Johnson has made the cut, she is watching the remaining "blind auditions" like the rest of the show's fans, awaiting the next round called "The Battles." Those episodes begin airing Monday, March 19, at 8 p.m.

And, yes, those episodes have been shot already. And, no, Johnson isn't spilling the beans.

No matter how it ends, she says she is putting her college degree to the side and pursuing a singing career after "The Voice," crediting the competition for lighting a fire within.

"It put a battery in my back," says Johnson, whose preferred genre is neo-soul. "I feel that I can really do this."

Johnson, 22, moved to the Los Angeles area at the end of the summer when "The Voice" came calling, but there was only one place she would be for her big national television debut -- back home in Delaware.

About 30 family members piled into her cousin's Bear home to watch, celebrate and eat a cake with Johnson's face on it.

But what many in the family didn't know was how emotional Johnson's appearance would be.

Her grandfather, Jose Rodriguez, 72, was dying of complications from liver cancer during the audition process last year, succumbing only a couple of months before Johnson was on stage facing the cameras. 

In the segment, Johnson opens up about the difficult time and dedicates her performance to her grandfather, who insisted she follow through with her "Voice" opportunity even as he struggled with his health back home.

"Papa wanted me to pursue my singing career and I told him I made it to the blind auditions. That's when he was doing really, really bad," she said through tears on the show. "I started to second guess if I even wanted to come because we didn't know what tomorrow held. Even in the hospital, he kept saying don't change your plans, just go. He knew I was going to do this and now he can't see it. I miss him so much."

By the time the six-minute segment completed, the room was filled with tears and they probably weren't alone. The nationally televised tribute was one of the show's emotional highlights, most likely leaving plenty of fans reaching for a tissue.

The moment may have left some Delaware music fans wondering, "How did this big voice get by me?" The answer is because she rarely performed in public.

Her first time was an eighth grade talent show before she began singing at weddings, funerals and events. Since her father, Willard Johnson, is assistant coach of Mt. Pleasant High School's basketball team, she would also sing before their games.

Before "The Voice," her biggest gig was singing The National Anthem at the annual Duffy's Hope charity basketball game at Newark's Bob Carpenter Center.

"This has been the biggest first step ever," she says, laughing.

Johnson is only the third Delawarean out of more than 650 contestants to appear on show's 14 seasons over the past seven years.

Wilmington's Nadjah Nicole advanced in 2015 and was eliminated before joining the top 12 finalists. Wilmington native Jeremy Cole appeared on the seventh season in 2014, but did not advance past his televised first audition. 

While Nicole says she doesn't regularly watch "The Voice" anymore -- "I get so much anxiety watching the show now" -- she did eventually check out Johnson's segment.

"She sounded beautiful, looked beautiful and looked happy! Don't change that. No matter how far you go, be you," Nicole says before giving a note of advice. "Don't read the comments, ever. And when you come home, know your worth."

Johnson's family wasn't only with her for her TV broadcast debut, but a few of them made the trip to California last year for the blind audition taping.

Johnson's mother, Malinda Rodriguez, who lives in New Castle, joined her father, step-mother, sister and grandmother on the side of the stage, watching Johnson croon as cameras rolled.

"It was such overwhelming joy. As a mother looking at your youngest child, knowing how hard she worked to get to this point and singing in front of these artists, it was one of one of my most proudest moments for my daughter," Rodriguez says. "And I think the expression on my face in the video shows it."

For Johnson, watching her segment was bit revelatory.

After she completed the song on the blind audition, she was so overwhelmed that most of the glowing comments from the coaches went right over her head.

"You're so wrapped up in the moment and looking at these A-List celebrities that you don't even process what they're saying," she says. "It was like watching it for the first time. It's so humbling to hear that they feel that way about you."

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).