Meridian's Holly Brand advances to semifinals on 'The Voice'

May 9—Meridian native and country music singer Holly Brand is headed to the live semifinals of NBC's "The Voice" after her emotionally charged performance of Jo Dee Messina's "Bring on the Rain" during Monday night's show captivated the coaches.

Coach Niall Horan, who has been a fan of Brand's since the blind auditions, complimented her for delivering an emotional performance that showed coaches another facet of her talent.

"It's so nice to see that side of you," Horan said. "We hadn't really seen anything like that from you yet. Holly, you know how much of a fan I am of Holly. So I'd be going with Holly for sure."

"The Voice" veteran Blake Shelton, who is in his last season as a coach, also complimented her performance.

"I thought you did a killer job," Shelton said. "You definitely took this song and took some risks in there. You changed the melody a little bit. Good job."

Coach Chance the Rapper told Brand she got the coaches' attention from the beginning.

"The first line that you sang made everybody sit up," he said. "You have an amazing voice and great control."

Chance said he had not realized "how stacked" coach Kelly Clarkson's team was with talented singers and sympathized with her having to trim her team from five to two performers for next week's live semifinals.

Joining Brand in the semifinals representing Team Kelly is D.Smooth, a native of Birmingham, Ala., who now resides in Montgomery, Ala.

Brand, in a post on Instagram, said she was "thankful and honored" to make it into the Top 8 and the live semifinals.

She wrote, "@kellyclarkson, thank you for believing in me. I hope I make you proud, coach!"

In rehearsals leading up to the Playoffs round, Brand made Clarkson cry while listening to her rendition of the classic Messina song. She told Clarkson the song was about perseverance and helping people through difficult times, saying it made her think about her brother, Hunter, when he left home to join the military.

"My brother is probably the most supportive person that I have in my life, so it was just really hard just to not be able to talk to him and not really know when you're going to see him again, if he's going to get deployed, and like, kind of the status of his safety," she said.

Even though her brother has since returned home, she was able to tap into that experience to deliver her powerful performance.

Clarkson said Brand's versatility has shown she can cover different genres of music.

"I ended up choosing Holly because I feel like she can conquer different lanes," Clarkson told producers toward the end of the show. "She can do whistle notes, she can do R&B kind of pop runs, there's just something super special about her and I don't think people realize how gifted she is yet, and I'm just excited to see what the next level is for her."

Brand, who just turned 23, is the second Meridian native in five years to make it to the semifinals of "The Voice," following Todd Tilghman, a local pastor and singer who went on to win Season 18 of the competition.

Next Monday's semifinals will be the first live show of the season, where the Top 8 will compete for a chance to go to "The Voice" finale. Fans will be able to vote for their favorite artists during live voting near the end of the episode. "The Voice" finale is set for Monday, May 22.

Contact Glenda Sanders at gsanders@themeridianstar.com.