S1 E.6 Tayler Green: Leap of Faith
In this EpisodeOk, so if you don’t already know, Mariah is from Franklin, NJ, and seemingly everyone from that town is either famous, or on their way to becoming famous. On this episode, we welcomed Tayler Green, who is, in fact, from Franklin, and is also, in fact, famous. She appeared on The Voice in 2020, and even though she didn’t win, she has continued her singing career far beyond the show, and had some inspiring stories to share from her journey to The Voice.
Tayler grew up singing and writing songs, and even performed an original song at Mariah’s high school talent show that Mariah remembers hearing. When her parents got divorced in her junior year of high school, she started writing even more, using it as an outlet for her heartbreak. She then transferred schools, and set her sights on Berklee School of Music for college. It was the only school she applied to, and she and her family had immense confidence that she’d get in – the only problem was that… she wasn’t accepted.
After that disappointment, Tayler knew that she had to fake it until she made it. She didn’t think that roadblock was doing any damage to her career, and she knew that if she kept going, she could get to where she wanted to be. And so, Tayler continued to set out to do what she had to in order to make her dreams come true. She slept on a friend’s couch (typical struggling artist trope), did everything she could to make ends meet with expensive recording sessions, and worked at a restaurant. What she learned from this period in her life was that it’s important to feel and experience discomfort, because that’s how you know something beautiful is right around the corner. Discomfort is where beauty is built from.
Another point to touch on in this story is the fact that life rarely goes according to the plans that we have. This even rings true for Adriana, who thought she’d be going to law school after graduating college, not starting a business in her parent’s basement. But life isn’t our plan, it’s what happens during the journey to get to where we’re supposed to be.
What kept Tayler going throughout this process was the small glimpses of success she’d see every so often. Whether it was a meeting with an executive at Warner Music, or being led to the same building for auditions over and over again, she always felt that just the mere fact that she was in these situations meant something, and meant that she was where she needed to be. A lot of people let the opposite happen – they see all of the failures piling up around them and they overlook the successes. But, the moment that we want to give up is likely the moment that all of our competitors give up, and that should give us the push to keep going.
Tayler was also able to keep going through this journey because she always had a “Why can’t I?” mentality, also similar to Adriana’s journey with growing LWP. These two women never saw obstacles as mountains they couldn’t climb, but rather mountains they just had to figure out how to climb. The two of them were also lucky enough to have their mothers as their biggest supporters, and as people who made them feel like there was no reason that they couldn’t set out to do what they wanted to. All this goes to say that it’s important to believe in the people in your life who also have these dreams – they will look to you, knowing that you support them, and in their darkest moments, your belief in them will be what helps them to keep pushing forward.
Eventually, Tayler was contacted by a movie director who needed a composer to score his film. She worked with him for about a year – without a contract, and without compensation. People kept asking her why she was working for nothing, but again, the belief in herself and this opportunity came in, and Tayler was able to take it in stride. The opportunity turned out to be what moved her from New Jersey to Los Angeles, and she hasn’t looked back since. She ended up even starring in the movie, was able to make great connections through the opportunity, and gave herself time to become who she wanted to be in LA.
So, what’s the story behind getting on The Voice? One day, Tayler had been giving a singing lesson to one of her mentor’s students, and she was going to be auditioning for The Voice the next day. Tayler’s mentor was talking to her after the lesson, and asked her if she was auditioning, too. Tayler said she wasn’t, and then her mentor asked why she was counting herself out. Never having thought of it that way, Tayler took it as a sign and decided to audition for The Voice the next morning. She sang a church song for her audition, which she took as another sign because up until the second she opened her mouth to sing, she had a different song prepared. Tayler ended up getting a callback – she was in a pool of 3 out of about 7,000 people who had auditioned for the show in LA.
In the interim of waiting to hear if she had gotten a spot on the blind auditions, Tayler was super uncomfortable, but felt that God was challenging her to see how far she could push herself. In that in-between period, Tayler also performed in Kanye’s Sunday Service, which is about the coolest thing we’ve ever heard.
Tayler got an email a few months later that she’d been selected to be a part of the blind auditions, and was able to join Kelly Clarkson’s team on the show until she was unfortunately sent home during a knockout round. One of the biggest lessons that Tayler learned while on The Voice was about advocating for yourself, and how that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The producers of the show had chosen a song for her to sing, but she didn’t feel connected to it, and therefore she didn’t think it would be the best song for her to perform for the blind auditions. She didn’t want to “cause a scene,” but she quickly learned that it’s okay to speak up for yourself, and it doesn’t have to offend anyone – she made her concerns clear, and they were able to help her pick a different song that she felt more connected to.
Tayler was so fun to have on the podcast, and she was able to show us the importance of having faith, not only in yourself, but in God, or whatever other power you may believe in. We might not always know why certain things are happening to us, but we have to have faith that at some point down the line, we’ll be able to look back and connect the dots to see why we went through what we did.
Important Times0:45 - Welcome Tayler to the podcast!
5:00 - What did Tayler do with her talent after high school
8:15 - What was the journey like for her
12:31 - What kept her going and allowed her to keep believing in herself
15:01 - Where did her confidence stem from?
21:58 - The story after she moved to LA & auditioning for The Voice
34:40 - The Blind Audition
37:53 - Behind the scenes of the coaching process, and the timeline of The Voice
44:20 - The Knockout Rounds
51:23 - What is next for Tayler
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Welcome bestie.
We’re so glad you’re here.
We’re Adriana and Mariah. Co-hosts, entrepreneurs, BFFs, and girls just like you trying to figure it out as we go.
