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Louisiana singer Zoe Levert’s path to ‘The Voice’ wasn’t swift, but Taylor still helped

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Louisiana singer Zoe Levert’s path to ‘The Voice’ wasn’t swift, but Taylor still helped


Should Zoe Levert win Season 25 of NBC’s “The Voice,” she’ll certainly thank her celebrity coach, John Legend, but she’s also likely to throw some appreciation Taylor Swift’s way.

After all, it was a video of New Orleans native Levert’s take on Swift’s song “Cardigan” (from her 2020 album “Folklore”) which went viral to the tune of 5 million online views, attracting recruiters for the singing competition series who contacted Levert about auditioning. This eventually led to the Baton Rouge songstress’ current spot on Team Legend as the show’s knockout rounds continue this week.

The key word here is “eventually,” Levert, 20, explained, as she unsuccessfully auditioned two different times when she was in high school.



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Louisiana native Zoe Levert, 20, is a contestant on Season 25 of ‘The Voice,’ competing on John Legend’s team.

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“It just wasn’t meant to be,” she said. 

She tried again for Season 24.

Levert’s third attempt provided a glimmer of hope when she heard from producers.

“But before we even started filming, they were like, ‘We actually don’t need you for this season, but we’ll call you back probably at some point,’” Levert said. “And then I got the call about Season 25 and decided to do it. It’s definitely been a long time coming for sure.”

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‘The Voice’ coach John Legend, back to camera, works with Louisiana contestant Zoe Levert on the song for her battles round.



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A flight to Los Angeles later and blind auditions rolled around at “The Voice’s” home at Universal Studios. Referred to as “the blinds,” in these tryouts, the judges/coaches’ chairs face away from the auditioner, thus they only hear the performance.

Along the way, if one or more coaches are interested in securing the singer for their teams, they press a buzzer and their chairs turn around. One chair turn and that singer automatically joins that coach’s team; two or more turns and the auditioner chooses their coach. No chair turns means bye-bye.

“They do a great job of kind of preparing you for that day because it’s a scary thing and I’ve never done anything like this before,” Levert said.

Her turn to audition came late in the day, thus there were few spots remaining on teams, which added to Levert’s stress level.

Her song choice was Little Big Town’s “Better Man,” coincidentally written by Swift.

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The OK3 trio, from left, and Zoe Levert, far right, listen with host Carson Daly as ‘The Voice’ judges critique the women’s performance of ‘The Bones’ by Little Big Town.



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“I get up and do my song and, you know, I’m going through it and I reached a certain point at the very end and I’m out of high notes — I’m out of cool tricks to do and still didn’t have any chair turns,” Levert recalled. “I was like, ‘This might not be meant to be.’”

She remembers consciously thinking, “OK, you have one more line, do something cool.”

So, she improvised an extra run in the last line.

“And right at that last second, John Legend turned around and I don’t remember much after that,” she said. 

When the episode aired a few weeks ago, Levert said it was nice to watch her audition along with the rest of “The Voice” viewers.

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Following her song, Levert took a moment to tell coaches Dan and Shay how much their music meant to her, and that she and her then-fiancé Ryan Turner (backstage at the time) planned to use the pop singer-songwriter pair’s song “From the Ground Up” for the first dance at their wedding.

“I figured they’d be like, ‘Oh, thank you,’ and just kind of leave it at that, but they ended up coming on stage. I hear Dan say, ‘Does anyone have a guitar?’ They pulled my fiancé up on stage and they sang our first dance song for us,” Levert said. “It was already such a cool moment — and then on top of that, Dan and Shay made it so personal about my life as well as about my wedding. And so that was just really special and I felt so loved.”

Afterward, her new coach welcomed her with an official Team Legend jacket.

“I get in a van (leaving the studio) with my fiancé and I’m like, ‘Did any of that just happen? None of that feels real,” she told him. 

The couple married Jan. 7, and yes, they did dance to Dan and Shay as scheduled.

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“It was funny because when the wedding happened, this (her audition) hadn’t aired yet or anything, and so it was our little secret and then everything aired and it was cool to share that moment with everyone.”

Levert is a student at Leavell College in New Orleans, where her major is psychology and minor is music. With their home now in the Capital City, Levert said she performs often at Le Chien Brewing Company in Denham Springs for open mic nights and weekend gigs.

She also sings at her parents’ church plant, The Mustard Seed, and at Abundant Life Church, where her husband is worship director. Both churches are located in Denham Springs. She’s also taken the stage at Jolie Pearl Oyster Bar a few times, and the couple takes singing engagements at other area churches as well.

A self-proclaimed “Super Swiftie,” Levert said she saw Swift in concert last May in Nashville, Tennessee, but doesn’t have tickets for the superstar’s three-show stop in New Orleans in October.

“But I’m hoping I can score a last-minute ticket and go see her again,” she said.

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In the meantime, look for Levert, a tall, slender blonde who happens to resemble you-know-who, on “The Voice” at 7 p.m. Mondays on NBC. The series also streams on Peacock.

Levert most recently won a “battles” round, singing Maren Morris’ “The Bones” alongside fellow contestants the OK3 trio.

The win advanced her to the knockout rounds, so her next show appearance will be soon, although “The Voice” won’t disclose a specific date. 



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Three takeaways from LSU women’s basketball’s win over Louisiana Tech

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Three takeaways from LSU women’s basketball’s win over Louisiana Tech


LSU women’s basketball started slow but recovered Saturday against Louisiana Tech, head coach Kim Mulkey’s alma mater. Inside New Orleans’ Smoothie King Center, the No. 5 Tigers won 87-61 to improve to 11-0.

Mikaylah Williams led the team with 19 points while Flau’Jae Johnson notched her first double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Kate Koval and MiLaysia Fulwiley finished with 19 and 10 points, respectively. Jada Richard dished out a game-high eight assists.

Grace Knox, in the first start of her college career, scored four points as part of a 6-0 opening run for LSU, but three three-pointers put Louisiana Tech up with 7:19 on the clock. Back-and-forth play ensued, but the Lady Techsters led by two at the end of the first quarter. They hung around on the glass as well, limiting the Tigers to one and done most times.

LSU woke up in the second quarter and began imposing its physicality. Louisiana Tech didn’t score until the 5:34 mark and racked up fouls, including two on sharp-shooter Paris Bradley. The Tigers were in the bonus for over half of the second quarter but experienced a near-three-minute scoring drought, letting the Lady Techsters hang around. LSU led by nine points heading into the locker room. Both teams shot under 40% in the opening 20 minutes.

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Louisiana Tech kept the game within reach for much of the third quarter but it eventually got away. LSU ended the frame on a 9-0 run and built a 20-point lead for good a minute into the fourth. Turnovers and mental mistakes piled up for the Lady Techsters, which gave the Tigers more chances to push the pace of play. The Tigers went on a 14-2 run over four minutes when substitutes started rolling in. They shot 58.6% in the second half.

LSU lacked success in transition

LSU relies on getting into track meets with opponents quickly to build a comfortable cushion. That didn’t happen Saturday as Louisiana Tech hit its shots to open the game. Even when the Lady Techsters missed, they were comfortable going one-and-done most times as they prioritized getting numbers back to defend. That’s how they kept the score close in the early goings.

In the first half, LSU scored just six points in transition and 11 points off turnovers. The Tigers stepped up on the defensive end in the second half. Even though they didn’t produce the fast break opportunities they’re used to, they were more patient on the offensive end and knocked down their open shots.

Koval, Joyner didn’t get enough touches

As in most of its nonconference games, LSU possesses a substantial size advantage inside. That was the case Saturday but the purple and gold struggled to get the ball inside to Koval and Joyner. When the pair had touches, they often either finished, kicked out for an open shot, or drew a foul. They combined for 21 points on 21 shots from the field and 10 free-throw attempts. LSU scored just 36 points in the paint over the entire game.

Likely driven by Mulkey’s comments at the break. LSU made a concerted effort to pounce on the ball inside. Koval scored over half of her points in the final two quarters. She easily worked with passes over the top of Louisiana Tech’s Averi Aaron and in the high-low when the Lady Techsters went to a zone. The Tigers need to learn from their lack of post play and use their advantage inside, especially as they prepare to play in the SEC.

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Williams led LSU throughout the game

LSU struggled to find rhythm on both ends of the court in the early goings but Williams put the team on her back in the middle two frames. She scored 13 points, including two triples, on four of seven shots from the field. She added five rebounds and three assists over the same span.

Williams played a team-high 32 minutes on Saturday and she played all but two minutes in the first half. The junior displayed much-needed poise to an LSU team that couldn’t settle into the way it wanted to play initially. She also locked in on the defensive end, switching onto Bradley and locking her down for the back half of the contest. Her play in all facets gave the Tigers the confidence that they needed to pull ahead in the second half.



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Photos: LSU women defeats Louisiana Tech in the Smoothie King Center, 87-61

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Photos: LSU women defeats Louisiana Tech in the Smoothie King Center, 87-61


Kramer Robertson, son of Kim Mulkey, New Orleans Pelicans and Saints owner Gayle Benson and Mayor-Elect Helena Moreno sit on the sidelines during the first half of a Compete 4 Cause Classic basketball game between the Louisiana State Tigers and the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)



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Kim Mulkey set to lead LSU women into rare matchup with her alma mater Louisiana Tech

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Kim Mulkey set to lead LSU women into rare matchup with her alma mater Louisiana Tech


The opportunity to play a road game against Louisiana Tech has presented itself to coach Kim Mulkey before, but she has always turned it down.

Mulkey is willing to put the Lady Techsters on one of her nonconference schedules. She has already done so during her time at Baylor, and she did again ahead of this Tigers season. However, the LSU women’s basketball coach will never stage a game in Ruston — the small town in North Louisiana where she played her college hoops and launched her Hall-of-Fame coaching career.

“There’s too many emotions there,” Mulkey said. “There’s too many. I couldn’t walk in that gym and be a good coach.”

So, a neutral site will have to suffice instead. At 5 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU), the Smoothie King Center will host only the second matchup between one of Mulkey’s teams and her alma mater, Louisiana Tech. The No. 5 Tigers (10-0) and the Lady Techsters are set to meet in the Compete 4 Cause Classic — a doubleheader that also features a 7:30 p.m. men’s game between LSU and SMU.

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Mulkey is a Louisiana Tech legend. She played point guard for the Lady Techsters from 1980-84, then worked as an assistant coach for the next 16 seasons. Tech reached the Final Four 11 times in the 19 total seasons Mulkey spent there and took home three national titles (in 1981, 1982 and 1988).

In December 2009, Mulkey’s Baylor team defeated the Lady Techsters 77-67 in Waco, Texas.

Mulkey hasn’t faced her alma mater since, not even after she left the Bears in 2021, so she could revive LSU’s women’s basketball program. The Tigers faced almost every other Louisiana school — from Grambling and UL-Monroe to McNeese and Tulane — in her first four seasons, but not the storied program that plays its home games about 200 miles north of Baton Rouge.

“The history of women’s basketball in this state doesn’t belong to LSU,” Mulkey said. “It belongs to Louisiana Tech. (The) Seimone Augustus era was outstanding. Our little five-year era here is outstanding, but when you take the cumulative history of women’s basketball in this state, go look at what Louisiana Tech was able to accomplish.”

The Lady Techsters were a national power under legendary coaches Sonja Hogg and Leon Barmore. Hogg guided them to a pair of national championships and more than 300 wins across nine seasons, then turned the program over to Barmore, who led them to another national title and 11 30-win campaigns. Hogg and Barmore were co-head coaches from 1982-85.

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Mulkey almost took over for Barmore in 2000. She had turned down head coaching offers before to stay in Ruston, but when it came time to choose between her alma mater and Baylor, she decided on coaching the Bears. Louisiana Tech, at the time, wouldn’t offer her the five-year deal — and the extra job security — she wanted.

Their paths then diverged. Mulkey won three national titles at Baylor and one at LSU, while Louisiana Tech hasn’t made it back to the Final Four. The Lady Techsters haven’t even advanced past the first round of the NCAA Tournament since 2004, and they’ve cracked that field of teams only twice in the last 20 seasons.

Mulkey, on the other hand, has spent those two decades chasing championships. The fifth of her head coaching career could come as soon as this season — a year that includes a rare matchup with the program that shaped her.

“I’ve been here five years now,” Mulkey said, “but your memories last forever, and the memories I have of my 19 years at Louisiana Tech will never dissolve.”



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