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.

“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.”

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.

“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.

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.

“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.

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.