If you don’t watch “The Voice”, don’t care about my sister being on “The Voice”, or DO care but just haven’t had a chance to watch last night’s episode, consider this your warning that this blog post is just BURSTING WITH SPOILERS. Read on at your own discretion.

(Also, excuse the photos of our TV screen… when we were writing this, the pro photos of her battle hadn’t been released yet)

Last night, my sister, an incredible singer-songwriter named Sam Behymer, performed in a Battle round on NBC’s “The Voice”. She competed against Christina Grimmie, a show fave and YouTube sensation with over 2 million YouTube subscribers. The battle was EPIC, one of the best of the season (something people who aren’t even biased are saying). See that Battle here:

 

(If that link doesn’t work, please please please search on YouTube for Sam Behymer and watch the “Counting Stars” Battle)

After the Battle, Coach Adam Levine chose to move on with Christina, ending Sam’s time on the show.

Although it wasn’t made clear in the show, Sam’s battle was one of the last to be recorded, so there were no steals left when she sang. Two different coaches weren’t shy about the fact that they’d have stolen her if they had a chance. The deliberation was literally about four times longer than they showed on TV last night, but I’ll be honest, I don’t remember much of it. I was kind of in a state of shock the whole time.

I’ll answer your immediate questions in bullet points:

—  Yes, we think Sam won the battle. We don’t just think that because we love her, either… Blake Shelton thought so, lots of people “behind the scenes” at the show thought so, and thousands of viewers who’ve never met Sam agree as well.

—  No, I don’t think Adam had his mind made up before the battle, and yes, I think it was a hard decision for him.

—  Yes, I absolutely think his decision was swayed by Christina’s overwhelming internet popularity, because if she makes it to the live rounds, that’s a guaranteed couple million votes for his contestant every week.

Suffice it to say, knowing about this for a month has been hard. Yeah, a month. Mack and I went to LA for the Battle the third week in February. We were sequestered in a hotel, couldn’t tell anyone we were there, couldn’t post any pictures. This is NOT the same time we were in California with our friends & kids… this trip started 36 hours after that one ended. WHEW! Talk about a whirlwind.

I shouldn’t have to say here how proud I am of my sister. That should be wildly evident. The courage and sacrifice that it took to put herself out there for the show… knowing that it meant she’d lose her job… she’s such a beast.  She saw an opportunity to take her music to the next level, and she JUMPED on it.

She was surrounded by powerhouse singers… people who just need a chance to be heard and have hit songs written for them, and they’ll be famous. Sam definitely has a powerhouse voice and is unbelievable talented as a multi-instrument musician, but she’s more than that. She’s a writer. She’s got music inside of her that’s pushing its way out any way it can. She didn’t pursue a Blind Audition on the show thinking she’d win (although obviously, that would have been awesome). She pursued it thinking, “Every second I can spend learning from these people is good for my art.”

She told me after it was all over, “You know, I don’t want to be famous. I just want to be able to have enough visibility to sell enough records and book enough gigs so that I don’t starve. I’m going to do this my whole life anyway… I’d really like to not having to balance it around another 70-hour a week job.”

And that’s Sam. She doesn’t want to be famous. She never did. She’s actually crazy nervous in front of people, despite the amazing performer she is. She’s an ARTIST, and any recognition the show can bring her just goes to support the art she HAS to make… for an artist, creating isn’t an option. If you don’t create, you’ll die.

Yes, clearly, we’re incredibly proud of Sam. We’ll continue to support her career, and I hope many of you will, too. If you haven’t bought her latest album “This Bad Decision”, go do that. It’s the best thing you’ll do with $9 this month, I guarantee it.

Anywho, so yeah, Mack and I were at this Battle. In case you didn’t watch the embedded video up there, here’s a screen grab of us being all excited on TV.

I was heartbroken at the result, and cried a lot with Sam both on and off-camera. But we know how to lift a sad spirit…

Yup, we went to Disneyland again. Two times in one month. It was a really really really great day.

And now, Sam’s back to “real life”, as much as possible. She’s writing new music, booking gigs whenever she can, hoping she can sustain herself on her part time job and her music. Hoping that the buzz she created on the show will help propel her into a new phase of her career. One less about hoping 15 people show up at a gig, and more about planning a tour soon.

If you’re going to keep up with The Voice this season, allow me to place a bug in your ear…

We got to spend some time with other artists while we were there, and they really are a fantastic bunch of people. But two stand out above the rest, and if you need extra incentive to vote for them, here it is.

Tess Boyer and Jake Barker are fantastic talents, and great friends to my sister, and wonderful, GENUINE people. I look forward to cheering them on, and funneling all the McG Household votes to #TeamTess and #TeamJakeBarker while we enjoy the rest of the season.

You can buy Sam’s music on Amazon and on iTunes, but if you don’t have a preference, use BANDCAMP! She gets a higher percentage of the cash through that service, and well, that’s pretty awesome.

You can also pre-order new custom SamBats t-shirts, and those are pretty sweet. HERE’S THE LINK FOR SAM’S BANDCAMP SITE.

Thank you all. From Sam, and from us. Thank you for your kind words, for your album purchases, for your vocal online support. We think she caught a raw deal here, but we’re also trying to focus 100% on the positive. This was an amazing experience that introduced incredible people into Sam’s life. She’s grown so much as a performer, and things are only going to go up from here. We are so grateful for all the encouragement the McG community lent to Team Sam… feel free to keep waving that SamBat flag high! 🙂