A year after shining on 'The Voice,' Wilmington singer looks to enter a new 'Phase'

A year ago, long-running NBC reality competition show "The Voice" introduced Wilmington singer and songwriter Carlos Rising to America.

Now, with a soul-drenched, six-song album set to drop Feb. 9 and a regional tour to follow — including shows Feb. 9, 16 and March 15 in Wilmington — Rising wants to use his silky voice and deft songwriting touch to deepen the connection he made with listeners in March of last year.

Rising didn't prevail on "The Voice." The winner of the show's 2023 edition was the one-named singer and songwriter Huntley. But the Wilmington singer said the experience made him more determined than ever to pursue a music career.

Being on the show, Rising said, is where "I really found myself as an artist."

During a January interview at bustling downtown Wilmington coffee shop Bespoke, Rising said he grew up singing and playing in church and listening to a variety of music, from rock and R&B to country and '70s singer-songwriters. His musical output tended to be just as stylistically diverse. Even so, "I always thought that it was a weakness not to have a specified genre" as an artist, he said.

Feedback from one of the show's celebrity judges on "The Voice" changed that view.

"Toward the tail end of my run on the show, Kelly Clarkson gave me a compliment. She said, 'I feel like you can sing anything.' And that was the first time I looked at it through a positive lens. Like, I can use this to my advantage and be more of a chameleon and not put myself in a box," Rising said. "I'll just be myself and whatever comes out, comes out."

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Coming out on Feb. 9 is Rising's debut EP, "It's Just a Phase," a poppy mix of rock, folk and R&B that highlights Rising's velvety voice, which comes off like equal parts Jack Johnson and Leon Bridges. A laid-back songwriting style belies the deeply felt subjects of his tunes, which on "It's Just a Phase" bounce between love and heartbreak.

"I blame you/ I blame me … It's only fair we lay the blame on us," he croons on groovy album opener "Blame," while the folk/rock/soul/pop vibe on "Money" has Rising paying tribute to his better half — "I don't need much to have a good time/ I only need my lady by my side" — before proclaiming in the hooky chorus, "I don't care about money."

The song that set the aesthetic for the EP, Rising said, is the warm, lush soul rock ballad "Blue For You," which was inspired by, and conveys, the crackly feel of a vinyl record.

Rising said the album is called "It's Just a Phase" "because you kind of go through these different phases where you're either in love or there's heartbreak. And just because you have one doesn't mean that the other isn't just around the corner."

Stylistically, the R&B sound that permeates the album "is just the phase that I was in," he said. "The next record, it could and probably will sound very different."

The plan, Rising said, is to release "phase two" of six or so more songs later this year.

There's another, even deeper meaning to all this talk of phases, and it has to do with the name of the daughter that Rising and his wife, Anouk, are expecting in May. It will be their first child.

"We were walking on the beach," Rising said, "and it was sunset. I took a picture of the moon, the moon was like fiery red. A couple of days later we found out we were having a girl and then a couple days after that, we decided to name her Luna."

When he knew he was going to have a child, "I kind of dipped my feet into applying (for jobs) at different places," he said. "But the more I've done that, the more music opportunities show up. And so I've taken that as a sign."

Rising lived in Wilmington briefly as a child, but he and his wife moved here, where he has family, during the pandemic. He started playing out with Holy Heat, the rock trio he shares with drummer (and cousin) Christian Black and bassist Jonathan D'Amico, at spots like End of Days Distillery and The Starling Wine and Whiskey Bar. Holy Heat has a new EP coming in March, Rising said.

He made it onto "The Voice" after his wife and father urged him to audition, and he was one of just 40 people to make it on the show out of the 80,000 or so who tried out. One big effect of being on the show, Rising said, is that when he contacts venues inquiring about gigs they message him back now.

Still, as he looks to make strides as an artist this year, Rising, a fully independent artist who does all of his own recording, booking and promotion, knows that he's going to have to put in the work.

After being on the show, "I was so overwhelmed, in a good way, with the amount of support and love that I had. But also, it's pretty humbling as far as, like, how quick that goes away," he said. "And so, I knew from the beginning, I'm not going to have record labels and management just flooding my email. It's not gonna be automatic. I'm gonna have to do a lot of groundwork, and so that's what I've done."

Want to go?

Who: Carlos Rising

When & Where: 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at End of Days Distillery; 8 p.m. Feb. 16 at St. Thomas Preservation Hall (with Chatham Rabbits); 8 p.m. March 15 at Bourgie Nights (Holy Heat EP release show).

Details: Learn more about Carlos Rising and follow his socials via his Linktree.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: A year after The Voice, Wilmington singer Carlos Rising has EP, tour