AJ Harvey’s appearance on ‘The Voice’ cut short

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Former Wichitan AJ Harvey made it onto Season 25 of NBC’s “The Voice,” but his appearance was cut short.

The 25-year-old went into the battle round Tuesday night against 17-year-old Anya True. Together, they sang “Half of My Heart” by John Mayer.

“I’m so excited to be battling AJ Harvey. I think our voices will sound really good together,” said True.

After the battle, coaches Dan + Shay spoke to Harvey and True about the performance.

“I just love both of you guys,” they said. “AJ, you know what you want to sound like. You know who you want to be. And I think you really stepped up and made it your own, and it was really, really good, man. I love you both.”

Together, Dan + Shay voted for True to move on in the competition.

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KSN spoke with Harvey last week about being on “The Voice” and what he hoped to accomplish.

In January, Harvey was asked by the casting crew if he wanted to audition in person.

“I went ahead and waited through the holidays,” said Harvey. “I reached back out to them and said, ‘You know, why not?’ ‘Cause you never know, and low and behold, you never know!'”

Harvey said that he was really only interested in further establishing himself as an artist.

“I just wanna accomplish a few things for myself, really. I’m not trying to be ‘America’s Next Big Thing.’ That comes and goes so quick. I really just want to establish myself as an artist,” he said.

Harvey said that “The Voice” is very supportive of the artists that come onto the show.

“The show really backed me and supported me … they wanna make sure that you as an artist are what is presented to the show and the country and who’s ever watching,” he said. “They take care of their artists. They take care of you as a person. They make sure that you’re comfortable, and they don’t want you to have any negative experiences.”

To Harvey, it didn’t matter whether he made it far on the show or not.

“At the end of the day, I am only going to have to come home to me. I have to be proud of what I did on that show and what I’m doing on that show. So at the end of the day, you just have to kinda be, ‘If I’m OK with it, if I’m happy with it, and I felt like I did 159%, then that’s OK with me.’ Win or lose. I’m excited just to see where this level of exposure and foundation to platform a career off of, you know, in whatever aspect that is, I’m happy with it,” he said.

Harvey’s family, friends, and even former teachers have been nothing but supportive.

“Stepping into this show, they showed nothing but support. And they knew that I was only gonna be as much of myself as I could be, and they championed that and have been so loving and caring about with this whole process, and so I’m always going to be grateful for them,” he said.

Harvey shared what his favorite part about the show was:

“I think the single most thing that I really liked and enjoyed was just being in a place where I felt everybody was doing something. A lot of times if you come from a town, it’s not Los Angeles, it’s not a big name, and people aren’t moving there constantly, it’s hard to kind of feel like you have a community that’s there,” he said. “Making the friends that I’ve made and the connections that I’ve made and the songs, I got to hear that aren’t even gonna be released and the music that was already being stirred up and generated just in that time frame of being a part of this show and going forward. That’s what the most pleasurable experience for me has been, just making those connections and meeting some of the best people I’ve known so far.

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Harvey is excited about what is next to come.

“‘The Voice’ is just the first step and just a ‘window open,’ as I like to say, and I’ll have new music out at the end of the month,” he said.

Harvey will be playing at The Brickyard in Old Town on Friday, April 26, at 8 p.m.

“Love to come back home and play as much as I can. So if you haven’t caught a show, please come out,” he said.

You can find Harvey on several social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, and Apple Music.

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