Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Beth Spangler, 30, of Aiken, S.C., auditioned with Beyonce’s “Best Thing I Never Had.” She immediately displayed strong pop vocals and broke into a big smile when she wound up with Adam Levine and Blake Shelton facing in her direction early in the performance. At the last moment, they were joined by Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams, making Beth the last four-chair turn recipient of Season 7 and prompting her to do a bit of a happy dance on stage. She chose to join Team Adam.

Her background: Beth works as a radiologist at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia. “My favorite part of the job is being able to help these kids. But as much as I love my job, music is my passion.” Pursuing that passion means driving three hours from Aiken, S.C., to Atlanta, Ga., on weekends because there’s more opportunities to perform there. Even then, Beth stepped away from music for a while, because her dad was badly injured in a motorcycle crash. He wound up losing his right leg. Watching his determination to walk again made her more determined than ever to pursue her passion, Beth said in her pre-audition interview. “I want to do what means the most to me,” she said. “And if I fall and somebody has to pick me up this time, so be it.” She describes herself as a “country bumpkin” and auditions in leather overalls. But she’s clearly a pop artist.

What the show didn’t show: According to her MTV artist bio, Beth was born in Pearisburg, VA, and raised in a family of talented singers and musicians. Beth has already self-released a pair of pop singles — “Like a Bird” and “Bigger than Love.” Both of them came out earlier this year, and you can check them out below. You can check out a number of other songs from Beth on her Soundcloud page. In a conference call with the media, Beth said she chose her audition song because she’s a huge fan of Beyonce and ‘I wanted to do something that would not only challenge me, but also that maybe would be a little bit unexpected.” And though soulful pop is her music of choice at the moment, she admits she’s hoping Adam will help her figure out what direction she wants to go in musically. The coaches all lobbied quite hard to get Beth to select their respective team. Beth said she selected Adam partly because he said he was in the same position vocally at the start of his career — not quite sure where he fit in — and partly because he turned around first. “I feel like that said a lot,” she explained. “Before I got to all the bells and whistles that I had added to my song — the fact that he heard the tone of my voice and the ability behind it and believed in it immediately.” Beth says she knows she’s getting a late start in the music business. “So I’m on a fast track, and I’m determined,” she says.

Update: Lost to Mia Pfirrman in the battle round; they sang “I Turn to You” by Christina Aguilera. But she got second life on the show when stolen by Gwen Stefani. She sang “Too Little, Too Late” by JoJo in the knockout round, but lost to Ryan Sill.

On iTunes: The aforementioned singles and her audition song.

Keeping up with Beth:
Twitter: @IAmBethSpangler
Facebook
YouTube
Website

“Like a Bird” (original)

“Bigger Than Love” (original)

“All in My Head” (cover)