U.G. Digital Mag: It’s really amazing. It’s awesome just being a part of the arts. The singing bug missed me, but I did play instruments.
Eric Lyn: Absolutely, what did you play?
U.G. Digital Mag: I played drums.
Eric Lyn: Oh OK, I was a cymbal player, and I later became a drum major.
U.G. Digital Mag: Oh wow, that’s really dope. I always wanted to be a drum major, but never went out for it.
Eric Lyn: It’s an experience.
U.G. Digital Mag: Right. Now how did you end up performing at the Blue Room?
Eric Lyn: When I turned 16, they had an open mic event going on. At 16, I was able to get in and go. My uncle Donnie at the time was a director for the negro league baseball museum, which is next door. I was always very curious about going to the club, and I said I wanted to go when I turned 16. They happened to have an open mic, and I performed "God Bless the Child'. It was my first time performing Jazz music in front of people.
U.G. Digital Mag: Wow. What was that experience like for your first time?
Eric Lyn: Oh wow, it was scary because they are world class musicians. When I got on stage, they asked what key I would be in. I don’t know, I just came here to sing. In that moment, it was life-changing because it made me want to know music. I wanted to understand the language, and be able to communicate with musicians as a musician.
U.G. Digital Mag: It’s good to have had that experience early on. It gives a great idea of what things will be like.
Eric Lyn: Absolutey.
U.G. Digital Mag: So coming back to The Voice, it had to be really amazing. Could you have ever imagined early on that this would come about?
Eric Lyn: Gosh. It’s something because you dream to be a part of it, but when it actually happens, you don’t know what to think or how to feel. When I got on, it was like wow, this is really happening. It’s almost like a daydream. I don’t think I would have expected it. Even being on team Jennifer, I was always a fan growing up. When she first came out, and was on American Idol, and then doing Dreamgirls. I remember my mother getting tickets for the premiere and I was just so enamored by her performance. I honestly didn’t think she would pick me. Our
voices are so different. She has a lot of power. My voice is more smooth-textured. She was the first person to turn around. It was absolutely something.
U.G. Digital Mag: Obviously, you worked with so many people on the show. What was the experience like working with everyone else, like Kelly Clarkson, Kelly Rowland, and so on. Also, what were the take-aways?
Eric Lyn: Working with Kelly Rowland, as well as Kelly Clarkson, they respected me as an artist. I grew up looking at them. Kelly Rowland being with Destiny’s Child, and looking at Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson on American Idol, and then you’re sitting there working on a song with them. They respect you as an artist, and they look at you as being just like them. That was mind-blowing. You see them as these big stars, and they are, but they’re people. They respect you, and it helped me to be confident when walking in the room. Not to say I’m better, but my super power is being myself. I can connect with people because they have super power. In that moment I felt we were creating something special, and that just happened to be for me.