HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. — A Louisville native who spent her college years in Northern Kentucky made history on one of the most popular competitive singing shows in the country.
While her time on “The Voice” has sadly come to an end, 35-year-old Kinsey Rose said she’s just getting started. Rose said she's had to grind to get to where she was competing on the show.
During the first night of The Voice Season 21's Knockout Rounds: Rose sang 'Strawberry Wine,’ but it wasn’t enough to move her into the live rounds of the TV singing competition.
Watching Rose, who dazzled the celebrity coaches and audiences during her time on the show, one could reasonably think she was always destined for greatness. But that was never a foregone conclusion, not even to the rising country singer.
“Some days I’m just like, I cannot believe I’m watching myself on TV right now, like this is so crazy. I really didn’t think it would ever happen. I’ve been hustling so much of my life and making things kind of happen on my own,” Rose said in an interview with Spectrum News 1.
Rose’s musical journey started at 10 years old in the basement of her parents’ house in Louisville when she discovered their piano, and the junkie guitar in the closet.
She was hooked. Her parents got her lessons, and she was able to work with professional musicians. She would come in with songs she had written. The musicians would be taken aback, she said.
“My parents were like, how do you know that song? Like no one taught you that. I’m like, I don’t know, I just did it,” she said. “I didn’t like school. And I just found my happiness down in that basement writing songs.”
Rose eventually moved to the northern part of the state to go to Northern Kentucky University. Though, she didn’t spend a whole lot of time on campus.
She’d make it to her classes in the morning, and at night she played shows at bars in Cincinnati, Covington and Newport. She even sang at Cincinnati Reds games. She also managed to earn her degree at NKU before leaving.
Following the path of many musicians trying to make it big in country music, she moved to Nashville, where she’s been for the past 12 years.
With that move came a lot more gigs. Rose had to work hard, playing three to four hour shows, sometimes two to three times a day.
She also auditioned for shows like American Idol and The Voice.
“I didn’t hear from them. And then I kind of gave it a couple years. I was just kind of, not bitter, but I was just kind of over it. I was just like, it’s never going to work, she said. “It’s never going to happen. And then I got an email saying ‘we’re taking video submissions,’ so I was like, ‘well, why not?’ I’ve got nothing else going on right now. Everything was pretty much shut down from the pandemic, so I wasn’t playing any gigs.”
This was it. Coaches on the show were blown away by her blind audition singing “Cowboy Take Me Away.” Kelly Clarkson blocked Blake Shelton from selecting Rose to his team.
Then she made history in the second round, becoming the only contestant to have all four coaches want to keep her. Rose ultimately stayed loyal to Clarkson’s team.
“To have Kelly use her block on me, and the belief in me, I think is really neat. I’m very honored to have this experience, and that she likes me so much,” Rose said.
Despite her run coming to an end, Rose said the show has undoubtedly put her in a better position to live her dream than she’s ever been in.
“Some people, when they see people on TV, they’re like, ‘oh, that’s lucky for them.’ But I worked my butt off to get here, and I’ve been told ‘no’ a lot of times. I feel like a lot of people are like, ‘you are so tough.’ And I’m like, you have to be tough to continue to follow your dream, because there’s a lot of things that are going to break you down,” she said.
As for what’s next, Rose said she’s going to do what she’s done since she was 10, keep making music. She’s planning to soon release a new single, with other songs to follow.