On Monday, Chilean-American singer-songwriter Marilyn Hucek auditioned for The Voice Season 30 with her own take on Latina superstar Shakira’s dancehall crossover hit, “La Tortura.” OG coach Adam Levine praised her for pulling off such a tricky and vibrato-heavy song, and she ultimately joined Team Adam.
Hucek made it to the Battle Rounds — also turning the chair of new coach Queen Latifah, who told her, “You managed to capture that cadence, that pocket, and you did it your way” — on the strength of her performance alone, without relying on any sob story. But when she sat down for an LPTV interview last year at Studio City’s Licorice Pizza Records, on the night of her vinyl release party for her debut album MARILYN, she opened up about her first, unsuccessful Voice audition, which took place way back in 2017.
“I went to a convention center, and there were thousands of people and I waited in line all day. It was not at a time when I felt I was at my best artistic level, so I’m not surprised it didn’t work out,” said Hucek, who didn’t make it far enough in the casting process to actually sing in front of those four big red chairs. At the time, she didn’t even tell anyone that she’d auditioned.
“I kind of felt like I was a closeted artist, so to speak,” Hucek mused. “I never would sing in front of people. There was a time where I stopped singing in front of people, because I think I was taking it too seriously.”
Hucek confessed that she truly had no idea how to break into the music business, which is why she answered NBC’s open call. “It was kind of funny because I was like, ‘Oh, this is how you make it! You have to audition for The Voice and you have to get on the show,’” she chuckled. “It’s really not the case anymore, but that’s how I felt: that this was the only way to do it. And then I was like, ‘OK, well, I auditioned for The Voice, so I can put my dreams to rest and move on.’ But the truth is, I could never move on, and it was always in me. It was like I had locked my dream in this Pandora’s box and just tucked it away. It was always in there beating, trying to get out.”
Hucek continued to focus on her career as a fashion blogger/buyer in New York, until her musician father’s long battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s — another personal-life detail that she opted not to mention on The Voice this week — inspired her to reopen that Pandora’s box. And in 2020, she made the bold and risky decision to leave her cushy job at Ralph Lauren to pursue her long-deferred musical dream.
“It wasn’t until around the pandemic, when I started writing my own music, that I felt more confident in my artistic self, and that’s when I started releasing music and really going after it,” she explained. “Before that, it was a lot more just singing covers. … And I think that singing covers, you kind of compare yourself to other artists, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m never going to sound like them.’ Well, of course you’re never going to sound like them! Because you have your own voice and your own unique ability to just be yourself, which is what I learned.”
Ironically, Hucek will be singing cover songs again on The Voice (which, unlike rival talent show American Idol, doesn’t regularly allow contestants to do originals), so she won’t have the opportunity to perform her deeply personal tracks from MARILYN — many of which were inspired by her father, who died in 2023. But at age 34, Hucek returns to the show with much more professional experience, as well as life experience. She has attended New York University’s summer songwriting workshop, the female artist development program New Roots Nashville, and a nine-month course at the Los Angeles Academy for Artists & Music Production (LAAMP), which was co-founded by Norwegian super-producers Stargate and is executive-directed by industry veteran Chris Anokute (who has worked with Katy Perry, Rihanna, Fifth Harmony, Zara Larsson, Bebe Rexha, and Joss Stone). So, she is clearly ready for battle.
“I don’t think I’ll ever not continue to hone my craft,” Hucek asserted. “I’m the type of person who always wants to get better and always wants to learn.” Surely she has made her late dad proud, and he will be watching over her as she continues her Voice journey. Read more about that journey in the LPTV video above and the Q&A below.
LPTV: Before making music your full-time career, you were a successful fashion blogger with The Lunar Phase, and you had a day job as a fashion buyer in NYC. Why didn’t you pursue music seriously before?
MARILYN HUCEK: Honestly, I will say that I’ve always had a passion for music very early on… but it wasn’t until 2020, when the pandemic happened. My late father had been suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s for a very long time, and he got COVID and he was in the nursing home, and we weren’t able to go visit him. It was so tough and painful. I ended up writing a song in his name [“Memories”], and I felt compelled to release it into the world. And ever since then, I haven’t looked back. That’s when I took that leap of faith. So, now more than ever as an artist, I feel like I have this dual purpose of not only pursuing my dream as a musician, but also using my platform to raise Alzheimer’s awareness. … In fact, $3 for every [MARILYN] vinyl record sold is going to the Alzheimer’s Association, and five percent of the royalties for [the MARILYN track] “Neil Young” are going towards the Alzheimer’s Association. I hope to make a bigger impact as I grow.
When you quit fashion to pursue music, was there any self-doubt? Or were other people, maybe even family members, saying, “What are you doing?” Music is not the most stable vocation, after all.
Interestingly enough, no one that I spoke to questioned it, which is funny. But no, I didn’t have any doubts. I think that’s how I knew it was the right thing to do, because as soon as I started pursuing music, it felt like I’d found that last piece of the puzzle. I was like, “Yes! I have found my purpose!” I think when I was working in corporate fashion, I was searching — and I didn’t know for what.
Are you from a musical family?
Interestingly enough, my parents met through music. My mom is Chilean, and she was in Chile studying to be a musician. My dad was a piano hobbyist. He actually was a scientist, working for NASA, but he really enjoyed the arts. And they met in the piano room.
When you wrote “Memories,” was your father able to hear it and realize it was about him? Did you play it for him?
Yeah, I played it for him a lot. Music was always something that connected us through the years.
In “Neil Young,” there’s the standout line: “You don’t even know I’m a singer now.” I’ve read that musical therapy can help people with dementia, Alzheimer’s, or brain injuries, because music holds such deep core memories. And I know you used to play Neil’s Harvest Moon for your father.
Exactly. And at the time that I decided to take that leap of faith, I’m not sure if he knew [that I had become a professional singer]. I can’t be certain. But that’s where that line came from. … It’s a very heavy song, about how he eventually forgot my name. But with music, if I played him his favorite songs and his favorite artists… the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Eagles, Bob Marley… he’d come to life.
Are there any other especially meaningful or emotional MARILYN tracks you’d like to discuss?
I would say one of the toughest songs to write was “Love to Hate You,” because it revealed the messier sides of me and the character traits that you don’t really want to brag about. But the comforting thing about that song is now people are like, “Oh, that’s my favorite song. It’s really relatable.” And I’m like, “Oh, thank God I’m not the only one!” … I wrote that song when I was at LAAMP and got a lot of great feedback, so it was very encouraging. But during the week that I was writing it, it was torturous, because I was really just digging into my soul, just trying to get at the heart of my feelings. Now that I’ve gotten it into a song, when I’m singing it and performing it, I feel like I’m healing from that experience, which has been great.
Is it ever hard for you to perform these songs live, especially in an intimate setting like Licorice Pizza Records?
Yeah, it depends. I recently was performing at the Annapolis Songwriters Festival, and it was broad daylight, and I had all these faces looking at me. In the past, I haven’t had an issue, but it’s really day-to-day or show-to-show, because I remember in that moment I was like, “Oh my God, all these faces!” I was like, “I’m just going to close my eyes for a second.” Usually, I try to just do the songs justice and perform them so that people can experience them how I want them to. But sometimes, it’s unpredictable.
Sadly, watching a parent suffer from Alzheimer’s is something many adult children have gone through. I imagine you’ve had fans reach out with stories about how your music has helped them, or that they relate to your story.
Yeah, absolutely. People DM me or tell me after shows that they have a loved one, or that someone in their family has gone through Alzheimer’s; they’ll tell me the music has connected with them. It’s touching and it’s sad to know that other people are going through it, but that’s the reality. I just think the more we can talk about it, the more we can make a difference and heal and educate people.
Did making your MARILYN album help you heal?
Well, songwriting is my therapy, through and through. Even growing up, I would just do poems and stuff whenever I was in my feels. And yes, I think that it’s been very, very healing, especially with this album, because it’s so personal and so introspective. It’s gotten me through a lot of adversity on my emotional rollercoaster.
