NBC’s The Voice winner Jake Hoot is sharing his method for dealing with haters and what he would say to them if he ever met them in person.
Hoot, who just won season 17 of The Voice as a country star, sat down with AfterBuzz TV and hosts Rachel Swindler, Neema Skye, and me to talk about how he handled all the haters while participating in the reality competition show.
Well I mean, Im sure there were a bunch of naysayers throughout the whole competition, but I just didnt care. I didnt look, said Hoot.
After the country star took home the top prize, many people took to Twitter to complain about the results. Although Hoot had a lot of supporters, so did the other three remaining contestants Katie Kadan, Ricky Duran, and Rose Short. All of a sudden, people were saying they were going to boycott the show, claiming that The Voice always favors the country artist.
In response to these claims, Hoot stated, I would say to a lot of those people, you know, if they were to say, you know, well Ricky, or Katie, or Rose shoulda won, or Alex, or Shane, or whatever, Id be like, I agree, because everyone that was a part of that competition shoulda won. Everybody was incredibly talented.
Hoot went on to explain how he believed music is always subjective. He used the examples of Steve Perry, from Journey, and Freddie Mercury, from Queen, who are both very famous and powerful vocalists. He commented that someone who prefers rap music wouldn’t necessarily appreciate both of these artist’s tremendous talent, thus proving his theory that all music is subjective.
There were so many people that, so many contestants that got so disheartened by it, but people are just, I mean a lot of people can just be mean, they can just you know, be ruthless, said Hoot.
Despite all the negativity surrounding the contestants during the competition, Hoot tried to stay both friendly and positive. He talked about the attitude of all those competing, and how instead of hating each other, they all became very good friends, if not family. As a result, Hoot tried to share his motivation tactics with his fellow contestants while they were dealing with negative comments and press.
I would try to go by and just be like, dont listen to them, Hoot shared. For one hater, youve got fifty people that love you.
Hoot went on to discuss one of his off-nights on the show. He explained some of the difficulties that went on behind the scenes, including nerves, making sure to remember all the changes made to a song, using the earpiece correctly, and so much more.
When performing on a live stage every week, the contestants only have that one chance to impress everyone, which comes with its own set of pressures. Week after week of performing in front of a live studio audience and multiple cameras, every contestant is bound to have an off-week. This results in a lot of judgement from the viewers and fans of the show, who are then convinced that the artist is no good, which is not true, according to Hoot.
Hoot clearly had no interest in naysayers, or what they had to say. He made the clear decision, before starting the competition, to not give them any attention.
Im not gonna read comments. Im not gonna read, you know, these people who just wanna go out and, you know, bash and stuff because at the end of the day, if I met them in person, they would never say that to my face, Hoot stated.
He ended the subject by telling our hosts how happy he is with all that he has accomplished. It is not easy pursuing a dream, and haters are simply part of that journey.
Let em hate, Hoot added. Im in a great place in life, and even if I didn’t win, Im, Im still in a great place in life. Im happy with it, so who cares what anybody else has to say about it.
Thank you, Jake, for inspiring so many of us to go after what we want despite all the bullies out there!
To catch the full interview with Jake Hoot, click on the video above.
