Massapequa's Jackie Romeo cut from 'The Voice' despite her powerful performance
With “The Voice” coach Reba McEntire having to cull her team from five acts to three in that NBC singing competition’s Playoffs Monday night, Massapequa’s Jackie Romeo did not make the cut at the episode’s end, despite a powerhouse final song.
Previously, in a rehearsal segment with McEntire and guest mentor Anthony Ramos (Broadway’s “Hamilton”), Romeo, 20, said she would be singing “The Story,” Brandi Carlile’s 2007 breakout hit, composed by bandmate Phil Hanseroth.
Romeo told them that country music legend McEntire’s old sitcom “Reba” (The WB/The CW, 2001-07) “was me and my mom’s show.” She said the theme song, “I’m a Survivor,” resonated with both Jackie and mother Helen Romeo because it told of “a single mom who works two jobs. Like, that’s my mom.”
Similarly, she added, “ ‘The Story,’ it’s the most connected I've ever been to any of the songs that I performed [on the show]. I just think of all of the times my mom has given up something so that I could sing. … She barely slept and she skipped meals just so that me and my brother could eat.”
In her performance, wearing an iridescent burgundy organza dress with gathered sleeves, Jackie Romeo executed powerfully, working the stage like a seasoned professional and effortlessly hitting the high notes.
“I had to capture every single ounce of joy that I could,” Romeo told Newsday Tuesday morning, in a phone call from her home, “because Reba was, like, ‘When you sing this song tonight, you're singing it to your mom, and I want you to show her how proud of her and how grateful you are for her.’ So when I sang that song, I just was radiating with joy.”
The coaches afterward all lauded her. John Legend, her former coach, said, “I felt like you nailed it. I felt like this was the most complete package so far. I loved hearing that gentle sound of your voice. It sounded so gorgeous. … I was so proud.”
And McEntire told Romeo, “You sing like an angel, and those lower parts, I thought you handled them great. I’m a proud little mama right now.”
But at the episode’s end, McEntire chose to keep Asher HaVon, Josh Sanders, and L. Rodgers, explaining that this gave her a variety of R&B, country and Americana, eliminating Romeo and the twins duo Justin and Jeremy Garcia.
“I think the immediate thing that went through my mind was just acceptance,” Romeo said. “L. is one of my close friends and I wanted to be there for her. I hugged her and I told her how much I'm rooting for her.”
The Long Islander — who dropped a cover of “The Story” on music streaming platforms after the show and has her original composition “What Makes a Man” dropping on May 23 — told Newsday that being on the show was “like a performance boot camp. It really teaches you everything you need to know about being in the industry … plus performing on one of the biggest stages, in front of the biggest mentors in music. It was just one of the greatest experiences of my life and I'm so grateful.”
Her next performances are Thursday at Manhattan’s Rockwood Music Hall and May 10 at Rutherford, New Jersey’s Williams Center, opening for Julia Roome from “The Voice” season 24.
