Bearded bluesman Nakia had one prime objective on The Voice.
“To me it’s all about how can I look ahead and figure out how to get those people that watch the show to stick with me,” the Austin belter told the Daily Dot last year.
Given the recent start of season two for NBC’s reality singing competition—airing Mondays at 8 p.m. EST—we decided to check in with Twitter’s singing sensation to see if he’s been able to stay connected with his online fan base.
To quickly recap, after being picked by Cee Lo Green for his rousing rendition of “Forget You,” Nakia hashtagged his way to the semifinals on the show. He jumped from roughly 1,200 to around 18,000 followers—thanks in no small part to support from William Shatner, Rachel Ray, and Sir Elton John—notched two hit singles on iTunes, and earned critical praise from Rolling Stone and CNN.
“Team Nakia is still going strong,” Nakia said, referring to his Twitter support system, which has gained another 7,000 members since he exited The Voice. “From the very beginning of Twitter, I found that it was really easy for me to be myself there. It’s short, to the point, and keeps people in the loop.”
There’s been a lot to keep track of, too.
Nakia was selected to be a part of the The Voice’s six-city national tour; he joined Green on stage at the Austin City Limits Music Festival; and more recently, the hefty blues baron released an autobiographical new song, “Dream Big,” cowritten with Top 40 hit maker Bleu McAuley (available for free, legal download here).
Nakia has taken to Tumblr, mostly as an Instagram-enabled photo journal, and he’s equipping his rehearsal studio with Wi-Fi in order to live-stream band sessions. But his community of choice remains Twitter, where his humble charm and endearing enthusiasm comes through in 140 characters or less.
He still responds to every mention of his name on the microblogging site, and he’s live tweeting new episodes of The Voice.
His advice for the new contestants?
“Stay true to who you are.”
Photo by Lewis Jacobs/NBC
