Hazel Gerson’s Blind Audition is worth attention because it approaches a familiar song through atmosphere rather than sheer volume. Singing Alex Clare’s “Too Close,” Gerson works with material that depends on pressure, pulse and gradual release—qualities that can make a short television audition feel more deliberate when they are handled with focus.
The performance also captures the particular stakes of The Voice Blind Auditions. Before the coaches see the artist, they respond to what they hear: vocal character, phrasing, song choice and the sense that a singer has somewhere to go beyond the first impression. Gerson’s version earned chair turns from Kelly Clarkson and Riley Green, then ended with her joining Team Kelly.
Watch the Performance
Performance Recap
Hazel Gerson performed “Too Close,” originally recorded by Alex Clare, during the Blind Auditions for Season 30 of NBC’s The Voice. The 21-year-old singer from San Jose, California, received turns from Kelly Clarkson and Riley Green. After the coaches made their cases, Gerson chose Clarkson as her coach.
The audition appeared during the season’s opening Blind Audition episodes, which introduced a coaching panel of Clarkson, Adam Levine, Queen Latifah and Green. It gave Gerson a voice-first entrance into the competition: the coaches heard her before the format allowed them to see her onstage, so the song had to establish a musical identity quickly.
“Too Close” is an interesting selection for that setting. Its recognizable rhythmic foundation and restless energy make it immediately identifiable, but the song is not built simply around a conventional vocal climax. It asks a singer to sustain tension, make the lyric feel personal and guide the listener through shifts in intensity. That leaves room for interpretation while still giving the audience a clear point of reference.
Why It Stands Out
The central musical challenge in “Too Close” is contrast. The song moves between close, contained phrases and more forceful sections, meaning that a singer must decide how much to reveal at each stage. If everything is delivered at maximum intensity from the start, the arrangement can lose its shape. If the performance stays too restrained, its emotional momentum can flatten. Gerson’s audition is compelling because the song itself rewards measured escalation rather than a rush toward a single oversized note.
For singing viewers, the performance offers a useful listening exercise in phrasing. A cover of a well-known track does not need to duplicate the original recording’s texture to be effective. What matters is whether the singer makes clear choices about where words land, how lines connect and when the sound opens outward. Reports on the audition described Gerson’s approach as carrying a pop and R&B flavor, a direction that helps distinguish her version from the original track’s electronic-rock frame.
There is also a repertoire lesson in the choice. “Too Close” has a strong identity, so it gives a contestant some immediate recognition without forcing her to take on a song that is defined only by difficult high notes. The musical interest comes from tone, timing and conviction. In a Blind Audition, those elements can reveal as much about an artist as vocal range does.
Performance Context
Season 30 marked a milestone season for NBC’s The Voice. Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine returned to the coaches’ chairs, while Queen Latifah and Riley Green joined the panel for the first time. The season also introduced the “First In Button,” which gave the first coach to turn during a multi-chair audition one opportunity to try to claim an artist before that artist made a final team decision.
Gerson’s audition resulted in a two-chair contest between Clarkson and Green. That response matters in the Blind Audition format because it changes the next part of the moment: the singer is no longer only trying to earn a place in the competition, but also choosing the coach whose guidance best fits her goals. Gerson selected Clarkson, placing her on Team Kelly for the rounds ahead.
Her appearance was also reported as taking place at the same time as her college graduation, an indication of how much weight a national television audition can carry for an emerging performer. The clip, however, keeps the attention where the format places it first—on the song and the voice that prompted the chairs to turn.
WTS Editorial Take
What makes this performance work for us is not the idea of treating “Too Close” as a vocal obstacle course. Gerson’s audition is more interesting as an example of choosing a song with an internal dramatic engine. The lyric and arrangement already contain unease; a singer’s job is to decide how directly to state that feeling and how much space to leave around it.
That is a valuable distinction for singers choosing audition material. A song with a famous chorus is not automatically an effective audition song, and a technically demanding track is not automatically a revealing one. The best fit often gives the performer room to establish tone early, develop an arc and leave the listener with a sense of artistic direction. “Too Close” offers those possibilities because its impact comes from accumulation.
Gerson’s two-chair result suggests that the performance gave the coaches more than a clean rendering of a recognizable song. It gave them enough to imagine potential development. Clarkson’s interest in helping Gerson draw out another level of expression points to the productive tension at the heart of the audition: the voice already has a distinct starting point, while the competition offers a space to see how far that identity can expand.
About the Performer
Hazel Gerson is a singer from San Jose, California. She was 21 when she appeared on Season 30 of NBC’s The Voice, where contemporary coverage identified her as a recent college graduate. For her Blind Audition, she performed Alex Clare’s “Too Close,” earned turns from Kelly Clarkson and Riley Green, and chose to join Team Kelly.
Video Source & Credit
Original video: “Hazel Gerson Gets Coaches Riled Up After Singing ‘Too Close’ | The Voice Blind Auditions | NBC.”
Official publisher/channel: The Voice on YouTube (@nbcthevoice), the official channel for NBC’s The Voice.
Canonical YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHqppc5CQgY
This is an independent World Talents Show editorial feature. The video, performance footage and related program materials are credited to their respective rights holders and the original publisher.
