Caroline Alexis Reflects on Her Journey With Team Riley on ‘The Voice’ and Shares What’s Ahead [Exclusive]

Since her time on The Voice, Caroline Alexis has been busy writing new music and figuring out what comes next in her country music journey.

Music has always been the Alabama native’s dream, but her path to The Voice looked a little different from most. Her passion for performing grew through high school theater, pageants and other performances, but along the way she found herself shifting paths and attending law school. Alexis recently graduated and was preparing for the bar exam when she got the opportunity to audition for The Voice, and couldn’t pass it up.

This led her to join Team Riley Green during Season 30 after impressing the coaches with her cover of Rascal Flatts’ “Take Me There.” She advanced to the Battle Rounds, where she faced Everett Bounds in a performance of Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn’s classic duet “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man.” Although Bounds won the battle, Alexis is now eager to build on the lessons she learned from the experience and continue pursuing her longtime dream of becoming a country artist.

The hard work hasn’t slowed down for the 25-year-old since coming off the show. She is busier than ever writing music on her own in hopes of releasing new material soon. For now, she remains in Alabama while working toward the next stage of her career, but Alexis hasn’t ruled out law, either. She shared plans to take the bar exam in February 2027, though she is still hopeful to continue pursuing music full time.

Keep reading to learn more about Caroline Alexis’ journey, life after The Voice, and what fans can expect from her next.

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How early in life did you discover your love for performing?

I started off performing for an audience of just myself in my bathroom. I grew up an only child and I was kind of shy to begin with. And even my mom, if she walked in the room, I would immediately stop singing just because I was so nervous. But my senior year of high school, they were doing a production of Mama Mia, and I was like, “Well, it’s my last year of school here, so if I’m ever going to do the play, now’s the time to do it”…I got the role of Donna, who played by Meryl Streep in the movie, talk about big shoes to fill. It was so much fun and I really fell in love with performing then. And it kind of slowed down for a little bit and I would just play places here and there throughout undergrad, but I always knew it was something I wanted to do. And once I knew that I could do it, I was like, “Well, I can’t stop here.”

At what point did you decide you wanted to audition for The Voice?

I’d actually auditioned for The Voice a couple times just through their open calls through the years. And it seems like timing always ends up perfect, even when we don’t understand “no’s” to begin with. So this year when it did work out and I got to go out there, it’s just been a surreal thing. And it’s scary a little bit to make pursuing a dream that’s so personal a public thing because you open yourself to so much, but I’m just so grateful for that whole experience. It really taught me that I could handle more than I thought I could when it comes to high stakes situations. 

While you were getting ready for the audition, you were also in law school preparing for the bar exam. How did you manage the demands of these two very different worlds?

So they are completely different in the sense that you have the professional path in the law and then the uncertainty of pursuing music. But to me, I don’t really view them as contradicting stories in my life. I think they’re both testaments to the fact that I’m willing to work hard and my determination. They are separate in a sense, but they relate in that way. As I finished law school, graduated from that, and I was getting ready to take the bar exam, I just thought this has been a dream that I’ve always had to pursue music. And I didn’t want to look back in years to come and think, man, what would’ve happened if I had taken a chance? So I did postpone the bar exam for a little while because we were busy this summer. But yeah, it’s not something you hear all the time when somebody hears that I go to law school and then, yeah, but I also want to do country music. 

What is something you want people to understand better about your journey up to this point?

I know that I had mentioned on stage during my blind audition that I had gone to law school and that I was studying for the bar exam, but one thing I think I want people to know is music has always been the dream. It’s not the plan B for me at this point. So that was something that I was like, oh, I hope they don’t think that I’m focusing on law and that music comes second because this has always been the dream. 

What was going through your head as your stepped on stage for the blind audition?

It honestly was such a pinch-myself moment because you’re out there and you know it’s happening, but the reality of it actually happening doesn’t set in until you’re on that stage and you see the backs of those chairs as the song’s getting ready to start and you’re like, ‘okay, this is about to happen and the whole world is going to see it.’ And there’s no redos. If you mess up, you got to keep going. But it was crazy, especially, I tell my parents all the time, I was so jealous of them because once Riley did turn his chair, it pans to them reacting immediately and getting to like, woo, I was so jealous because I had to finish singing the song. And I thought, I just can’t look at him because at that point it’s like, oh my gosh, this is what I’ve been working towards and now it’s happening. And I was so excited. I was so grateful that I remembered all the words at that point. 

How did you celebrate after landing a spot on Riley Green’s team?

In the car ride from Universal to the next hotel that we were staying at before flying back to Alabama, there were a couple other people that had auditioned that day that we all just got to celebrate together. We went to dinner and it was so amazing getting to be excited with all these new friends that I had made because you get to know each other out there as artists and learning from each other, but also building those personal relationships and friendships. And so the car ride to the hotel was about an hour long and I was so just like, I couldn’t even speak hardly. I just kept saying, “what is happening? What is my life? Did that really just happen?” I was waiting to open my eyes and wake up from a dream. But yeah, it was just trying to take every moment in at that point because it’s exciting. I mean, it’s a lot of hard work and feeling it pay off is remarkable. 

We saw you compete in the battle rounds against Everett Bounds. How did you prepare for that performance of  Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn’s classic duet, “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man”?

For some reason I just had this feeling that that was going to be my song for battles. And I don’t know how. It wasn’t like we had a list. You don’t know what you’re going to get, but I kept thinking “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man” in my head. And once that was the song and I was paired with Everett, it ended up being such a blessing because I think we just had so much fun preparing. It became easy to forget that it was a battle, and it felt just more like this is such a fun song and we’re going to have fun telling the story and we hope people feel the story and can relate it to their own lives. And I think we did that. So preparing didn’t feel like preparing for battle. It felt just more like having fun and singing together. 

It’s intimidating getting a song that’s so iconic and so beloved. Traditional country music songs like that that are around for decades and decades, people really connect to them and love the original version. So we wanted to definitely give our own take and spin on it, while also respecting the original. 

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Is there any advice that Riley Green offered you throughout your time on the show that you feel is really going to stick with you? 

I think one of his main ways that he’s able to impact so many people is through the storytelling aspect of his music, which is also one thing that makes people love country music. And so one of the things he told us in rehearsals was just, “make sure that you’re telling the story because it’s not about you two in that moment, it’s about the audience and what you’re able to make them feel.” And so his advice to us was to focus on the story. And Carly Pearce also, one of the questions I asked her was, “What’s one thing that makes a performance better to you than the performance maybe the day before or the weekend before?” And she was like, “Oh, that’s a really good question.” I’m proud of myself for stumping her, but her answer was something that I definitely am going to continue to try to apply. And it was that she makes sure that she does everything she can to prepare to put on the show for her audience and to make them connect. And just going on stage knowing that you’ve done everything you can and you’re there to make people feel and love the music. I was like, “Oh, I love that. I’m writing that down mentally immediately.” 

How has life changed for you since coming off of the competition show?

Since The Voice, I’ve just been writing a bunch of music and getting ready to get things recorded and put out there because I’m so grateful for everyone that supported me through that journey on The Voice, and I want to give them something to look forward to and moving forward. I want to continue to develop my identity as an artist and develop my sound and find ways to incorporate that traditional country music sound that I love so much into something that people can relate to today and enjoy riding down the road in their car or something or have a moment that they hear that song and they go, “Oh gosh, that makes me think of when this happened.” So I’m just really excited to continue performing and continue working on music and getting some stuff released.

Is there anything you can share about the new music you’re working on?

There’s one song concept that I’ve been working on, and have you heard people say, “it’s sink or swim?” I had a conversation recently and that was part of the topic and I was like, “The say it’s sink or swim, but I think what’s more dangerous is some people get stuck just looking at the water.” And so at this point, I don’t want to get stuck looking at the water. I want The Voice to be a chapter in my journey, not the whole story. So definitely just making moves and wanting to keep going, opening doors, see what opens, and putting something out there that people can love, hopefully. 

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Are you doing any co-writes or mostly writing songs on your own right now?

At this point, it’s been just writing on my own, but co-writes is definitely something I want to do. Me and Everett even have talked about doing some together and putting something out, the both of us. I think that would be something cool for people to see. He loves traditional country music too, so I think we have a lot of similar influences that would have a promising outcome if we were to write together. 

Since you put the Bar exam on hold, do you ever see yourself going back down that path one day?

My question to myself every day is what next with that? As of right now, I do plan to take the bar exam in February, but if things work out with music and I’m able to do that full time, that would definitely be what I want to do. But something about that bar exam, I’m like, I just feel like I need to tackle it and say, “I’ve passed the bar.” It’s like whenever people ask me, ” what’s something your friends would say about you or how would they describe you?” I’m like, “I think they would say I’m just full of surprises.” 

Fans can keep up with Caroline Alexis on Instagram.