Arts & Entertainment

UPDATE: Loganville Musician Jordan Rager Moves on to Next Round of the Voice

UPDATE: Loganville native Jordan Rager was chosen Monday to be on Blake Shelton's team as he moves on to the next round of "The Voice," the popular NBC talent show.

Jordan Rager is looking forward to watching season two of NBC’s “The Voice” as much as anyone.

“There’s going to be a lot of good talent on this year. There’s going to be a lot of people that are really going to bring their A-game,” he said.

Over the past couple of months, Jordan has become good friends with several of the other contestants and said he is very impressed with the level of talent in the competition.

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“I watched some of the show last year and the talent was great,” Jordan said. “This year, I think – no disrespect for the contestants last year – the talent, the bar has been raised so much.”

"The Voice" is a vocal talent competition consisting of three stages. The first, the blind auditions, allows artists a chance to perform with the judges hearing nothing but their voice. Decisions are based strictly on singing ability, not looks. The contestants that advance from the blind auditions then move into the "battle phase." Contestants are paired in duets by their celebrity coaches: Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera or Blake Shelton. The celebrity coach must then decide which of his or her singers gets to advance to the live rounds. During the live rounds, audience members vote and eventually the contestant field is narrowed down to four. One of those four wins a recording contract and $100,000.

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The first five episodes of season two will be dedicated to the blind auditions. Jordan does not yet know when his audition will air.

Connie Rager, Jordan’s mother, is the person behind Jordan’s upcoming television appearance. Last year, after several Facebook friends encouraged her to enter Jordan in “The Voice” competition, Rager decided to do just that.

“I thought I’d just do an artist profile and see what happens,” she said. Three hours later, she received a phone call from a show representative wanting to schedule an audition.

Within a few weeks, Rager was watching her son perform in front of some of the biggest stars in the music industry.

“I tell you that was … such a great feeling,” she said. “Words are hard to find to describe it because I see his dream unfolding. He may not be the next Jason Aldean tomorrow, but I see him being on his way.”

That journey is one Jordan began at a very early age.

“When he was two years old and singing Disney songs and Barney and stuff, we could tell he could sing,” Rager recalled. “All kids can sing, but he stayed on pitch, he didn’t switch keys or anything.”

At 14, Jordan performed publicly for the first time.

“He came off the stage, directly to me and his daddy, and said, ‘That’s what I want to do with my life’,” she said.

Since then, Rager has been working to help her son fulfill his goals.

“I know this is what he wants to do, so it does my heart good to see him getting to do what he wants to do,” Rager explained.

Though Jordan will soon become known to a national television audience, Saturday night he performed for local fans at Friends Sports Grill in Dacula. Ray Stanjevich, the co-owner of Friends, said Jordan is very popular with both his customers and employees.

“Very talented, good voice,” Stanjevich said. “People enjoy him. He’s got a local following – one of the most popular musicians we have playing here at Friends. He’s impressed a lot of folks around here.”

Now his local fans must wait and see if the celebrity judges on “The Voice” were equally impressed.

For now, all Jordan would say is that he is ready for the new season to get underway.

“It’s going to be really good,” he said. “I’m looking forward to watching it.”

The new season of "The Voice" premieres on Feb. 5 on NBC after the Super Bowl.


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