LONGMEADOW – For weeks, millions of people watched her sing on NBC, and after several weeks of practice, perseverance and dedication, Brynn Cartelli of Longmeadow was voted by America as the winner of Season 14 of “The Voice.”

Reminder Publications had the opportunity to chat with Cartelli about her time on the show leading up to her final performance, the friends she’d made and what it’s like to be back in her hometown after weeks in the spotlight.  

Leading up to her final performance on “The Voice” Cartelli was anxious, but excited and ready to give it her all. She explained that though of course, she wanted to win, she was singing to have a good time, not to win.

“It was definitely very weird to know that I had one week left to give it my all. I didn’t expect to win, I wasn’t singing to win. I was singing to leave the show on a high note,” she explained. “I just wanted to have a fun time out there singing something that was dramatic and very me. Picking “Skyfall” by Adele is very ‘finale’ and talks about the end of something but also the start of something.”

As the youngest contestant to win “The Voice,” at the age of only 15, Cartelli had no expectations of winning considering her competition–turned­­–friends were more experienced.

“I just thought it would be anyone else. They’ve [the other contestants] been in the industry longer than I have been, everyone’s just older than me and have been in it longer,” she shared.

Though “The Voice” has four coaches–singers Adam Levine of Maroon 5, country crooner Blake Shelton, soulful Alicia Keys and pop royalty Kelly Clarkson–Cartelli was thrilled to have been a member of Clarkson’s team throughout. The two built a bond over Cartelli’s time on the show; she even commented that Clarkson was “like a second mom.”

“She gave good, very motherly advice. She’s very honest and funny, she and I have a really great relationship,” Cartelli said of Clarkson.

Cartelli explained that Clarkson gave her plenty of leeway when it came to how Cartelli saw a performance panning out, or how she felt a song should be sung.

“She really trusted me when we got to the live rounds which I really appreciated, I had a bajillion ideas week by week for what my next strategy was, and she really trusted me and advised me. She really understood that and it was really nice to have someone like Kelly who trusted me and believed in me and that it would work out,” she said.

While Cartelli experienced plenty of moments on the show that were on a list of “highs,” a few moments stick out to her, including how at her rehearsal for the night she sang Coldplay’s, “Fix You,” she wound up in tears on multiple occasions.

“When I was rehearsing “Fix You,” I rehearsed it on stage and I sang it three times, and I cried each time because it was really emotional and it really moved me,” she shared. “It was crazy because the song connects with so many people, to sing a song by Coldplay, who I never thought to sing, the magic of the stage, it brought all of the emotion.”

Another favorite memory for Cartelli was when she sang a “mash-up” of “Four Five Seconds” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” in the semi-finals alongside Britton Buchanan, who she considers one of her closest friends.

“He’s like a brother to me,” Cartelli said of Buchanan.

When asked about the challenges the show presented to her, Cartelli said that there were “thousands.”

“Being away from home and my normal life and friends [was a challenge.] But, I soaked it all up and really loved what I was doing,” Cartelli said.

Additionally, she noted that she came to realize that the shows’ audience wasn’t necessarily watching “The Voice” because they’re fans of hers; they’re interested in the competition.

“Knowing people aren’t watching the show because they’re fans of you, they’re watching for the competition and the drama, that really got in my head a lot,” she said. “It’s a show for music, but it’s not a show for music. There are a lot of people watching for the competition.”

While she tried to not read comments left by people on the internet, Cartelli noted that this was a challenge for a lot of the contestants on “The Voice,” including herself.

“Knowing that you’re going up there for people to judge you openly…” she trailed off. “It keeps going on, and I didn’t really have time to stop and read it [the comments] and I never really did in the first place. It’s just going to get in your head.”

Over the course of the months she spent on the show, Cartelli was able to forge friendships with fellow contestants, stage crew, makeup artists and celebrities. Some of these people she considers herself closer to than people she spends time with back home.

“A lot of the contestants are people blowing up my phone right now as we speak, Britton, he needs to stop [texting] actually,” Cartelli laughed. “Jackie Foster is like a sister to me, Alexa Cappelli got eliminated way too early. Drew Cole, who also got eliminated way too early.”

In a side story, Cartelli explained to Reminder Publications that when the contestants were recording the battle rounds she turned to her parents and told them that she wanted Cole to win.

“I’m the biggest fan of him, I love him so much. He’s so cool!” She exclaimed.

“They all [people on the show] became mentors to me, whether it was social problems or school or music or writing, they were always there for me.” She added, “I’m closer to them than a lot of people at home because even though I’ve known them for such little time, when you’re going through that [the competition] every week it starts to slowly become normal; it’s amazing, you have people speaking the same language as you.”

Now that she’s back home in Longmeadow, Cartelli said at first, she didn’t feel like she was at home because of how much had changed.

“I had just come off a high of being on a TV show every weekend, and having everything done for me and paid for and scheduled for me, and now it’s up to me to figure out the next steps. It’s a completely different world in California,” she said.

Last week, Cartelli had the opportunity to go around to all of the elementary schools and middle schools in Longmeadow to say “hi” to the younger students and to thank them for all of their support and voting.

“It’s been really good [to be home], everyone’s been really supportive and nice,” she said.

Now that the show is over and she has had a moment to look back on the experience, Cartelli said the time she spent with fellow contestants is what has taught her the most.

“You’re living in a hotel with everyone, we’d hang out every night and play music for each other and write together and talk about music and the industry. It’s priceless, you never can get that anywhere else,” she said. “Some loved to give me life lessons, they saw me as their little sister.”

On June 8, Cartelli is scheduled to sing on NBC’s “Today Show” along with Kelly Clarkson. Cartelli will be singing her song, “Walk My Way,” which she said she would be shooting the music video for later this month.

“Then we’re going to start working on the album. It’s been a dream come true to be planning out a project under my name, and not under “The Voice,”” she said.

While she’s still young and won’t be moving any time soon, Cartelli says that while she’s unsure about a move to California, she does like the idea of moving to New York City.

“I want to move to New York [City] really badly,” she explained. “I have a lot of friends from California and there are a lot of opportunities out there but I also like the idea and the inspiration of living in a small town. California is a very material world, and a lot of things happen at once.”

If there was one piece of advice she could give an aspiring singer, whether young or old, Cartelli’s advice was simple: try.

“I think if you’re really interested and really love what you’re doing, it’s important to get out there and try. I remember when I first auditioned for “The Voice” and I was like, ‘Let’s just try it.’ It was really early in my career, and since then they took a chance on me and I kept going,” Cartelli said. “Try, no matter how young you are you can do it if you work really hard and are passionate about it.”