The winner of NBC’s season five of The Voice, Tessanne Chin, says that her coach Adam Levine was the perfect choice because he understood what her aim was entering the competition.

“Adam has a thing where he can cross into any genre. I needed someone who would be able to take me through as well and the fact that he is a fan of reggae music means he understood what I was all about,” Tessanne said.

Tessanne Chin

“He was really the best coach for me, though Christina made a good pitch. She played the ‘female card’ to get me on her team,” Tessanne told reporters at the Jamaica Observer’s Monday Exchange held at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters in Kingston.

She added that there had been a debate from the start regarding the type of music she would be performing, but Levine made an effort to not box her in.

“He made sure to solidify me as a vocalist first,” she said.

And when she sang ‘Underneath it All’ by No Doubt (featuring Lady Saw), both she and Levine knew that was the perfect song for her, The Voice winner said.

“There was an ongoing debate as to the type of songs I’d be singing, some thought I should do reggae every week. The week I did ‘Underneath it All’, we were going in a completely different direction but Adam totally scrapped that song. He knew it was not for me,” said Tessanne.

“We thought about it for a bit then I said how about ‘Underneath it All’?” she continued, adding that Levine immediately got excited about the choice.

“Luckily the song was cleared — all songs performed have to be cleared. The musicians had to learn that song and yes, production went on a little longer but I’m glad I did it,” Tessanne said.

She added that ‘Underneath it All’ is one of her favourite performances to date.

“I got to show my fun side and show my culture at the same time,” she said.