Derby country singer Jaelen Johnston is now one of the top five finalists on ‘The Voice.’
.jpg "Jaelen Johnston from Derby will be among five singers competing on the finale of “The Voice” next week.")
Roughly two weeks and 24 hours after Derby singer Jaelen Johnston was eliminated from NBC’s singing competition “The Voice,” he’s suddenly found himself a member of the show’s final five.
Johnston, a 22-year-old member of the Derby High School class of 2021, appeared on Tuesday’s live episode of “The Voice,” where he advanced from a pool of 12 semifinalists onto the top five who will get to compete next week for the title.
It’s been a bit of a roller coaster for Johnston and his fans, who on Monday night learned that he was one of four previously eliminated singers invited to return because of a “Super Save” extended by one of the show’s four celebrity judges. Singer Kelsea Ballerini saved Johnston, saying she’d taken plenty of heat from the show’s fans online after she let him go on the April 29 episode.
The catch: After the top 12 were named on Monday, fans had fewer than 10 hours to vote online for which singers they wanted to advance to the final five: Voted ending at 6 a.m. CST on Tuesday, and the singers advancing were revealed during a live show that started at 8 p.m.
When it was time to reveal which singers were moving on, host Carson Daly started by naming the four singers who had received the most online votes. Johnston — who is the only country singer left in the competition — was the fourth singer named. (Though Daly clarified that they were named in no particular order.)
The other three top vote-getters were Renzo from Philadelphia; Lucia Flores-Wiseman from Maple Valley, Washington; and Jadyn Cree from Lincoln, Nebraska.
Then, Daly named the four singers who’d received the next highest number of votes. Each had to perform for a chance to earn the fifth finalist spot. Fans had five minutes to vote for their favorite online.
The singer chosen for the fifth spot was Adam David from Fort Lauderdale.
Johnston, who previously told The Eagle that he got his courage up to sing in public only about five years ago, named his musical influences include Chris Stapleton, Zach Bryan, Treaty Oak Revival and “hands down, the king himself, George Strait.” His love of music, he said, started at age 16, when his grandparents gave him a guitar.
A regular on local bar stages, Johnston will perform at this year’s Wichita Riverfest.
The two-part season finale of “The Voice” airs at 7 p.m. Monday and at 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, when the winner — who will be the singer who gets the most online votes — will be named and will receive the grand prize of a recording contract.
This story was originally published May 13, 2025 at 9:54 PM.
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