The most recent season of NBC’s “The Voice” is well underway, with many in Waterloo and throughout the area having spent the last few weeks waiting in anticipation for a young local artist to make his appearance on the show.

All that waiting paid off Monday as Eli Ward made his debut, and his hometown got to see an exceptional performance during the airing of his blind audition.

Ward grew up in Waterloo, and he recalled how his family – particularly his mother – helped him build an interest in music from a very young age.

He spoke about receiving a drum set for Christmas when he was 8 or 9, having started piano lessons just a year earlier.

Ward expressed a particular affinity for his time spent learning the piano.

“I took piano lessons pretty much all the way through high school, and it set such a great foundation for learning other instruments,” Ward said. “I’m forever thankful that my parents decided to put me in piano lessons, because really once I learned the basics of music theory, I applied it to a couple other instruments, and now you probably won’t find me going a day without playing an instrument – whether that be guitar, piano, drums, singing or just all of the above.”

His musical interest further blossomed in school as he participated in Waterloo High School concerts and spent time with several teachers who helped him grow even more as an artist.

Beyond high school, Ward has been attending the University of Iowa, where his latest academic pursuit has been interdepartmental business with a focus in technology.

He has also participated in track and cross country, though his academic and athletic careers have taken a brief hiatus this semester as he focuses on his work for “The Voice.”

Despite the substantial background in music, Ward noted he hasn’t had much experience when it comes to live performances.

Ward pointed to his participation in high school band as well his role in local band South Main – which recently performed at the Waterloo PumpkinFest – and their shows at venues like Vintage Wine Bar and Uncle John’s RRR Bar.

All in all, Ward was left feeling a little inexperienced as he found himself fast approaching his audition for “The Voice.”

“I never really put a ton of time into singing in front of people, and I think it definitely, definitely would have been nice to do that a little bit more before I went on ‘The Voice,’ but I wouldn’t change what I got,” Ward said.

Ward described how he originally began considering trying out for “The Voice,” saying it was really something he did on a whim back in January after playing guitar for a friend’s audition.

Having auditioned for the show through some open calls, he managed to get approval to head out to Burbank, California, in preparation for the show.

Those days before his blind audition – the well-known part of the show where contestants perform on stage in the hopes one or more of the celebrity judges will turn their chair and offer to serve as their coach – were rather stressful, as he recalled.

“I definitely felt under-prepared – I think horrified is a great word – when I first met a lot of the contestants, and you hear each other sing, whether that’s at a practice or something, and they’re just incredible,” Ward said. “Every person there is just so top-tier, which I guess I should have expected because it’s ‘The Voice,’ but it definitely was crazy. The first two or three days there, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I should sing in front of other people because I don’t think I’m at that level quite yet.’”

By no means did Ward let the talent of his peers get him down, however. 

Though Ward admitted to feeling like he wasn’t on the same level as other contestants, he also spoke positively, saying that hearing such talent around him helped push him to work hard and continue developing his own artistic skills.

This effort ultimately led to his blind audition, which Ward remembered as more than a little scary as he was eager to give his best in front of four major superstars.

He wound up garnering attention from two of them, selecting Gwen Stefani to be his coach, though he admits he might have been a bit too focused on the audition instead of what came next.

“The whole time, all you’re thinking about is getting the chair turn, not about what would be after the chair turn,” Ward said. “So during my blind audition, I was pretty locked in, I was OK, and then when the coaches hit their buttons, I blanked. I had never been in a situation where I had, like, lost the music before… I definitely got a little bit nervous and definitely hit a wrong note or two when Gwen Stefani turned around, but, I mean, it’s Gwen Stefani.”

Ward wasn’t able to speak much about his participation in the TV show beyond his blind audition for the sake of spoilers, but he did generally say the experience he’s had being part of “The Voice” has helped him grow tremendously as an artist.

Ward’s parents are, naturally, quite proud of him. His mother Cathy offered him great praise for pursuing his dream and having the guts to perform and participate in the show.

Cathy further noted how at ease Eli seems to be in front of the camera, saying he appears to be made for this kind of performance.

“He’s really following his passion, and we were thrilled with all of it,” Cathy said. “Super proud of him, obviously.”

Eli and his family were on hand for Monday’s airing of the audition during a watch party held at Happy Hour Sports Bar in downtown Waterloo, where Eli performed an acoustic set just prior to the 7 p.m. TV appearance.

Though folks in Waterloo will surely be eager to see how Eli performs throughout the remainder of the season, he has plenty more to think about for when the show wraps up.

“My plans currently are kinda up in the air,” Eli said. “I have a couple links, a couple connections in Nashville that I think I would love to pursue, whether I move there and then finish my last couple semester hours online or I’ll re-enroll this next semester… I think regardless of how it pans out, the end goal is music for sure.”