April 23, 2025 • 35 mins
Cornelius Versa grew up loving country music — but it took years (and a few sparkly cowboy hats) to finally claim his place in it. This week on Pride, he joins host Caitlynn McDaniel for a conversation about finding identity, building community, and stepping into the spotlight on his own terms.
Cornelius — also known as the Crystal Cowboy — opens up about his experience on The Voice, the personal story behind his new single Pull the Trigger, and how TikTok (including a viral Wicked country cover!) helped him connect with LA’s queer country scene. He also shares the story of meeting his husband in college, why taking risks changed his career, and gives Caitlynn a hilarious (and slightly chaotic) lesson in yodeling.
Cornelius’s new single Pull the Trigger is available now on all streaming platforms.
🎶 Follow Cornelius Versa everywhere @CorneliusVersa.
Cornelius — also known as the Crystal Cowboy — opens up about his experience on The Voice, the personal story behind his new single Pull the Trigger, and how TikTok (including a viral Wicked country cover!) helped him connect with LA’s queer country scene. He also shares the story of meeting his husband in college, why taking risks changed his career, and gives Caitlynn a hilarious (and slightly chaotic) lesson in yodeling.
Cornelius’s new single Pull the Trigger is available now on all streaming platforms.
🎶 Follow Cornelius Versa everywhere @CorneliusVersa.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Straw media. Can you teach me how to yodel?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Oh my god? Okay, can you do like the uh?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
No? Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Half of it is just having the like sheer confidence
to fake it.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm caitlyin McDaniel and this week on Pride, I'm talking
to my good friend Cornelius Versa, aka the Crystal Cowboy,
and we're gonna talk about making country queer his new
single Pulled the Trigger, and his time on the Voice.
Plus he's gonna give me some lessons in yodeling. So
stay tuned. Ways, what's going on back there? I wanted
(01:01):
to ask you, we haven't discussed this this Okay, we
are starting, Okay, here we go. I when I moved
to La I was so excited about line dancing, even
though I grew up in Arizona, so you'd think there'd
be like a big group for that, But I've never
had any experience really with that like atmosphere, Like growing
up in Phoenix, it was very just like club another club,
(01:25):
and I right, no sleep club. I mean, if you
go to Mellen Tempe like that, it's crazy times over there.
But I always wanted to line dance. I always loved
country music and I feel like that was like so
shamed always going up. So I just wanted to ask
you about when you came to LA if you love
line dancing and like just kind of like your first
(01:47):
interaction with that atmosphere.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah. So I grew up in the Midwest, and it
was a mix between city living in the Midwest and
rural living in the Midwest, depending on the time of year.
And I will say when I was in the city
parts of the Midwest, country music was also shamed upon,
but when I was in the rural parts of the Midwest,
it was obviously the main thing, like the showstopper. And
(02:09):
for me as a kid, you know, that was such
a formative time of learning the music that I loved,
learning who I am as a person, and country music
was what I loved. And then I felt like as
I grew up, I kind of morphed a little bit
and put on this, you know, whatever popular music was,
whether it was Britney Spears or Celine Dion or whatever
the era. But when I moved to LA I did
(02:32):
feel like the first several years I was here, I
didn't have any of that country music and any of
that line dancing life, and it wasn't until I started
pursuing it myself that this whole other world opened up
to me. Here there's stud Country, which is usually at
Club Bahia, and they do line dancing multiple times a week.
(02:53):
It is so much fun and I just love it.
I mean, I think country music is so infectious. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I still definitely feel like when I bring up to
anyone that I like country music, they're like, oh, you
like trucks and beer and yeah, and I'm like, no,
I don't. I mean, that's fine if you do, but
like it's just immediately like people are so closed off
and it's great.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, I mean it's a spectrum. Yeah, it's such a spectrum.
And even when I when I call myself the Crystal Cowboy,
that Crystal's there because there is a little flamboyancy there is,
I'm queer, like there cowboys and country music isn't all
trucks and like rolling down the road. I mean, there's
so much variety and there's so much storytelling in that
(03:35):
entire genre that I think it's just misunderstood and we just.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Jumped right into it. But this is my amazing talented friend,
Cornelius Versa aka the Crystal cowboy, Can you talk just
a little bit going into like you have amazing new
music out that we will talk about, but yeah, like,
I know you've been in this industry for a minute
and now you're like, this is my time to shine,
and that's what we're talking about. So just walk me
(04:01):
through your history with that.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, I mean, my journey in the music industry has
been so winding and twisting and turning and very unsettled,
very ungrounded. And it goes all the way back to
what I was just saying about growing up in Midwest,
where I had the dichotomy between city living and rural living,
where country music was king and then pop divas were
(04:23):
king Queen's. But you know, it just was such an
interesting experience because when I started to sing, I didn't
really know how to control my voice. I didn't really
know the type of music that I wanted to do.
I loved country music, but I felt like I wasn't
allowed to do it. And then when I came out,
I felt even more so like I wasn't allowed to
(04:44):
be out and proud in country music. As sad as
that is. So I went to theater and I did theater.
I did opera, I did that for many years, but again,
my heart was never really in the work. I'm thankful
for the training, I'm thankful for the experience and the
time that I had on stage, But it wasn't until
the pandemic and slowing down and being forced to analyze
(05:05):
everywhere that I had been before I finally got to
the point where I was like, oh my god, I
need to do music, but it has to be me
and for me, that's Americana, that's country, that's folk, that's
Appalachian music, that's storytelling. And that's kind of how I
got back into it.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
And how was it finding a community? I know, LA
is obviously very diverse, we have so many like we
have the ability to really find a lot of different
people here, but just finding a community of even just
you know, musicians, but also in country, especially in the
LGBTQ circle.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, it's been It's been tricky because I feel like
we're all out there but in a way hiding amongst
the masses. As weird as that sounds, but I've actually
found that social media has been the greatest connecting force.
I mean, obviously mord of Mouth, I think the cool
thing about living in LA and having the country scene
in la is that it is niche and it is
(06:04):
a close knit community and everyone talks, so you meet
one person and they'll introduce you to another, and it's
just it's such a nice, warm hug of a community.
But that initial, like when I finally stepped out and
was like, okay, I do country. Who's here? That was
really through social media that I initially found that that family.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And you've been posting tiktoks that are so fun, like
like what if Wicked was country? And I love that.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I just feel like taking any song and making a
country makes it better. That's my part. Yeah, but those
have been so fun and they've been reaching a lot
of people.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, that was a really accidental success. My friend Francis
Dominic had reached out to me. I love Francis uh
and he had reached out to me after I posted
about seeing Wicked. I saw it late ready, I wasn't
read that. Yeah, I need a time, And it took
me about a month to gain up the like motivation
to go see it because it was so near and
(07:06):
dear to me when it first came out. Yeah, and
Francis reached out to me and he was like I
need you to sing like no one mourns the wicked
but country. And I was like, h Francis like da
da da da rattled off a voice note and he
was like, that's so amazing. You need to post that
on TikTok and I was like, like, you know, like
stage mom kind of the thing right, And I took
(07:28):
a shower, I had breakfast, and I was like, you
know what, fuck it, I'm going to do it. And
I went up to the mirror recorded myself singing it
and it was like pop and people liked it, and
so I just kind of kept on that trend and
it's been a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I mean, what is not to like about that? Truly?
I mean, me and Kylie, my roommate, best friend, whenever
we're in the car, like I said, I love a
song when it's turned country, we always like challenge. We'll
just fall into it. We'll be listening to the radio
and then all of a sudden, someone starts singing with
twang and then we're like, okay, challenge, accept it, and
now the whole song has to be sung in country.
And it got to the point where we were in
(08:03):
a music video for one of our friend's songs and
we were like telling the drummer about this, and she
was like, okay, sing this song that we're doing the
music video for a country and we're like, oh God,
no pretending.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Then we're like, okay, we need more country Twain in
this world.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So I'm thinking me and you, we need to do
like carpool karaoke.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yes, then we do country, then country.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Then I have this vision of you doing Adele country,
and I don't know why, but I really feel like
it would be good.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I would totally do it.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
I don't know if I've done Adele.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I glad I got burned by covering iconic people, but
I do think that, you know, it's so much fun
to just play with music, and I do believe so
wholeheartedly that music is out there for us to share
and experience new things. And if that's me taking a
song by Adele and singing it a little country or acoustic,
(08:53):
then that's. If you like it, you like it. If
you hate it, you hate it, but you're talking about it.
Some people like it. It's fun.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
In all, attention is good attention if you really.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Think about it, It's true, but sometimes the bad attention
is painful.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah. No, I mean, I'm definitely I'm a person who
like ignores the comments. I have my sister go through them.
I'm like, tell me if there's a positive one in there.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
My husband go through. He's kind of the like the
advanced crew.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Mm hmmm. And you mentioned being burned about covering popular people.
Is that at the Voice.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Or yeah, yeah, I made a mistake on that one,
you know. I think the interesting thing about that experience is,
you know, I really am a team of one. Obviously,
I have collaborators. I love working with other people, and
I have other confidants and voices that help me. But
(09:46):
at the end of the day, it's me calling all
the shots, and I don't have a team, and I'm
kind of the CEO of Cornelius versa. And sometimes those
big decisions, you get them wrong. And I think for
me that song specifically, so, I covered Burning Love by
Elvis Presley on the Voice, and I didn't get on obviously.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
I don't know that that's obvious. I think you should
have so I don't know.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I don't know, but I didn't stay on obviously. But
I think you know the reason that I chose that song.
I originally wanted to choose Blue by LeAnn Rimes because
that is really the person and the artist that got
me into music, and that album specifically, when it came out,
we were like similar age. I was like, oh my god,
(10:32):
she's my hero, and I was initially going to do
that and I was like, I really wanted to challenge myself.
And the weird thing about the timing of that show is,
you know, everything's done very collaboratively. It takes many, many
months just to get to that point. And you know,
growing up, as I mentioned, kind of in the rural Midwest,
(10:53):
I was with my Nunn and Papa, who are my
mom's parents, and my papa's favorite artist was Elvis Presley
and he had died recently. And the way the timing
worked out with filming when I was choosing this song
is the week after Blinds was his funeral. So for me,
choosing that song wasn't necessarily about covering Elvis or even
(11:13):
doing Elvis in a country way. It was kind of
like a tribute to him and his I don't know,
just like encouraging me to perform. I'd always promised him
that if I made it, I kind of take him
along for the ride and stepping onto a national stage
like the Voice, I felt like I kind of owed
him that, and I also thought it would be a
(11:34):
fun way to just showcase that I can move, that
I can do energetic songs, that I'm not just a
sad cowboy. And you know, it didn't play out the
way I'd hoped, but I still think I did him proud,
and I'm still proud of that experience overall.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I mean, yeah, I loved your rendition. I definitely think
everyone really honed into like, oh, you should never cover Elvis,
as if that was like so obvious of a thing
that you should. I mean people have gone on and
done songs of people that are judges, you know, like
they've done feel like that is a really bold.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
That's even bolder. Yeah, I mean I do think, like,
you know, I kind of realized quickly after choosing the song,
because once you choose it, it's locked in. Yeah, And
it's locked in, and it's a long process to actually
like make it from the choosing to the singing. And
the difficult thing with that is, you know, once I
(12:26):
chose it, and I chose it for reasons of my own,
like it was special to me. It was meaningful to me,
and I still think I did it proud. The only
thing is is I kind of realized it was damned
if you do, damned if you don't. And I was
just talking to my dad about this the other day
where I was like, you know, even if I had
taken that song flipped it made it country, everyone would
(12:47):
be mad. Even if I had taken that song and
changed nothing and saying it, everyone would be mad. I'm
not saying everyone was mad, but I just think like
that was some of the That's what irked people. I
think was just he is such an iconic vocalist and
singer and persona. Yeah that I think people couldn't help
but see me imitating him, which was anything but the truth.
(13:10):
So it is what it is. I had a lot
of fun.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, it was amazing the tribute. I mean, I didn't
know that part of it. That's so beautiful and like
it meant a lot to you, and that's really what
it matters at the end of the day. I mean,
you were robbed by.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Kelsey, but I mean it's like it really is a
case of right place at the wrong time. All the
teams were full, and it's it just was what it is.
And I don't fault Adam for not picking me because
he wanted a country guy and I'm kind of saying,
I mean, I'm a country guy. But the package that
I presented on the stage was not quite there. And
(13:45):
that's fine. And I love Trayvon. I think he's an
amazing artist and I wish him the best on the show.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
I was rewatching it today though, and I can't believe
how long Michael talks. But that's just another that, like,
I just can't believe it. It was insane, but such a
fun I mean time for you either way.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, it was such a fun time either way.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
How has the reactions from that been, Like have you
kind of seen people that have picked up on it
and been listening to your stuff?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Or yeah, I mean I saw an immediate spike. I
mean I had also coincidentally timed it because we don't
know when things will air, right, this was obviously all
filmed in the past. We have no idea when it's
going to come out. But when I left that stage
and I went into kind of this hibernation isolation mode,
I found myself really wanting to Like, I just it's
(14:52):
so much like bottled up in me. I just needed
to say something, and I ended up going to the
studio with my friends Grayson de Wolf and and writing
Pull the Trigger, And that whole song is a manifesto
about my life and feeling like I was always too
afraid to step out in front of the curtain and
wasting time, wasting my career. I mean, I'm thirty five,
(15:15):
and I waited a long time to get started. I
mean I was performing, but I really wasn't performing in
the way that I wanted. And that whole song is
a manifesto of just finally stepping out and saying, you
know what, look at me, see what happens. And that
was all because of the voice, and I timed it
coincidentally to come out the night the episode aired, so
(15:38):
it was a good distraction. Because the episode aired, my
song coincidentally came out and people were searching for me
and they found it, and because of that, it is
my most successful release, So I'm very thankful for that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
It's an awesome song. I love it. I do thank you.
Everyone needs to check it out. I mean, just going
into like I think, I feel like it was such
like not a switch from all your other stuff, but
I really did feel like you were just like showing up.
I mean you were, You've been wearing your sparkly suits
and it's just like, yeah, like look at me, for sure.
I loved that part. It's very much peacocking for sure,
(16:14):
which you need to but you need to draw attention,
you need to just feel like absolutely as.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I were all monochromatic brown today.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I mean, when did you start wearing the cowboy hats?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Like?
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Has that always been? I know you said you you know, I've.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Always It's so funny because in the same way that
I feel like I had to come out as a
gay man, I feel like I had to come out
as a country artist. And putting on the cowboy hat
was really like the final cherry on top of the
Sunday where it was like, now you can't deny it. Now,
you know you look at me, you see country perfect.
(16:48):
So that's when I started wearing them.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I love that. And then you're like, then I bedazzle them,
So then you really I bedazzled them country? Yeah, denying
that's where we're at.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
And I love it too. I mean, I don't know
if it's just a it definitely a huge inspiration of mine.
Is Orvile Peck. I think that that is obvious, and
I think what's really cool about the work that he's
done in forging a path for queer singers in country
music is giving us a space to kind of grow
along with him. And because of that, you have me
(17:20):
the Crystal Cowboy, you have Adam Mac the disco Cowboy,
you have Robert Adam the dream Angel Cowboy. And I
just feel like at this point all of us are
like little care bearskin like creating our own space within
the trails of the trailblazer who is Orvile Peck, and
just having so much fun getting to explore the space
that I feel like, up until twenty nineteen wasn't really there.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And I wanted to ask you about this because I
know this is really an issue for a lot of people,
but especially in Hollywood, where it's so fast and there's
so much always happening, that there can just be so
much jealousy in the industry. And I know you talked
about yeah, like just really wanting to push yourself to
be like, no, I have to start pushing myself out
there because I'm seeing the success for others and I'm
seeing that so how do you kind of turn that
(18:06):
like not necessarily jealousy, but just you know, like envy
of what other people are doing, and you're like, no,
I just need to like push that into my own work.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah. So that's actually a really interesting question because it
is something that has been somewhat the core of everything
that I've chosen to do in the last couple of years.
When I started this whole project of getting back into
country music, it really became a matter of being afraid
to take a step because where I am today is
(18:35):
not where I was eighteen months ago when I started,
and I wouldn't be where I am today if it
weren't for the steps I took eighteen months ago. And
I think the most important thing to keep in mind
when you're starting out, or even if you're just going
on as normal is if you're always afraid to do something,
you're never going to do it. And I kind of
(18:57):
have said this from the beginning of this whole experience
is if people don't like it, then I'm doing something right.
And I know that's a weird thing to say, because
I should positive, I should focus on, like, if people
love it, I'm doing something right and I'm almost more so,
like if you hear my song or you see my
performance and you're like, hmmm, I don't know, I don't
(19:17):
really like it. I actually love that because it's like
you didn't have an opinion eighteen months ago, you didn't
even know who I was, true, and now you do. Yeah,
And for every person who says they don't like it,
ten people say they do like it. So it's just
I would rather create conversation and I'd rather create like
some sort of movement among people's brains than to just
(19:42):
hide behind a curtain and do nothing. So it's not
jealousy for me, and it's not envy for me, but
it is just a matter of like those people that
I do envy and hold in high regard didn't get
to where they were by standing still.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
And I mean you talked about comments, and I did
look at the comments on the YouTube for the voice,
and they're all positive, they're all wonderful. Most people are asking,
you know, if you're coming back or just agreeing with
Adam on your song.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Choys, which yeah, you know, I mean it is what
it is.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, would you do it again? I know it's such
a long thing to like embark on once more.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
You know, it's a big commitment for sure. I think
I will never say never. You know, if they really
really were saying that, please come back, we'd love for
you to try again. I know they had said that
to me after my audition. I'm not gonna say no.
Per se. I do think right now what I need
as an artist is to really just explore my own
(20:41):
music and my own creativity. And as much as I'm
thankful for the show for the friends that it's given me,
because it's given me lifelong friends from behind the scenes,
other artists. I mean, these are people that I never
knew I needed in my life until I met them.
I am so thankful for that. But I'm also a
(21:02):
kind of on the flip side to contradict that, a
big proponent of like, Okay, I did that and I
learned a lot. Now I'm going to take what I
learned and I'm going to move forward. So I think
I'm moving forward.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
What's that going to look like.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I'm working on an album. I'm working on a full
length album, my debut album. It's been a long time coming.
I'm super super excited. I have a lot of different collaborators.
I'm working with I'm pulling together the team from Pull
the Trigger as well, and the goal is to just
tell a story. Tell my story because I've been hiding
(21:39):
for so long that I feel like I have so
much to say that what's been the biggest challenge for
me is weeding through all the muck and figuring out
how I want to say it.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Speaking of stories, I was googling you, which is something
that I haven't done since meeting you. But I was
reading about you and Christian and how and like your story.
It was on like Men's Vows. Yeah, you did a
little cover and I was like, I don't know any
of this, Like this is so fun. And you actually
(22:09):
met in real life, which I just love because.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Yeah, we met before the app.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Doesn't exist now, it's crazy. So I want I wanted
to ask if you can just kind of share a
little bit of your story because I love that.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, again, this is There's a lot that's happened. I mean,
I married my college sweetheart. We met in two thousand
and nine. We were in the same fraternity signify Epsilon.
We had two friends, both named Rachel, that were in
Kapakapa Gammo, and they conspired together to get us to meet,
and we started meeting with them for coffee. We initially
(22:42):
hated each other. Oh really, I had just got out
a relationship. Yeah, literally enemies to lovers, but I had
just gotten out of a relationship. I did not want
to be in one. I hadn't been single. I felt
like I was kind of going down that path of
serial monogamy. No hate, but like for me, I wanted
to kind of learn to be single and just do that.
(23:03):
And then I was his first long term boyfriend, which
at the time he didn't have one. So it's like
we had this I didn't we didn't want to be together.
It was very much like Charmed, I'm sure like that.
I remember meeting him at the University Center and it
was like a handshake and it's like m hm. And
we continued on our ways. But I don't know. You
(23:25):
can't deny fate, and in this instance, the fate and
the power that that had over us was so great.
I did not expect to meet my soulmate at twenty
years old. I can't believe it's been fifteen years. We
just celebrated fifteen years in October of last year, and
(23:46):
it's just been such a trip and so bizarre, and
we've traveled three different states together. We've you know, we
just bought a house in twenty nineteen. Like we're living
what child means he never thought possible. And it's just
every day I pinch myself. It's so weird. That wasn't
(24:08):
really how we met, but I mean no, it was.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
The romance story I needed. I'm like, I'm crying internally.
It's so it's so cute. I love it. I'm like,
you're like talking about everyone needs to be single. This
is like when Chapel Rown just recently is like everyone
should be single, but I'm in a relationship.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Yeah, but I'm in a long time Everyone.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Saying that, But that's just me being single and being salty.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
I mean he because we were in the same fraternity
that raised not like issues per se. I think we
had a really welcoming house. We were also at like
a liberal arts school, so it was like not really
that crazy, thankfully. And what's interesting about it is very
early on, I think within a week of pseudo dating,
(24:53):
before anything serious even happened, we were getting ice cream
and I was driving him to class and he it
kind of turned to me and was like you know,
I just think that we can't do this if you're
not serious about it for the long term, and we're
so young, and it's just like, I don't know, but
(25:14):
there was like in that moment, I could have been
like okay, like bye, but there was just something that
felt so right and real about the connection we had
where I was like, yeah, like, I'm in this for
the long term. I'm serious about this. And that was
like so early on in the conversation of even dating
that I just think that that is what really locked
(25:37):
us in and made it real, and that's kind of
been the core of our relationship ever since. We're so communicative,
we're respectful, we keep the mystery alive. I still hear
stories from him that I've never heard before, and it's
just like you get we're like in slow motion in
a way where he hears I just told him something
(25:57):
the other day. I was like, oh, yeah, like I
dated this guy once. He was like like it was
just one of those things where we've shared everything, but
we're still sharing new things, and I think it's really important.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah. I love a good lore drop where all sudden
and you don't even realize that you haven't told them
that you're just like just never came up, but like,
here's this crazy thing that happened to me, yeah ten
years ago. By the way, by the way, yeah hopefully
you still love me. Yeah. I mean, I love how
supportive you both are of each other. I mean, they
(26:29):
for everyone that doesn't know you, threw a party that
was about you releasing music, being on the voice. Yeah,
but also Christian's birthday, and I feel like the support
of being able to just celebrate both even because I mean,
me and Kylie were talking about it and she was like,
I need all the attention on me, like party right,
exactly exactly, But even like during the night, you could
(26:50):
tell how like even it was and how supportive that
you both have been of like just you're both of
your feelings and your dreams.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
So yeah, I mean, I I feel so thankful that
he's so supportive of me doing music again. You know,
he obviously saw me working my corporate jobs and my
temp jobs, and you know, my jobs in different service industries,
trying to figure out where I belonged in the world,
(27:18):
and so when I decided to go all in on music,
he was there ready to hold my hand, and I
wouldn't be I wouldn't be the Cornelis verse I am
today without him taking that leap of faith with me.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Is there anything else you want to you want to
cover before? I have like one request at the end.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
But uh, I don't think so. I think we kind
of touched on everything that I can think of.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I mean, yeah, of course, good about it. Yeah, you'll
need a sip of water for my request?
Speaker 2 (27:51):
What's this request?
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Can you teach me how to yodel? Oh?
Speaker 2 (27:55):
My god? Okay, can I say first and foremost? I'm
a terrible teacher.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Okay, I'm no.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
I think I doka yodling. I do have this dream.
There's there's an artist from like the fifties sixties, Kenny Roberts.
He was kind of I think his album cover said
something like Yodler of America or something weird like that,
Like he was a big yodler, and he's my inspiration
in terms of like getting back into yodeling. But it's
(28:24):
do you know how to like flip your voice?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
No? I don't know anything. Me going into this being
like I so can yodel. I'll figure this right out.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
What's so pathetic to me? Is I what that means
I'm a literal trained vocalist and I cannot describe to
you what I do. LeAnn Rimes taught me how to yodel,
and by that I mean I just listened to Cowboy
Sweetheart on repeat as a kid and was like yodle
like it was just that. So can you do like
the ah? No, I'm trying to think, like how you
(29:00):
even do it?
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Like I don't know, yeah, flip like like where where
the throat this is? Now? This is just gonna be
embarrassing myself.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
No, no, I want to see. I'm not a good teacher.
I'm just I'm more like a like watch me and
do it.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, so so this is it? Do it?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
So this is what I do. You could do whatever
you want.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, I mean I could, like probably I could pretend.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Maybe half of half of it is just having the
like sheer confidence to fake it.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Like do you go to Disneyland ever? Yeah, so like
when you're in like the matterhorn line and they play
yodelertle music. So I'm a person who like I love
to listen to the soundtracks all the time, but when
I walk anything. My most played song last year was
the like backtrack of bugs life, okay, because I just
(29:57):
like to like go to the park and pretend I'm
a bug.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
But I actually listened to like the Mataporn yodelers like
I'll just be just be doing my thing, and so
I'm trying to channel that because I like, I don't
know how they I feel.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Like you secretly know how to do it. I mean
that's pretty close. It's just that like squeak in there,
you need to like harness that because you can do
like you can do like the difference of like head
voice chest voice maybe so like I did it, so
now you do it.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah, So I mean I was I'll be honest. I
was in choir for like eight years maybe, but the
problem was it was like elementary school, so there was
no like head voice this voice.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
It was it was like before the voice changed.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, I mean we were just kids and I thought
I was really good.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
But like, yeah, I mean the interesting thing and this
might be pseudoscience. I might be making it up, but
like the difference in voices is like with with men.
I think it's a little easier because you have the
pasade joke, which is like that change and the break
in your voice, So it's like going from this kind
of deeper chest voice to going to like a falsetto.
(31:05):
And that's really what yodeling is is it's bouncing from
the chess voice to the falsetto in a more like
calculated way. So if you can get to the point
where you can flip from chest voice to falsetto, then
you can kind of do it and you can keep
practicing and honing it in. And that's really the only
way I know how to explain it.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
That sounded like.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
That sounded so real. There are no clasically trained musicians
watching that are.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Like no, no notes, like that's it. You said it.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
I just said some fancy words. I know you can.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I don't know, like that's that's it.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Just yeah yeah and then ah ah, like more like
open the back of your throat, like lift your soft
palette and just like a big brad open your diaphragm
mm hmmm. Yeah, I'm embarrassing. I should really go to
(32:04):
school and learn how.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
You're looking good. I'm not looking good. So don't worry.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
We're gonna get you to yok okay. We will, whether
it's whether it's here today.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Yeah or in our private time karaoke es.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Second segment, let me take a lesson on how to
teach someone to yodel on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
I think you're doing that.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
I will get back to you.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Okay, no worries. Final closing question. If you had to
choose four artists to be on the Voice as your judges,
who are you choosing? And then what team are you
going on?
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Well, see that's really dangerous because then I have to
choose someone when I would choose them all, and then
if they're my heroes, the idea of disappointing them would absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Cause me to It's a hypothetical, You're not I know,
it's so serious.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
What if I manifested into the reality that I exist
in today, then that's.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Obviously would be great, But like in this hypothetical, you're
going to kill it.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
My dream coaches on the Voice would definitely be Mariah Carey.
I've been obsessed with her since I was a little kid.
Leanne Rhymes, who is a coach I think on the
New Zealand or Australia version, Orville Peck. I'd be trembling
in my boots. But I would love the opportunity to
sing for him and hear his thoughts, and who would
(33:17):
be my last pick? Dead or alive? Does it not matter?
Speaker 1 (33:23):
No, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
I think Anna Mofo, who's an Italian soprano who died, okay,
and again she'd just be there for like support. I
don't know if I pick her team, but I want
to sing for her and impress her.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yeah, I mean, this is your dream, so do whatever
you want in it. And now what team are you one?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Well, I guess it depends on who turns. I would
definitely probably pick I'd probably pick Leanne Rhymes, okay, just
because when I think of the reasons that I sing
today and the reasons that I love country music, it
is because of that Disney special back in the nineties
(34:07):
when she popped on my TV screen and was singing
Cowboys Sweetheart with her full chest, and that changed my life.
That changed the trajectory of me forever. So to get
to work with her and to actually be coached by
her and help have her help me pick good songs
to sing that would be that would be iconic.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
And where can everyone find you so that they can
listen to your new album?
Speaker 2 (34:31):
You can find me anywhere you listen to music. Spotify,
Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, which I don't know what
that is, but apparently it's a thing.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Okay, you can google me.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I'm on Instagram, I'm on TikTok. Everything is at Cornelius
Versa And yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
He's a fun to google. I know firsthand.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
I love it that it's when you when you google
my name, it's either me or Nissan Versas and Cornelius,
North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Oh see, I didn't even see that.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Finally, I'm winning.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
You're winning.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I'm winning the battle.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
I was too far out on the page. I didn't scroll.
I was like, there we go.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Well, thank you, thank you, thank you for having me.
Straw media. Can you teach me how to yodel?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Oh my god? Okay, can you do like the uh?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
No? Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Half of it is just having the like sheer confidence
to fake it.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I'm caitlyin McDaniel and this week on Pride, I'm talking
to my good friend Cornelius Versa, aka the Crystal Cowboy,
and we're gonna talk about making country queer his new
single Pulled the Trigger, and his time on the Voice.
Plus he's gonna give me some lessons in yodeling. So
stay tuned. Ways, what's going on back there? I wanted
(01:01):
to ask you, we haven't discussed this this Okay, we
are starting, Okay, here we go. I when I moved
to La I was so excited about line dancing, even
though I grew up in Arizona, so you'd think there'd
be like a big group for that, But I've never
had any experience really with that like atmosphere, Like growing
up in Phoenix, it was very just like club another club,
(01:25):
and I right, no sleep club. I mean, if you
go to Mellen Tempe like that, it's crazy times over there.
But I always wanted to line dance. I always loved
country music and I feel like that was like so
shamed always going up. So I just wanted to ask
you about when you came to LA if you love
line dancing and like just kind of like your first
(01:47):
interaction with that atmosphere.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah. So I grew up in the Midwest, and it
was a mix between city living in the Midwest and
rural living in the Midwest, depending on the time of year.
And I will say when I was in the city
parts of the Midwest, country music was also shamed upon,
but when I was in the rural parts of the Midwest,
it was obviously the main thing, like the showstopper. And
(02:09):
for me as a kid, you know, that was such
a formative time of learning the music that I loved,
learning who I am as a person, and country music
was what I loved. And then I felt like as
I grew up, I kind of morphed a little bit
and put on this, you know, whatever popular music was,
whether it was Britney Spears or Celine Dion or whatever
the era. But when I moved to LA I did
(02:32):
feel like the first several years I was here, I
didn't have any of that country music and any of
that line dancing life, and it wasn't until I started
pursuing it myself that this whole other world opened up
to me. Here there's stud Country, which is usually at
Club Bahia, and they do line dancing multiple times a week.
(02:53):
It is so much fun and I just love it.
I mean, I think country music is so infectious. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I still definitely feel like when I bring up to
anyone that I like country music, they're like, oh, you
like trucks and beer and yeah, and I'm like, no,
I don't. I mean, that's fine if you do, but
like it's just immediately like people are so closed off
and it's great.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, I mean it's a spectrum. Yeah, it's such a spectrum.
And even when I when I call myself the Crystal Cowboy,
that Crystal's there because there is a little flamboyancy there is,
I'm queer, like there cowboys and country music isn't all
trucks and like rolling down the road. I mean, there's
so much variety and there's so much storytelling in that
(03:35):
entire genre that I think it's just misunderstood and we just.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Jumped right into it. But this is my amazing talented friend,
Cornelius Versa aka the Crystal cowboy, Can you talk just
a little bit going into like you have amazing new
music out that we will talk about, but yeah, like,
I know you've been in this industry for a minute
and now you're like, this is my time to shine,
and that's what we're talking about. So just walk me
(04:01):
through your history with that.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, I mean, my journey in the music industry has
been so winding and twisting and turning and very unsettled,
very ungrounded. And it goes all the way back to
what I was just saying about growing up in Midwest,
where I had the dichotomy between city living and rural living,
where country music was king and then pop divas were
(04:23):
king Queen's. But you know, it just was such an
interesting experience because when I started to sing, I didn't
really know how to control my voice. I didn't really
know the type of music that I wanted to do.
I loved country music, but I felt like I wasn't
allowed to do it. And then when I came out,
I felt even more so like I wasn't allowed to
(04:44):
be out and proud in country music. As sad as
that is. So I went to theater and I did theater.
I did opera, I did that for many years, but again,
my heart was never really in the work. I'm thankful
for the training, I'm thankful for the experience and the
time that I had on stage, But it wasn't until
the pandemic and slowing down and being forced to analyze
(05:05):
everywhere that I had been before I finally got to
the point where I was like, oh my god, I
need to do music, but it has to be me
and for me, that's Americana, that's country, that's folk, that's
Appalachian music, that's storytelling. And that's kind of how I
got back into it.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
And how was it finding a community? I know, LA
is obviously very diverse, we have so many like we
have the ability to really find a lot of different
people here, but just finding a community of even just
you know, musicians, but also in country, especially in the
LGBTQ circle.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, it's been It's been tricky because I feel like
we're all out there but in a way hiding amongst
the masses. As weird as that sounds, but I've actually
found that social media has been the greatest connecting force.
I mean, obviously mord of Mouth, I think the cool
thing about living in LA and having the country scene
in la is that it is niche and it is
(06:04):
a close knit community and everyone talks, so you meet
one person and they'll introduce you to another, and it's
just it's such a nice, warm hug of a community.
But that initial, like when I finally stepped out and
was like, okay, I do country. Who's here? That was
really through social media that I initially found that that family.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And you've been posting tiktoks that are so fun, like
like what if Wicked was country? And I love that.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I just feel like taking any song and making a
country makes it better. That's my part. Yeah, but those
have been so fun and they've been reaching a lot
of people.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, that was a really accidental success. My friend Francis
Dominic had reached out to me. I love Francis uh
and he had reached out to me after I posted
about seeing Wicked. I saw it late ready, I wasn't
read that. Yeah, I need a time, And it took
me about a month to gain up the like motivation
to go see it because it was so near and
(07:06):
dear to me when it first came out. Yeah, and
Francis reached out to me and he was like I
need you to sing like no one mourns the wicked
but country. And I was like, h Francis like da
da da da rattled off a voice note and he
was like, that's so amazing. You need to post that
on TikTok and I was like, like, you know, like
stage mom kind of the thing right, And I took
(07:28):
a shower, I had breakfast, and I was like, you
know what, fuck it, I'm going to do it. And
I went up to the mirror recorded myself singing it
and it was like pop and people liked it, and
so I just kind of kept on that trend and
it's been a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I mean, what is not to like about that? Truly?
I mean, me and Kylie, my roommate, best friend, whenever
we're in the car, like I said, I love a
song when it's turned country, we always like challenge. We'll
just fall into it. We'll be listening to the radio
and then all of a sudden, someone starts singing with
twang and then we're like, okay, challenge, accept it, and
now the whole song has to be sung in country.
And it got to the point where we were in
(08:03):
a music video for one of our friend's songs and
we were like telling the drummer about this, and she
was like, okay, sing this song that we're doing the
music video for a country and we're like, oh God,
no pretending.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Then we're like, okay, we need more country Twain in
this world.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
So I'm thinking me and you, we need to do
like carpool karaoke.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yes, then we do country, then country.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Then I have this vision of you doing Adele country,
and I don't know why, but I really feel like
it would be good.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I would totally do it.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
I don't know if I've done Adele.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I glad I got burned by covering iconic people, but
I do think that, you know, it's so much fun
to just play with music, and I do believe so
wholeheartedly that music is out there for us to share
and experience new things. And if that's me taking a
song by Adele and singing it a little country or acoustic,
(08:53):
then that's. If you like it, you like it. If
you hate it, you hate it, but you're talking about it.
Some people like it. It's fun.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
In all, attention is good attention if you really.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Think about it, It's true, but sometimes the bad attention
is painful.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Yeah. No, I mean, I'm definitely I'm a person who
like ignores the comments. I have my sister go through them.
I'm like, tell me if there's a positive one in there.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
My husband go through. He's kind of the like the
advanced crew.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Mm hmmm. And you mentioned being burned about covering popular people.
Is that at the Voice.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Or yeah, yeah, I made a mistake on that one,
you know. I think the interesting thing about that experience is,
you know, I really am a team of one. Obviously,
I have collaborators. I love working with other people, and
I have other confidants and voices that help me. But
(09:46):
at the end of the day, it's me calling all
the shots, and I don't have a team, and I'm
kind of the CEO of Cornelius versa. And sometimes those
big decisions, you get them wrong. And I think for
me that song specifically, so, I covered Burning Love by
Elvis Presley on the Voice, and I didn't get on obviously.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
I don't know that that's obvious. I think you should
have so I don't know.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I don't know, but I didn't stay on obviously. But
I think you know the reason that I chose that song.
I originally wanted to choose Blue by LeAnn Rimes because
that is really the person and the artist that got
me into music, and that album specifically, when it came out,
we were like similar age. I was like, oh my god,
(10:32):
she's my hero, and I was initially going to do
that and I was like, I really wanted to challenge myself.
And the weird thing about the timing of that show is,
you know, everything's done very collaboratively. It takes many, many
months just to get to that point. And you know,
growing up, as I mentioned, kind of in the rural Midwest,
(10:53):
I was with my Nunn and Papa, who are my
mom's parents, and my papa's favorite artist was Elvis Presley
and he had died recently. And the way the timing
worked out with filming when I was choosing this song
is the week after Blinds was his funeral. So for me,
choosing that song wasn't necessarily about covering Elvis or even
(11:13):
doing Elvis in a country way. It was kind of
like a tribute to him and his I don't know,
just like encouraging me to perform. I'd always promised him
that if I made it, I kind of take him
along for the ride and stepping onto a national stage
like the Voice, I felt like I kind of owed
him that, and I also thought it would be a
(11:34):
fun way to just showcase that I can move, that
I can do energetic songs, that I'm not just a
sad cowboy. And you know, it didn't play out the
way I'd hoped, but I still think I did him proud,
and I'm still proud of that experience overall.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I mean, yeah, I loved your rendition. I definitely think
everyone really honed into like, oh, you should never cover Elvis,
as if that was like so obvious of a thing
that you should. I mean people have gone on and
done songs of people that are judges, you know, like
they've done feel like that is a really bold.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
That's even bolder. Yeah, I mean I do think, like,
you know, I kind of realized quickly after choosing the song,
because once you choose it, it's locked in. Yeah, And
it's locked in, and it's a long process to actually
like make it from the choosing to the singing. And
the difficult thing with that is, you know, once I
(12:26):
chose it, and I chose it for reasons of my own,
like it was special to me. It was meaningful to me,
and I still think I did it proud. The only
thing is is I kind of realized it was damned
if you do, damned if you don't. And I was
just talking to my dad about this the other day
where I was like, you know, even if I had
taken that song flipped it made it country, everyone would
(12:47):
be mad. Even if I had taken that song and
changed nothing and saying it, everyone would be mad. I'm
not saying everyone was mad, but I just think like
that was some of the That's what irked people. I
think was just he is such an iconic vocalist and
singer and persona. Yeah that I think people couldn't help
but see me imitating him, which was anything but the truth.
(13:10):
So it is what it is. I had a lot
of fun.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, it was amazing the tribute. I mean, I didn't
know that part of it. That's so beautiful and like
it meant a lot to you, and that's really what
it matters at the end of the day. I mean,
you were robbed by.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Kelsey, but I mean it's like it really is a
case of right place at the wrong time. All the
teams were full, and it's it just was what it is.
And I don't fault Adam for not picking me because
he wanted a country guy and I'm kind of saying,
I mean, I'm a country guy. But the package that
I presented on the stage was not quite there. And
(13:45):
that's fine. And I love Trayvon. I think he's an
amazing artist and I wish him the best on the show.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
I was rewatching it today though, and I can't believe
how long Michael talks. But that's just another that, like,
I just can't believe it. It was insane, but such a
fun I mean time for you either way.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, it was such a fun time either way.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
How has the reactions from that been, Like have you
kind of seen people that have picked up on it
and been listening to your stuff?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Or yeah, I mean I saw an immediate spike. I
mean I had also coincidentally timed it because we don't
know when things will air, right, this was obviously all
filmed in the past. We have no idea when it's
going to come out. But when I left that stage
and I went into kind of this hibernation isolation mode,
I found myself really wanting to Like, I just it's
(14:52):
so much like bottled up in me. I just needed
to say something, and I ended up going to the
studio with my friends Grayson de Wolf and and writing
Pull the Trigger, And that whole song is a manifesto
about my life and feeling like I was always too
afraid to step out in front of the curtain and
wasting time, wasting my career. I mean, I'm thirty five,
(15:15):
and I waited a long time to get started. I
mean I was performing, but I really wasn't performing in
the way that I wanted. And that whole song is
a manifesto of just finally stepping out and saying, you
know what, look at me, see what happens. And that
was all because of the voice, and I timed it
coincidentally to come out the night the episode aired, so
(15:38):
it was a good distraction. Because the episode aired, my
song coincidentally came out and people were searching for me
and they found it, and because of that, it is
my most successful release, So I'm very thankful for that.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
It's an awesome song. I love it. I do thank you.
Everyone needs to check it out. I mean, just going
into like I think, I feel like it was such
like not a switch from all your other stuff, but
I really did feel like you were just like showing up.
I mean you were, You've been wearing your sparkly suits
and it's just like, yeah, like look at me, for sure.
I loved that part. It's very much peacocking for sure,
(16:14):
which you need to but you need to draw attention,
you need to just feel like absolutely as.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I were all monochromatic brown today.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I mean, when did you start wearing the cowboy hats?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Like?
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Has that always been? I know you said you you know, I've.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Always It's so funny because in the same way that
I feel like I had to come out as a
gay man, I feel like I had to come out
as a country artist. And putting on the cowboy hat
was really like the final cherry on top of the
Sunday where it was like, now you can't deny it. Now,
you know you look at me, you see country perfect.
(16:48):
So that's when I started wearing them.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I love that. And then you're like, then I bedazzle them,
So then you really I bedazzled them country? Yeah, denying
that's where we're at.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
And I love it too. I mean, I don't know
if it's just a it definitely a huge inspiration of mine.
Is Orvile Peck. I think that that is obvious, and
I think what's really cool about the work that he's
done in forging a path for queer singers in country
music is giving us a space to kind of grow
along with him. And because of that, you have me
(17:20):
the Crystal Cowboy, you have Adam Mac the disco Cowboy,
you have Robert Adam the dream Angel Cowboy. And I
just feel like at this point all of us are
like little care bearskin like creating our own space within
the trails of the trailblazer who is Orvile Peck, and
just having so much fun getting to explore the space
that I feel like, up until twenty nineteen wasn't really there.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And I wanted to ask you about this because I
know this is really an issue for a lot of people,
but especially in Hollywood, where it's so fast and there's
so much always happening, that there can just be so
much jealousy in the industry. And I know you talked
about yeah, like just really wanting to push yourself to
be like, no, I have to start pushing myself out
there because I'm seeing the success for others and I'm
seeing that so how do you kind of turn that
(18:06):
like not necessarily jealousy, but just you know, like envy
of what other people are doing, and you're like, no,
I just need to like push that into my own work.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah. So that's actually a really interesting question because it
is something that has been somewhat the core of everything
that I've chosen to do in the last couple of years.
When I started this whole project of getting back into
country music, it really became a matter of being afraid
to take a step because where I am today is
(18:35):
not where I was eighteen months ago when I started,
and I wouldn't be where I am today if it
weren't for the steps I took eighteen months ago. And
I think the most important thing to keep in mind
when you're starting out, or even if you're just going
on as normal is if you're always afraid to do something,
you're never going to do it. And I kind of
(18:57):
have said this from the beginning of this whole experience
is if people don't like it, then I'm doing something right.
And I know that's a weird thing to say, because
I should positive, I should focus on, like, if people
love it, I'm doing something right and I'm almost more so,
like if you hear my song or you see my
performance and you're like, hmmm, I don't know, I don't
(19:17):
really like it. I actually love that because it's like
you didn't have an opinion eighteen months ago, you didn't
even know who I was, true, and now you do. Yeah,
And for every person who says they don't like it,
ten people say they do like it. So it's just
I would rather create conversation and I'd rather create like
some sort of movement among people's brains than to just
(19:42):
hide behind a curtain and do nothing. So it's not
jealousy for me, and it's not envy for me, but
it is just a matter of like those people that
I do envy and hold in high regard didn't get
to where they were by standing still.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
And I mean you talked about comments, and I did
look at the comments on the YouTube for the voice,
and they're all positive, they're all wonderful. Most people are asking,
you know, if you're coming back or just agreeing with
Adam on your song.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Choys, which yeah, you know, I mean it is what
it is.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, would you do it again? I know it's such
a long thing to like embark on once more.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
You know, it's a big commitment for sure. I think
I will never say never. You know, if they really
really were saying that, please come back, we'd love for
you to try again. I know they had said that
to me after my audition. I'm not gonna say no.
Per se. I do think right now what I need
as an artist is to really just explore my own
(20:41):
music and my own creativity. And as much as I'm
thankful for the show for the friends that it's given me,
because it's given me lifelong friends from behind the scenes,
other artists. I mean, these are people that I never
knew I needed in my life until I met them.
I am so thankful for that. But I'm also a
(21:02):
kind of on the flip side to contradict that, a
big proponent of like, Okay, I did that and I
learned a lot. Now I'm going to take what I
learned and I'm going to move forward. So I think
I'm moving forward.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
What's that going to look like.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
I'm working on an album. I'm working on a full
length album, my debut album. It's been a long time coming.
I'm super super excited. I have a lot of different collaborators.
I'm working with I'm pulling together the team from Pull
the Trigger as well, and the goal is to just
tell a story. Tell my story because I've been hiding
(21:39):
for so long that I feel like I have so
much to say that what's been the biggest challenge for
me is weeding through all the muck and figuring out
how I want to say it.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Speaking of stories, I was googling you, which is something
that I haven't done since meeting you. But I was
reading about you and Christian and how and like your story.
It was on like Men's Vows. Yeah, you did a
little cover and I was like, I don't know any
of this, Like this is so fun. And you actually
(22:09):
met in real life, which I just love because.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Yeah, we met before the app.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Doesn't exist now, it's crazy. So I want I wanted
to ask if you can just kind of share a
little bit of your story because I love that.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, again, this is There's a lot that's happened. I mean,
I married my college sweetheart. We met in two thousand
and nine. We were in the same fraternity signify Epsilon.
We had two friends, both named Rachel, that were in
Kapakapa Gammo, and they conspired together to get us to meet,
and we started meeting with them for coffee. We initially
(22:42):
hated each other. Oh really, I had just got out
a relationship. Yeah, literally enemies to lovers, but I had
just gotten out of a relationship. I did not want
to be in one. I hadn't been single. I felt
like I was kind of going down that path of
serial monogamy. No hate, but like for me, I wanted
to kind of learn to be single and just do that.
(23:03):
And then I was his first long term boyfriend, which
at the time he didn't have one. So it's like
we had this I didn't we didn't want to be together.
It was very much like Charmed, I'm sure like that.
I remember meeting him at the University Center and it
was like a handshake and it's like m hm. And
we continued on our ways. But I don't know. You
(23:25):
can't deny fate, and in this instance, the fate and
the power that that had over us was so great.
I did not expect to meet my soulmate at twenty
years old. I can't believe it's been fifteen years. We
just celebrated fifteen years in October of last year, and
(23:46):
it's just been such a trip and so bizarre, and
we've traveled three different states together. We've you know, we
just bought a house in twenty nineteen. Like we're living
what child means he never thought possible. And it's just
every day I pinch myself. It's so weird. That wasn't
(24:08):
really how we met, but I mean no, it was.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
The romance story I needed. I'm like, I'm crying internally.
It's so it's so cute. I love it. I'm like,
you're like talking about everyone needs to be single. This
is like when Chapel Rown just recently is like everyone
should be single, but I'm in a relationship.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Yeah, but I'm in a long time Everyone.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Saying that, But that's just me being single and being salty.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
I mean he because we were in the same fraternity
that raised not like issues per se. I think we
had a really welcoming house. We were also at like
a liberal arts school, so it was like not really
that crazy, thankfully. And what's interesting about it is very
early on, I think within a week of pseudo dating,
(24:53):
before anything serious even happened, we were getting ice cream
and I was driving him to class and he it
kind of turned to me and was like you know,
I just think that we can't do this if you're
not serious about it for the long term, and we're
so young, and it's just like, I don't know, but
(25:14):
there was like in that moment, I could have been
like okay, like bye, but there was just something that
felt so right and real about the connection we had
where I was like, yeah, like, I'm in this for
the long term. I'm serious about this. And that was
like so early on in the conversation of even dating
that I just think that that is what really locked
(25:37):
us in and made it real, and that's kind of
been the core of our relationship ever since. We're so communicative,
we're respectful, we keep the mystery alive. I still hear
stories from him that I've never heard before, and it's
just like you get we're like in slow motion in
a way where he hears I just told him something
(25:57):
the other day. I was like, oh, yeah, like I
dated this guy once. He was like like it was
just one of those things where we've shared everything, but
we're still sharing new things, and I think it's really important.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Yeah. I love a good lore drop where all sudden
and you don't even realize that you haven't told them
that you're just like just never came up, but like,
here's this crazy thing that happened to me, yeah ten
years ago. By the way, by the way, yeah hopefully
you still love me. Yeah. I mean, I love how
supportive you both are of each other. I mean, they
(26:29):
for everyone that doesn't know you, threw a party that
was about you releasing music, being on the voice. Yeah,
but also Christian's birthday, and I feel like the support
of being able to just celebrate both even because I mean,
me and Kylie were talking about it and she was like,
I need all the attention on me, like party right,
exactly exactly, But even like during the night, you could
(26:50):
tell how like even it was and how supportive that
you both have been of like just you're both of
your feelings and your dreams.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
So yeah, I mean, I I feel so thankful that
he's so supportive of me doing music again. You know,
he obviously saw me working my corporate jobs and my
temp jobs, and you know, my jobs in different service industries,
trying to figure out where I belonged in the world,
(27:18):
and so when I decided to go all in on music,
he was there ready to hold my hand, and I
wouldn't be I wouldn't be the Cornelis verse I am
today without him taking that leap of faith with me.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Is there anything else you want to you want to
cover before? I have like one request at the end.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
But uh, I don't think so. I think we kind
of touched on everything that I can think of.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I mean, yeah, of course, good about it. Yeah, you'll
need a sip of water for my request?
Speaker 2 (27:51):
What's this request?
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Can you teach me how to yodel? Oh?
Speaker 2 (27:55):
My god? Okay, can I say first and foremost? I'm
a terrible teacher.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Okay, I'm no.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
I think I doka yodling. I do have this dream.
There's there's an artist from like the fifties sixties, Kenny Roberts.
He was kind of I think his album cover said
something like Yodler of America or something weird like that,
Like he was a big yodler, and he's my inspiration
in terms of like getting back into yodeling. But it's
(28:24):
do you know how to like flip your voice?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
No? I don't know anything. Me going into this being
like I so can yodel. I'll figure this right out.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
What's so pathetic to me? Is I what that means
I'm a literal trained vocalist and I cannot describe to
you what I do. LeAnn Rimes taught me how to yodel,
and by that I mean I just listened to Cowboy
Sweetheart on repeat as a kid and was like yodle
like it was just that. So can you do like
the ah? No, I'm trying to think, like how you
(29:00):
even do it?
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Like I don't know, yeah, flip like like where where
the throat this is? Now? This is just gonna be
embarrassing myself.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
No, no, I want to see. I'm not a good teacher.
I'm just I'm more like a like watch me and
do it.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, so so this is it? Do it?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
So this is what I do. You could do whatever
you want.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, I mean I could, like probably I could pretend.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Maybe half of half of it is just having the
like sheer confidence to fake it.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Like do you go to Disneyland ever? Yeah, so like
when you're in like the matterhorn line and they play
yodelertle music. So I'm a person who like I love
to listen to the soundtracks all the time, but when
I walk anything. My most played song last year was
the like backtrack of bugs life, okay, because I just
(29:57):
like to like go to the park and pretend I'm
a bug.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
But I actually listened to like the Mataporn yodelers like
I'll just be just be doing my thing, and so
I'm trying to channel that because I like, I don't
know how they I feel.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Like you secretly know how to do it. I mean
that's pretty close. It's just that like squeak in there,
you need to like harness that because you can do
like you can do like the difference of like head
voice chest voice maybe so like I did it, so
now you do it.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah, So I mean I was I'll be honest. I
was in choir for like eight years maybe, but the
problem was it was like elementary school, so there was
no like head voice this voice.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
It was it was like before the voice changed.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, I mean we were just kids and I thought
I was really good.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
But like, yeah, I mean the interesting thing and this
might be pseudoscience. I might be making it up, but
like the difference in voices is like with with men.
I think it's a little easier because you have the
pasade joke, which is like that change and the break
in your voice, So it's like going from this kind
of deeper chest voice to going to like a falsetto.
(31:05):
And that's really what yodeling is is it's bouncing from
the chess voice to the falsetto in a more like
calculated way. So if you can get to the point
where you can flip from chest voice to falsetto, then
you can kind of do it and you can keep
practicing and honing it in. And that's really the only
way I know how to explain it.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
That sounded like.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
That sounded so real. There are no clasically trained musicians
watching that are.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Like no, no notes, like that's it. You said it.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
I just said some fancy words. I know you can.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I don't know, like that's that's it.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Just yeah yeah and then ah ah, like more like
open the back of your throat, like lift your soft
palette and just like a big brad open your diaphragm
mm hmmm. Yeah, I'm embarrassing. I should really go to
(32:04):
school and learn how.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
You're looking good. I'm not looking good. So don't worry.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
We're gonna get you to yok okay. We will, whether
it's whether it's here today.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Yeah or in our private time karaoke es.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Second segment, let me take a lesson on how to
teach someone to yodel on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
I think you're doing that.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
I will get back to you.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Okay, no worries. Final closing question. If you had to
choose four artists to be on the Voice as your judges,
who are you choosing? And then what team are you
going on?
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Well, see that's really dangerous because then I have to
choose someone when I would choose them all, and then
if they're my heroes, the idea of disappointing them would absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Cause me to It's a hypothetical, You're not I know,
it's so serious.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
What if I manifested into the reality that I exist
in today, then that's.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Obviously would be great, But like in this hypothetical, you're
going to kill it.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
My dream coaches on the Voice would definitely be Mariah Carey.
I've been obsessed with her since I was a little kid.
Leanne Rhymes, who is a coach I think on the
New Zealand or Australia version, Orville Peck. I'd be trembling
in my boots. But I would love the opportunity to
sing for him and hear his thoughts, and who would
(33:17):
be my last pick? Dead or alive? Does it not matter?
Speaker 1 (33:23):
No, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
I think Anna Mofo, who's an Italian soprano who died, okay,
and again she'd just be there for like support. I
don't know if I pick her team, but I want
to sing for her and impress her.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Yeah, I mean, this is your dream, so do whatever
you want in it. And now what team are you one?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Well, I guess it depends on who turns. I would
definitely probably pick I'd probably pick Leanne Rhymes, okay, just
because when I think of the reasons that I sing
today and the reasons that I love country music, it
is because of that Disney special back in the nineties
(34:07):
when she popped on my TV screen and was singing
Cowboys Sweetheart with her full chest, and that changed my life.
That changed the trajectory of me forever. So to get
to work with her and to actually be coached by
her and help have her help me pick good songs
to sing that would be that would be iconic.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
And where can everyone find you so that they can
listen to your new album?
Speaker 2 (34:31):
You can find me anywhere you listen to music. Spotify,
Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, which I don't know what
that is, but apparently it's a thing.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Okay, you can google me.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
I'm on Instagram, I'm on TikTok. Everything is at Cornelius
Versa And yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
He's a fun to google. I know firsthand.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
I love it that it's when you when you google
my name, it's either me or Nissan Versas and Cornelius,
North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Oh see, I didn't even see that.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Finally, I'm winning.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
You're winning.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I'm winning the battle.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
I was too far out on the page. I didn't scroll.
I was like, there we go.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Well, thank you, thank you, thank you for having me.
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