ALBURY-born singer Hayley Jensen impressed The Voice judges Kylie Minogue and Joel Madden so much they fought over who would press their buzzer first.
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Belting out Zoe Badwi’s Freefallin’, the songstress, 31, progressed after the show’s blind auditions screened last night on WIN-TV.
A mechanical fault meant both Minogue and Madden’s chairs wouldn’t turn around, leaving just will.i.am facing her.
“I dragged out the last note and was thinking ‘turn around guys’,” Jensen told The Border Mail.
“Then their chairs turned around and Kylie was standing on hers.”
Jensen said Madden had been forced to push his chair around manually, while also standing on it.
“Then all of a sudden it turned and he fell and the chair broke,” she said.
“Kylie was saying she hurt her hand.”
Minogue and Madden then argued between themselves and with producers as to who had tried to turn around first.
Jensen said both were yelling “I was pressing mine first”.
“I caused quite a bit of controversy,” she said.
Eventually, Madden was told he hadn’t turned in time, leaving Jensen to chose between Team Kylie and Team will.i.am.
Fourth judge Ricky Martin didn’t turn around.
Jensen said she’d told friends before the show she wanted to pick will.i.am because of his savvy producing skills and creativity.
However, she chose Minogue.
Jensen told the judges that since placing fourth in Australian Idol a decade ago, she’d been unable to hit the big time.
“I said, ‘everyone keeps telling me I’m pretty good, but I’ve been unable to break through — what can you do to help me?’.”
Jensen said Minogue had the best answer.
“The impression I get is she is really here to help mentor her artists, so I’m really looking forward to that,” she said.
Since Idol, the former Wodonga Primary School student has released solo records, performed for soldiers in Iraq and most recently formed dance-rock band Silver Cities.
The three-piece outfit toured Albury last April as a support act for Evermore.
Jensen said she hoped The Voice would help lift both her and the band’s profile, with the rise of social media only arriving after her time on Idol.