At 14, Brooklyn Marie has already spent more than a decade performing, building a repertoire of songs and chasing a dream that once seemed almost impossible for a girl from a small Minnesota town. Now, the young singer has taken that dream to the national stage of The Voice, where her blind audition earned her the attention of two coaches — Kelly Clarkson and Queen Latifah.
Standing beneath neon-blue lights with her guitar in hand, Marie delivered an emotional performance of Olivia Rodrigo’s “traitor.” The four coaches listened with their backs turned, relying entirely on her voice to decide whether she belonged on their teams.
Queen Latifah was the first to turn her chair. Clarkson soon followed, giving the young Minnesotan two opportunities to continue her journey in the competition.
When the song ended and the coaches finally saw the teenager standing before them, Clarkson could barely contain her surprise.
“What!?” she exclaimed.
The decision was now Marie’s. But for the 14-year-old, there was never much doubt about which coach she wanted.
“It’s always been Kelly,” she announced.
Clarkson celebrated the choice, getting up to join Marie onstage for a hug. The coach later praised the teenager’s distinctive vocal quality, describing it as something particularly special.
“Brooklyn has this really special tone, and it’s got a purity to it that we haven’t heard, and man, her voice is incredible for just a singer, let alone a 14-year-old,” Clarkson said.
For Marie, the moment marked a major milestone. But her relationship with music began years before she ever imagined standing in front of the Voice coaches.
A performer since the age of 3
Born Brooklyn Marie Ostlund, the young singer says music was part of her life almost from the beginning. According to Marie, she was singing before she could properly walk or talk, often entertaining herself with melodies from the backseat of the family car.
Her first experience performing in front of an audience came when she was just 3 years old. She took the stage at a local telethon in her hometown of Alexandria, Minnesota.
That early appearance was only the beginning. As she grew older, Marie became interested in different instruments, developed her musical abilities and began performing at venues throughout the region.
However, there was a particular moment when she started to consider music as something she might pursue professionally.
It happened while she was watching one of her favorite musicians, Josie Nelson, perform at a local winery. Seeing Nelson onstage prompted Marie to imagine herself doing the same thing.
“One day I just thought, what if I could do that?” she recalled. “Like, I love singing so much. I sing in the shower. I sing when I’m sleeping. I sing 24/7. I wondered if I could do that.”
Marie eventually approached Nelson to ask how someone her age could begin working toward a career in music.
Nelson explained that performing professionally involved much more than simply having a good voice. Marie would need the right equipment, the stamina to play for hours without taking breaks, the ability to improvise and a large enough collection of songs to keep audiences entertained.
It was a demanding challenge, particularly for a young girl, but Marie decided to take it seriously.
Practicing all summer to build a 100-song repertoire
At just 11 years old, Marie devoted an entire summer to practicing guitar and preparing herself for live performances.
She wanted to demonstrate that she could handle the expectations Nelson had described. By the end of that summer, she had built a repertoire of approximately 100 songs.
Her dedication came at a physical cost. She practiced so frequently that her fingers began to bleed, but she was determined to keep going.
“My fingers started bleeding from playing guitar so much; I just loved it so much,” Marie said.
Her father eventually wanted to know whether she was truly committed to pursuing music or simply caught up in a passing interest.
“My dad finally was like, ‘Are you actually serious about this?’ And I was like, ‘Yes! Like, I’ve been working all summer. I need this.’”
Her first paid performance opportunity came at a picnic held by her elementary school. From there, she began securing more appearances at wineries, vineyards and breweries around the area.
Those early gigs gave her valuable experience performing for audiences and helped her see how far she had come since singing outside during summer evenings as a little girl.
“It’s really cool to see the progress that I’ve made from being this little kid who sang outside every night in the summer to being able to perform for people regularly,” she said.
That steady progression eventually helped prepare her for a much bigger opportunity: auditioning for The Voice.
Finding her own voice through songwriting
Although Marie has spent years performing songs written by other artists, she has also begun developing her identity as a songwriter.
She has released two singles, “Tired” and “i miss u,” both of which feature prominent guitar parts and vocal production designed to create a sense of spatial depth.
The songs explore themes of loss, reflecting the emotional experiences that often inspire her writing.
Marie explained that she frequently turns to songwriting when something difficult happens in her life. Rather than keeping those feelings to herself, she writes them down and uses them as material for her music.
One of her biggest influences is Taylor Swift, whose emotionally detailed lyrics have made a lasting impression on the young artist.
Among Swift’s songs, “Clara Bow” holds particular significance for Marie. The track explores the additional challenges women face in the entertainment industry and includes the image of a small-town girl dreaming of seeing the lights of Manhattan.
That description feels familiar to Marie, who recognizes something of her own ambitions in the song.
“I’m from a small town. Like, it’s not even in anyone’s possibility for me to go to ‘The Voice,’” she said.
For someone who began performing at 3 in Alexandria, appearing on a nationally televised competition represents a remarkable step beyond the world she once knew.
How a small-town dream became a ‘Voice’ audition
Competing on The Voice had been one of Marie’s ambitions for years. As her experience grew and her music career began to develop, her father encouraged her to take a chance and apply.
The family submitted an audition video to the show’s producers. NBC requested additional recordings, and Marie continued through the audition process until she eventually secured a place in the blind auditions.
Her performance of “traitor” ultimately earned two chair turns, giving her the opportunity to choose between Queen Latifah and Kelly Clarkson.
Marie chose Clarkson, whose reaction to the young singer’s voice suggested that she saw considerable potential in her new team member.
But earning a spot on Team Kelly was only the beginning. The competition was about to become more challenging as Marie prepared for the next stage.
The next challenge: The Battles
Following the blind auditions, Marie advanced to the Battle rounds, where two contestants from the same team are paired to perform the same song.
Unlike the blind auditions, where each singer performs individually, the Battles require contestants to share the stage while competing for their coach’s decision. Only one performer from each pairing can be selected to advance.
Marie’s battle performance was scheduled to air on Monday. A victory would send her into the audience-vote round on Monday, Nov. 2.
At that stage, viewers would have the opportunity to decide whether she deserved a place in the live shows.
While the outcome remained uncertain, Marie was already looking beyond the television competition. She was also working on an album that she hoped to release the following year.
With two original singles already available and years of live-performance experience behind her, the teenager is beginning to build a musical career that extends beyond her time on The Voice.
A second dream inspired by a childhood medical experience
Music is clearly Marie’s greatest passion, but she has also considered what she might do if a career in entertainment does not work out.
Her alternative plan is to become an ear, nose and throat doctor — a goal connected to a difficult medical experience from her childhood.
When Marie was young, doctors placed tubes in her ears in an effort to reduce recurring infections. However, the procedure led to a serious complication involving her eardrums.
“They were like, ‘We don’t know if she’s going to be able to hear normally ever again,’” she recalled.
The experience meant going through multiple operations, and the young girl often felt frightened before each procedure.
One doctor found a way to comfort her: singing.
Before every operation, the doctor would sing to Marie to help calm her nerves. That simple gesture stayed with her long after the medical procedures were over.
It also helped shape the kind of doctor she might one day want to become.
If she eventually chooses medicine over music, Marie hopes to keep a guitar nearby and use singing to reassure young patients who are facing the same kind of fear she once experienced.
“I really wanted to be able to have the same impact,” she said. “Not only for the parents but also for the children who are going through that.”
For now, however, the 14-year-old is focused on the opportunity in front of her. From her first performance at age 3 to earning two chair turns on The Voice, Marie has steadily worked toward a dream that once seemed far beyond the reach of a small-town girl from Minnesota.
Whatever happens in the competition, her journey has already taken her a long way from that first local stage — and she is only getting started.
