Javier Colon made history as the first winner of The Voice, and was a key ingredient in the NBC show’s early success. His stunning blind audition cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” was one of the moments when people realized the series had something special. Now 15 years later, Javier is not only back on the Voice stage but releasing his own version of “Time After Time.”

But it wasn’t just Javier’s musical talent that made him a winner; it was the kind of person he is. Audiences gravitated to him for being so genuine and so heartfelt with all of his music. That quality still shines through when he speaks about what brought him back to The Voice for Season 29’s All-Star Showdown, in which he competed with fellow Team Adam winner Jordan Smith.

“It was Adam [Levine] who wanted me to come back,” Javier told the MOTIVATE with Brittany Frederick podcast, explaining, “The fact that he wanted me to come back was, I’m honored. And he also asked Jordan, who I think has one of the most incredible voices on this earth. So just to be on his team with Jordan, I knew that it was going to be really fun. And it was a very simple yes.”

He also reflected on the uniqueness of his experience during the first season, when no one knew what The Voice was or how popular it would turn out to be—including the artists themselves. “We’re all there for the same reason,” he said. “We just wanted to have a chance to do this thing that we love so much, so we all could relate to each other. A bunch of us got really, really close while we were there. There was just a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood for us all, and it felt very, very genuine to me.”

Javier had already navigated the highs and lows of the music industry before he appeared on The Voice, and he’s continued to develop as an artist in the years since. His new version of “Time After Time” is one example of that; it still captures everything that people fell in love with during that blind audition, but there’s a different quality to it as well. He let viewers in on what he’s been doing recently—including winning an Emmy Award—and why he’s going back to some classic albums in the future.

“The one constant thing is that I still love what I do, and I’m just so grateful that I get to do it,” he said. “That I get to call this my job, and I get to sit on the stool and play guitar and sing songs, and that people sometimes know them and sing them back to me.”

Javier Colon is not only one of the most talented people to ever have been on The Voice, he’s also one of the classiest, and audiences who only know him from the show have a lot more to discover. I was honored to share part of his journey with him 15 years ago, and I’m glad to see him still succeeding today.

Watch the full MOTIVATE with Brittany Frederick episode with Javier Colon below to hear more of Javier’s thoughts about The Voice, past and present, as we discuss some of our favorite memories. Make sure you also check out “Time After Time (Javier’s Version)” now.

The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC. Photo Credit: Courtesy of NBC.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.