Lucia Flores-Wiseman describes herself as a storyteller.
“I’ve always loved sharing things to people that I feel are important,” she says.
Over the years, the Journalism and Public Interest Communication (JPIC) alumna (B.A., 2023) has made a name for herself as a singer-songwriter in the Seattle music scene. From playing live gigs at the Sea-Tac Airport to performing on stage at storied local venues like The Crocodile and Chop Suey, it only makes sense that her audience would continue to grow.
Soon after headlining her first show at Hidden Hall, Flores-Wiseman was contacted to audition for Season 27 of The Voice, NBC’s singing reality competition TV show.
“I didn’t know I would even get an audition,” she recalls. “I did [audition for] American Idol two other years, and I did them, and they said no, and so I was very skeptical.”
Flores-Wiseman sang Ángela Aguilar’s “La Llorona” for her audition. Judged blindly, she received warm interest and praise from all four judges: singers John Legend, Michael Bublé, Adam Levine, and Kelsea Ballerini.
Praising Flores-Wiseman’s voice, Levine observed that “it’s very rare that someone has it all; the emotion, the precision.”
She picked Levine as her coach and mentor for the season, a collaboration that would eventually take her all the way to the show’s finals, where she placed fourth.
Since the show’s season finale, Flores-Wiseman has been going “full force” working on her music career.
And she’s seemingly doing it all—writing lyrics, recording songs, sharing newsletters, posting on social media, updating her website, and more. Flores-Wiseman continuously creates opportunities for herself.
She says communicating with her audience is a key part of her success. “I mean, of course I’m a songwriter,” she affirms. “But to make it ‘big’ – which I don’t know exactly what I want – but to make it ‘big,’ [it] requires you to look at yourself like a business and treat it like a business.”
Since she started singing as a child, music easily became a passion. It was also something to consider once she planned for college.
“I always knew I wanted to be a singer, songwriter, musician. I was asked by so many people when I was, like, at the end of high school – because I was already gigging at that point– [they were] asking … ‘[Are] you gonna study music? Are you just gonna have singing as a hobby?’ And there was a lot to think about … If I needed a Plan B, it could be something outside of the music world.”
This led her to UW Communication’s JPIC program, where she gained hands-on experience in storytelling, something she draws on every day in her creative work.
“[JPIC teaches] what I do now as a musician, which is telling a story, being intentional with who your audience is,” Flores-Wiseman says. “[Journalism] gave me a way of knowing how to formulate a story and talk about something that is important. And so, I feel like journalism has really helped me with what I do now. Especially when we were doing, like, the photography and videography units … [right now] I have to be a social media manager, I have to be a brand manager. I’m sending out newsletters, I’m writing on my lyrics, I’m collaborating with other people, I’m trying to be intentional about how I’m marketing certain events to different people – all of that, while also just trying to be me. And how do I sell myself, right? What things do people need to know about me? To read the article, read [about] me, [and] you know, listen to me.”
Flores-Wiseman found her training in interviewing to be particularly useful while doing press for The Voice.
“And I truly believe that my understanding how questions are asked, how interviewers do certain gestures, or silence, or how they continue to rephrase a question, or whatnot – I feel like I understood from the perspective of TV, what they want to hear from me. Especially knowing how to edit videos,” she says. “So when they asked a question [such as,] ‘Lucia, how do you feel that you made it on Team Adam?’ Some people would respond, ‘[It] felt so good, it was awesome, da-da-da,’ but I know that [the show is] not using their voice when they’re editing. So I would make sure that I rephrased my question and said, ‘Oh my goodness, when I found out I was on Team Adam, I was so thrilled, I was da-da-da …’ I was talking in ways that I knew soundbites would work for editing.”
“And I also kind of understood if they’re going at a certain angle,” she says. “And when they wanted me to elaborate more, I really recognized that, and I feel like that really helped me make it further along in the competition, because I think how you talk about yourself, they want the audience to like you. And so, how do you talk? How do you say things? And I feel like being in the journalism program really helped me, because I knew exactly what they were trying to do, like, not in a bad way, like, I know what they were wanting to hear. And in terms of journalism, you know, normally you ask a question not wanting to fully expect the answer, because that’s journalism. But this is not journalism. This… this was a TV show.”
While achieving a top-four finish in a TV show seen by millions of people is a feat in itself, Flores-Wiseman maintains that she must work hard to ensure this recognition doesn’t end there.
“While [being on The Voice] did really help get so much exposure, it’s not over with,” she says. “If anything, now I need to hop on as much as I can so that people don’t forget about me.”
She continues to face the question: “How am I trying to brand myself and show myself?”
“People hear my music, or hear my voice, but what is going to get them to want to be a fan, and continue looking at my things, and listening?” she asks.
Just a few months after graduating from UW Communication, she began her journey on The Voice. Being on the show “changed so much” and took “a lot of dedication,” Flores-Wiseman recalls.
And now she’s continuing to do what she does best, making music and growing her fanbase as authentically as she can.
“What I’ve heard is that showing your authentic self in other aspects – maybe not necessarily always making singing videos – but also my personality, who I am as a person [is important],” she says. “That connection helps people then connect with my music and that storytelling …There were millions of people watching me, but the people that are going to be, like, maybe lifelong fans, hopefully, they’re the ones who have checked out my stuff, and they feel like there’s something… they can resonate with me.”
Amidst the challenges of building a career in a notoriously competitive industry, Flores-Wiseman maintains her authentic spirit. She continues to build on her communication skills, connecting people through her music and her platform.
“[I] just want to thank the UW JPIC program for really supplying me [with] a lot of [skills], and using the things I learned from there and taking them outside the box into this career,” she says. “When I tell people I [majored in] journalism, sometimes they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s not even close to what you’re doing.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, actually a lot of things that I’ve learned go into that.’”
Lucia Flores-Wiseman is a Mexican-American singer-songwriter from Seattle whose music weaves Indie, Folk, Soul, Jazz, and Rock into raw, reflective soundscapes. A top 4 finalist on Season 27 of The Voice, she’s known for her stirring vocals and the emotional honesty she brings to every performance. With several singles already released, Lucia is currently crafting her debut EP—a deeper journey into her voice and vision.