WOODVILLE, Texas — Woodville native Kim Cruse is back home after being eliminated from the top 8 of season 22 of NBC's The Voice.
The Team Legend singer sang “All By Myself” for the Semifinals Eliminations on Tuesday, December 6, 2022.
Cruse was eliminated right before the season finale.
Woodville residents will celebrate the superstar's return on Wednesday, December 7, 2022 on Eagle Drive in front of Woodville High School beginning at 7 p.m.
After her elimination, Cruse took to Instagram to thank her coach, her fans and of course God for all that she's gained from this life-changing experience.
"Although my run on the show is over, I couldn’t be happier! Prayerfully my goal of inspiring little girls & women like me has been met. I can’t wait to see what God does next," Cruse said in the post. "To my coach @johnlegend, THANK YOU! You’ve encouraged, inspired, and pushed me to be a better artist in every way! Thank you guys for every vote, share, comment, and follow! Buckle up! We’re still “crusing"
Kim Cruse hadn't gotten through the first 15 seconds of her blind audition singing Daniel Caesar's "Best Part" on The Voice before John Legend slammed his button.
Legend's chair-turn was followed by Camila Cabello, who turned 41 seconds in and danced and swayed in her seat.
Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton then turned at 01:03 and 01:20 respectively.
Cruse, 30, was raised in and still lives in Woodville, picked John Legend as her coach, although he originally wasn't her first choice.
Blake Shelton was her top choice, but he didn't know her favorite artist or the song that she sang at her audition, so she went with a different coach.
For Cruse, the road to The Voice studios in Hollywood, started in Southeast Texas.
She's as true a Texan as they come.
"We love to be outdoors fishing, hunting, all of that good stuff and of course, I grew up in a musical family so we did that as well," Cruse previously told 12News.
This year, Cruse sang in the Miss Tyler County Pageant that was held in Woodville. She won for her talent, singing of course.
From a local pageant, to center stage in Hollywood, the experience has been so surreal for Cruse.
"It's like each chair that turned like the adrenaline was just like there and I was just like, 'keep it cool Kim, keep it cool Kim, get through the song'. But when Blake turned I just couldn't, I couldn't hold it anymore," she said.
Al green is one of Cruse's favorite musicians, and it was important to her that she and her coach were on the same page.
"I chose John, because John was the only coach who knew who Al Green was. This is gonna be the coach who understands me musically, because they know who some of my favorites are," she said.
So of course, Cruse joined Team Legend. Throughout her journey, she's had a lot of fans cheering for her from Woodville.
"I think I've signed probably like five or six newspapers in Walmart. My mom calls me she's like, 'hey, can you come up to the job?' There's someone here that watched it and they want to they want to meet you," Cruse said.
This time was actually Cruse's fourth time auditioning for The Voice and she also auditioned for other television singing contests.
This isn't so much a story of overnight fame, as it is a story of perseverance.