Huntley will never forget the morning after his Voice win.
“I woke up to an empty hotel room with nothing but me and a trophy,” the 34-year-old vocal powerhouse tells PEOPLE in a recent interview. “All the people left, and I was supposed to go see my family, but I got asked to do the halftime show for the [Los Angeles] Chargers game. I ended up staying there an extra week in the hotel by myself.” He pauses. “I think there’s a misconception on what happens after you win these shows.”
Certainly, the stage that Huntley and so many others have found themselves on during the quarter century of The Voice has been one that have allowed artists an incredible opportunity to an already avid fan base, but a real chance to establish a career one could only dream of.
“They are an amazing organization to work with,” the Season 24 winner of The Voice stresses. “They were fair to everybody, and they gave everybody an opportunity to speak their mind. They really gave you the opportunity to show what you would look like with a million-dollar stage setting.”
Nevertheless, the former football player — whose first name is Michael but has long been known by his nickname of Huntley — says the real work began once the show was through.
“I really don’t want to dwell on any business stuff, honestly, but I do think people think you get this Kelly Clarkson sort of moment, and they just give you the world,” says Huntley, referring to the season one winner of American Idol, who has gone on to the most successful of careers. “But I wasn’t being given any direction, and I just felt like it was in my best interest to go independent.”
Edward Crowe
And in the spring of this year, Huntley did just that.
“It really comes down to a lot of the artists being able to write and being able to connect with the audience that they gained from the show and putting a great team around them, which I’m lucky to have,” he says.
And it is with this team that now brings Huntley to a whole new chapter of his career with the release of his new single “Tell Me When It’s Over.” “A lot of the promises that you have in life don’t really always meet expectations,” he says of the meaning of the powerful song.
The song also partly stemmed from a past relationship.
“I went through a lot of things while I was on The Voice,” he admits. “I happened to go through a lot of up and downs in a relationship that I was in. When I love, I love wholeheartedly, and it’s really hard for me to give up on something just because of differences. There’s just time to walk away from a relationship when it gets to a point where you’re coming home every day and you’re kind of losing a piece of yourself — and each person knows it.”
It’s this pain that can be heard all over “Tell Me When It’s Over,” but especially on some soul-wrecking notes towards the conclusion of the song. “It’s one of the fastest songs that I’ve ever written in my life,” Huntley explains. “I think that’s what happens when it just comes from the heart. You can’t really fake something like that. That’s one thing that I’ve learned from this whole experience is the responsibility of connecting with the audience.”
“Tell Me When It’s Over” now comes with an equally powerful music video also premiering exclusively on PEOPLE. “It was so hard for me to come up with a concept myself,” he says. “I had an idea of what kind of vibe I wanted, but I didn’t want to be so specific to my own relationship. I wanted it to be very widely relatable.”
And relatable Huntley continues to be, as the guy who first got the call from The Voice while making spaghetti and meatballs for his kids continues to keep his priorities in order.
“To my kids, I’m just Dad,” he says with a laugh. “Stella’s growing up crazy fast. She’s her own little rockstar. And my son [Michael] is my biggest fan. Basically, I’m on the road doing all these things, and then as soon as I land, I’m getting my daughter from school. I’m blessed that I can do both, and it’s definitely been crazy to navigate it, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know this is my dream, but there’s a lot more to fight for than just a dream.”
