At just 14 years old, Brooklyn Marie has already spent more than a decade performing music. Now, the Minnesota teenager is taking a major step toward her dream after earning two coaches’ turns during her Blind Audition on Season 30 of The Voice.

Standing beneath neon blue lights with her guitar in hand, Marie performed Olivia Rodrigo’s traitor while all four coaches listened with their backs turned. The show’s Blind Auditions require coaches to judge contestants by their voices alone, without seeing who is performing.

Queen Latifah was the first to turn her chair, with Kelly Clarkson following shortly afterward. When the performance ended, Clarkson appeared stunned by the singer’s age and talent, exclaiming, “What!?”

Marie, whose full name is Brooklyn Marie Ostlund, now had to choose between Team Queen and Team Kelly. Her decision came easily.

“It’s always been Kelly,” she announced, prompting Clarkson to celebrate and join her onstage for a hug.

Clarkson later praised the teenager’s distinctive sound in a testimonial.

“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,” she said.

Brooklyn Marie’s love of music began at age 3

Although her journey on The Voice is only beginning, Marie’s connection to music goes back to her earliest childhood. She told MPR News that she was singing before she could even walk or talk, often filling the family car with melodies as a toddler.

At age 3, she made her first stage appearance at a local telethon in her hometown of Alexandria, Minnesota. Over the years, she explored different instruments and performed at venues throughout the surrounding region.

However, one evening watching her favorite musician, Josie Nelson, perform at a local winery helped Marie imagine a future in music.

“One day I just thought, what if I could do that?” Marie 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 approached Nelson for advice about entering the music industry. Nelson explained that becoming a working musician would require more than simply having a good voice. She would need equipment, the stamina to perform for hours without breaks, the ability to improvise and a large enough songbook to keep audiences entertained.

Marie took the advice seriously. At just 11, she spent an entire summer practicing guitar and building a repertoire of 100 songs.

“My fingers started bleeding from playing guitar so much; I just loved it so much,” she said. “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-style performance opportunity came at her elementary school’s picnic, eventually leading to gigs at wineries, vineyards and breweries.

“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,” Marie said.

Taylor Swift inspires her songwriting

Marie has already released two singles, Tired and i miss u, both of which make prominent use of her guitar. She also experiments with her vocals to create a sense of space and depth in her music.

Her songwriting often draws on personal emotions, particularly moments of loss. When something upsetting happens, she writes down her feelings and uses them as inspiration for her songs.

One of her biggest influences is Taylor Swift, whose emotionally driven lyrics have made a lasting impression on the young musician. Swift’s song Clara Bow holds special significance because it explores the challenges girls and women face in the entertainment industry, alongside the dreams of a small-town girl hoping to make it in a much bigger world.

Marie relates to that story, especially as she begins pursuing opportunities far beyond her hometown.

“I’m from a small town. Like, it’s not even in anyone’s possibility for me to go to ‘The Voice,’” she said.

Despite the odds, competing on the singing competition had long been one of her biggest ambitions. Her father eventually encouraged her to apply after seeing how much progress she had made as a musician. They submitted an audition tape, and NBC requested additional recordings before Marie finally secured her Blind Audition.

Now, she is moving into the Battles round, where two artists on the same team perform the same song and their coach chooses which contestant advances.

Marie’s Battle airs Monday, October 26. If she wins, she will move on to the audience-vote round on November 2, when viewers will help determine which contestants advance to the Live Shows. Beyond the competition, she is also working on an album that she hopes to release next year.

She has another dream if music doesn’t work out

Although Marie is determined to build a career in music, she has another profession in mind if her artistic ambitions do not work out: becoming an ear, nose and throat doctor.

The idea comes from a difficult experience during her childhood. Marie had tubes placed in her ears to help reduce infections, but the procedure caused serious complications involving her eardrums.

“They were like, ‘We don’t know if she’s going to be able to hear normally ever again,’” she recalled.

Before each operation, a doctor would sing to Marie to help calm her nerves. She still remembers how much comfort those moments brought her during a frightening time.

That experience inspired her to consider a future in medicine. If she becomes a doctor, she hopes to keep a guitar nearby and sing to young patients who feel scared before their procedures, just as someone once did for her.

“I really wanted to be able to have the same impact,” Marie said. “Not only for the parents but also for the children who are going through that.”

For now, Marie is focused on her journey on The Voice, where she is getting the chance to turn a childhood dream into reality. Whether she ultimately builds her future onstage or in a hospital, the Minnesota teenager already has a clear idea of the kind of impact she hopes to make.