Prison Officer and The Voice Semi-Finalist Reflects on ‘Hannah Montana’ Experience

Hollie Peabody’s return to work at a category B men’s prison has been “a big crash down to reality.” For four months this year, Hollie exchanged their prison duties for singing as they participated in ITV’s The Voice. The 22-year-old from Oxfordshire first captured the attention of Sir Tom Jones during the blind auditions with a rendition of Selena Gomez’s Lose You To Love Me, ultimately reaching the semi-finals. “While I was there it all felt a little bit Hannah Montana,” Hollie shared with BBC Newsbeat. “Because you’re living two very different lives at the same time.” Hollie, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, truly believes they possess “the best of both worlds,” much like the Disney character immortalized by Miley Cyrus, a pop star by night and schoolgirl by day. “I’ve gone from studios to walking on walkways and filling out applications – it’s very, very weird,” Hollie stated, adding, “I walked past a prisoner the other day who shouted, ‘sing us a song’.” Despite the program’s success, Hollie intends to remain in their prison service role. “This is my career,” they affirmed. “It will be what I do forever, full stop. I have no intention of leaving – I love it here.” Hollie initially faced the red chairs during the blind auditions, recorded in February, but nearly missed the opportunity. “My ex actually signed me up without telling me,” they disclosed. “I got an email inviting me to audition which threw me a bit, because I had no intention of doing it.” Hollie concluded, “So I got thrown in the deep end.” Hollie mentioned that they had never sung outside their bedroom, apart from a few school performances, before taking the leap onto television. “It’s always just been a hobby rather than something I want to do in front of everyone else,” they commented. “But it’s nice to have affirmation that other people like it as well.” Sir Tom selected Hollie as his final contestant, and throughout the competition, he commended the sound and the “rare honesty” of Hollie’s voice. Fellow judge LeAnn Rimes described their voice as “tender.” Hollie attributes their confidence to perform to their job in the prison service. “When I started working here, I used to really struggle with anxiety,” they explained. “I still do but the support network that I’ve gained here has built my confidence to a point where I’m sort of running on the life motto of ‘what’s the worst that can happen?'” Hollie indicated that their days of singing solely in their bedroom are behind them, as they have now secured several performance engagements. “Normally, you do the little gigs and then you build up to the big things like going on television, whereas I’ve done the television and then booked the little gigs,” they noted. “I’ve sort of done it all in reverse.” Upon returning to the prison wings, Hollie expressed immense pride in their achievements. “It was never about wanting fame and fortune,” they stated. “It was, ‘Can I stand on a stage and perform in front of people?'” They added, “I worked so hard on myself to get where I am that the fact it was able to culminate in doing something that big makes my heart happy.” Hollie concluded, “I’m so proud of myself.”