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Asher HaVon has always been known for his singing capabilities within his hometown of Selma from the tender age of 3 to now being a worldwide sensation for millions after his triumphant win of “The Voice” during season 25 of the show that concluded on NBC in May.

Due to his ground breaking win and his diligent efforts as a vocalist for “The Voice” under vocal coach and “Queen of Country Music” Reba McEntire, he has now released his latest single, “Thank You.” The song commemorates his journey on the show through her leadership while simultaneously giving McEntire her flowers through song and inspirational lyrics for always being a beacon of light in his eyes and considered personally by him as his “Angel on Earth.”

“The single actually dropped on Thanksgiving Day,” HaVon said in an interview with The Selma Times-Journal, “which was important to me because the name of the song was, ‘Thank You’ and I felt it would just be great to drop it on Thanksgiving Day. The entire song was based on our relationship, of course being from Selma, not experiencing a big city and then going to the big city and meeting Reba, she really cultivated me like a mother with a son and just really walked me through some great trials and really bringing me out on the other side as a mentor, as a coach and as a mother.”

HaVon said usually people watching “The Voice” whether on NBC or Peacock, don’t typically know that the show is a year long and not just a couple of months, like advertised on television.

“In that year, Reba was all of that for me,” HaVon said. “All that I needed to be successful and to have the key values to just make it and so I took that and I used it and that’s where the song was birthed from.”

HaVon said one of the three values that Reba taught him throughout his year being a part of “The Voice” was being authentic, allowing him to learn that he was enough alongside learning to affirm his gift while reminding him of what he has.

“I have always had faith, HaVon said. “I’ve always known that there was something bigger than myself that would cross or that I would come upon and of course, being in a place where I didn’t really see where I wanted to go. I just knew there was something inside of me that was bigger than where I was and like that, just kept my determination alive.”

HaVon said being on stage was a full circle moment for him and he said he believes it is a testament to having faith and to believing and just knowing that it’s only a matter of time.

“I believe in my heart,” HaVon said, “if you have anything that God has given you, know it’s for a reason. I think back then; I wasn’t in the place to know then but I knew it would come.”

For HaVon’s Finale on “The Voice,” he showcased the gift of his hometown, Selma, through his fashion, implementing a white outfit featuring a white fur coat that he said caught the eyes of many throughout the show early December.

“You know what?” HaVon said. “It’s so amazing that I can even go to a boutique. I think that’s really a blessing. But, On Time Fashions has been dressing me since I was 3 years old. My first suit came from On Time Fashions for my first performance at the Performing Arts Center in Selma, Alabama. My mother got my whole suit, my socks, my shoes and my hat from One Time Fashion.”

HaVon said outside of his vocal abilities, his fashion is also another thing he gets noticed for quite often.

“I’m different,” HaVon said. “I’m unique and people just really take notice and so I wanted to step out in L.A. and show L.A., us Alabamians can dress now and show them that style isn’t just in Hollywood, boo. We got some style in Alabama.”

HaVon said the wardrobe department in L.A. wanted to keep his fur coat and said that his fur coat was a hot-looking item during the show and HaVon said he told them that they weren’t going to be able to keep it but said he’s thankful.

Not only did HaVon write a new song and drop a new single, but he also received a chance to hear how his mentor, McEntire, felt about his latest release to just find out that she heard the song herself, leaving him emotional and his heart quite happy inside.

“It was so emotional,” HaVon said, “because it’s not often that you write a song for a superstar and they get to hear the song, but it’s even more uncommon that you get to perform that song in front of them, to them.”

HaVon said the performance and the song tribute to McEntire was the highest form of honor since winning the show. Even though he told her thank you many times through text, through email and in person, he couldn’t find a more befitting way to thank her than to use what he believes is unmeasurable within himself, which was his own gift.

“I can’t pay her,” HaVon said. “She has way more money than me or I can’t get her gifts and things that she doesn’t have, but I can offer her something that has no value, but is yet the greatest value to me and so that gift was my voice and I wanted to write the song to her.

“It was a moment in time that I will remember for the rest of my life. I also call Reba my angel on earth because number one, she saw me, right. She heard me and she saw me. One great thing about ‘The Voice’ is that you don’t know what the individuals look like. You turn from what you feel and what their voice is causing you to feel and so when she turned it was, an instant connection.”

Working with McEntire provided him a safe place.

“I’m very unique and I’m very different,” HaVon said. “I am just not a usual individual or usual as people would think I am and Reba captured all of that and she literally protected it and she almost packaged it just right and then represented me to where I was able to come out as my full authentic self. And so it was just the safety of her, the ambience of who she is and her wisdom and her knowledge and even the smile of hers that made me feel that there was nothing I could not do while in her presence. So, all of that is pretty angelic. Calling someone an angel obviously physically, physicality is different but it is the highest form of reference to what I believe we honor as God or spirituality.”

HaVon also said McEntire mentioned the phrase to him of “Staying Woke” during his journey on “The Voice” and said the phrase came at a time when he thought about giving up, just before his big break on the show.

“Right before ‘The Voice’ in that dark moment, I was done with music, honey. I was like this ain’t it. Like, I’m going to work at McDonald’s to be happy, give me a check. But Reba did just that; she woke me up. I remember her saying, Asher, you are more harder on yourself than any of us would ever be, and I was like, ‘Huh?’ And she was like, ‘You really don’t know who you are and what you have. You captivate us but yet, to yourself it’s like you’re nothing.’”

Reba and others on “The Voice” were confused about Asher’s diligent efforts to push harder, and he said he was taught to be humble all his life. What he realized is that sometimes the definition of being humble can disqualify us for what we are qualified for. So, he said it always makes him a little emotional to think about it.

“I spent a lot of my life dimming my light,” HaVon said, “like, really finding an object to put in front of my life because I wanted to be so humble until I never thought, I was worthy. I never thought I was worthy enough to even be on stage like that even though I knew I was better than most people I was around, and the people that I had become more skillful than never told me that I was skillful or never encouraged the good part of me that had grown to be better. And so, I did all my life, remained humble, so humble until I’m standing in front of Reba and I’m singing my butt off, yet I would say I can do better. Is that OK? And she’s like you are blowing us away and yet, you’re questioning yourself.”

HaVon said when Reba woke him up, she woke him to the gift that God had given him unapologetically and that gift is great and the gift doesn’t have to be humbled, that in itself was given by God.

“I think this humble thing comes from man and comes from people who really try to keep you down and not for you to express all that you have because they know that you will literally go somewhere that they may not ever go. So being humble to me now is being thankful for what I have, honoring the gift that’s on the inside of me and walking through the doors that are meant for being prideful with my head up high.”

Since HaVon’s success and “Thank you” was released, he has been recognized on Google and featured on The American Songwriters page.

“I just feel like it showed a testament of the purity of the song,” HaVon said. “I didn’t write it for it to land on Google. I didn’t write it to land on the American Songwriters page. I wrote it for Reba, and it was my authentic way to say thank you. If I was never invited back to the show to perform, if it would have never landed on an international website, I was OK with that because that was my thank you and so, it really meant everything to me.”

HaVon said those who are interested in being within the music industry and one day make it to a big show like “The Voice”, he wants them to know to not be afraid and to just do it.

“I am looking forward to the next Asher HaVon from Selma,” HaVon said. “That will appear on “The Voice” or “American Idol”. I think I’ve only kicked the door in and I’ve kicked the door in with no intentions to close it behind me. It is for people to now walk through it, the door is open.”

HaVon said the work for those who want to pursue the same path, is already done.

“The grounds have been tilled. You can do it because all you need to see is one crop blossom in a barren land, to see that that land can bear crops. I think that what I have done is show that this land isn’t unbearing, it’s a mighty place and just because it’s been a long time since something mighty has come out, that which was mighty changed the world. There are so many more that are just waiting for, waiting for help. The door is open, just walk through it.”

HaVon said the process of getting on the show to winning the show, was a long process.

“It was a lot of auditioning,” Havon said. “It was a lot of going through producers, but when the process finally happened, it was Selma to Hollywood, and there was no interruption there. It’s a haul, but it was from Selma to Hollywood, then to the blind audition.”

HaVon continued explaining the blind audition that those who would like to one day appear on “The Voice” would have to go through.

“So the Blind audition, obviously, you’re on Universal live, and you are at the studio where you have to choose your song, rehearse the song with the band and you go on stage and all the coaches are there. They have no idea who you are, what you look like. They don’t know what you have on, and you have to sing for your life. When you sing, if they like what they hear, they will turn their chair around. If one coach turns their chair, then you’re on that coach’s team, but if more than one coach turns their chair, you then get to choose which team you want to be on.”

When all the chairs turned around for Havon, that’s when he said he chose Reba.

HaVon said before he had the world at his fingertips, he went through day-to-day struggles like everyday people from worrying about the repo man coming to get his car to owning multiple properties then suffering in Houston to thriving there, all in a year.

“One, all of that is true,” HaVon said. “I experienced all of that. I think around Thanksgiving time this year, I was so thankful. It put me in such a thankful space. Laying in a bed that was paid for reminded me of when I didn’t have a bed to lay in, getting in a car driving, reminded me when I was hiding the car from the repo man and so it reminded me of all those things and I think so many people especially, my new fans, thousands of my new fans just know Asher Havon from Hollywood, Asher Havon from “The Voice” and I wanted to remind some and also let some know online that I got here the struggling way .”

HaVon said it wasn’t easy and that there were terrifying moments but he said even though he can sing and he has a gift that it did not disqualify him from the struggle.

“You have to weather the storm with the gift,” HaVon said. “I feel like having a gift is the antenna to bring struggle to you and you have to weather the storm with the gift. Most times, when you have a gift, people watch you weather the storm. Some help and some don’t. Some think otherwise, but still you go through and it is how you weather the storm and come out the storm that I believe it’s the true testament and the true reward.”

HaVon said he just wanted people out there to know its extravagant being onstage with a big voice and being beautiful or whichever adjective he said people refer him to but he wants them to understand that he truly struggled to be where he is today.

“I struggled hard,” HaVon said. “It’s still hard sometimes, and the reason why it’s hard sometimes is because you go from having nothing to everything and you don’t even know how to handle everything, because you’re so used to having nothing. So, it’s still a struggle, like balancing these two, and I just felt like that was the perfect time to say it and also to constantly remind my mother of the soldier she is in my life as well.”

Just like HaVon disclosed his personal life struggles online, he also had permission from his mom personally, to tell her story as well. HaVon said during his journey within “The Voice,” his mom was battling cancer and said it was something she did not share with the world until everything was over. HaVon said he was proud to say online just days after Thanksgiving that she beat it and shares his thoughts around the disease that affects so many every day.

“When I found out, I stopped everything,” Havon said. “I stopped my life and I came back to Selma. No one knew I was there, of course, but I stopped, came home and I stayed as long as I needed to stay. I did everything I needed to do, and the label was still pulling. I missed engagements and I didn’t care to be honest, honey you can pay folks back to miss stuff but you can’t pay for a missing mother.”

HaVon said he stopped what he wanted to be, to become everything he needed to be for his mother, always being available and right there by her side, being a son, a child who cooked and cleaned during her time of need.

“When I got the call to come back to “The Voice”, that was one of the first things they said, “How is your mom?” because it was so unexpected. I’m kind of rising to the peak of my career and all of sudden, this.”

HaVon said no one saw it coming, including himself but he said he knew he couldn’t talk about his mother’s health because he felt it would have attracted press that he wasn’t ready for.

“I wanted to respect the privacy of my mother as well,” said HaVon. “So, when she reached the victory, that’s when I then wanted to talk about it.”

But, HaVon said he waited on his mother’s OK first.

“It is important that when you get to a certain place in your life that you have a very high level of privacy and that privacy creates normalcy for you and so I wasn’t going to say anything and she was like no, you have a platform now and I’m sure there’s people that follow you that’s dealing with cancer and they are going through some things.”

HaVon said he was not sure how long his mother was battling with the disease, but he said he feels like it’s so profound to know that she did not want to interrupt his life, when he was going and the victories that he was walking upon.

“It’s like I almost wanted to go and have a conversation with the doctor myself because it was so hard, so quick and aggressive and I knew it was happening, but she never mentioned it my entire run on the show.”

Speaking of show, in light of the new year approaching, HaVon is going to star in an adaptation of “The Lion King” in a couple of months at the Davis Theater in Montgomery, where he said through an online statement that it has been a dream of his for a while and that theater has always had a special place in his heart and said he can’t wait to share this passion of theater with all of you.

To know more about Havon, you can follow him through his Facebook page named Asher HaVon.