Newly crowned "The Voice" winner Jordan Smith recently insisted he didn't always see his success coming.

Despite being Season 9's front-runner seemingly from the opening note, Smith told Yahoo he previously auditioned for the show and was rejected. Even after making the cut, he claimed he struggled with internalizing that he was a real "artist."

"I was like, 'Wow, people see something in me that honestly I didn't think was there,'" he said of all the praise he received throughout the season. "I thought maybe I had fooled everyone. It took a lot of convincing for me to finally start seeing myself as a performer and artist."

These days, Smith added, he's still in the middle of processing everything and trying to allow all his good fortune to settle in.

"It's a dream I've had for such a long time and looked forward to for so long," he said. "Now I have to find a new dream, something else to look forward to and work on."

Undoubtedly, putting together his debut album will fill much of that time.

Smith also reflected that one of the biggest lessons he learned during his "Voice" run was what kind of artist he wants to be and what kind of music he wants to perform.

"I want to keep doing music that inspires people," he said. "That's such a part of what I did on the show, and I'm all about music that provokes emotions. I want to make music that people connect with. I think there are songs out there that when you hear them, they bring you back to a certain place. I want to make music like that. I think I've learned on the show just how powerful music can be when it comes from your heart and means something to you."

Smith described his turning point on the show, when he performed Beyoncé's "Halo." He insisted it was the first time he fully realized he had something profound to share as an artist.

"I saw myself as an artist from that point on," he said. "Then I tried to cultivate that good attitude and keep that momentum going for the rest of the show and build up my self-confidence as a performer."

According to Billboard, Smith's version of "Mary, Did You Know" now ranks No. 1 on Digital songs and Hot Christian Songs, selling 161,000 downloads during the week ending Dec. 17.