Harrison Craig, a Melbourne singer who
overcame a stutter to perform, wows the audience in his blind audition.
Picture: Sarah Matray Source: News Limited
Holly Byrnes, The Daily Telegraph, reports
He captivated a nation and overcame a childhood stutter to soar up the Australian music charts, but The Voice favourite Harrison Craig faces his biggest test yet as the top-rating series begins its battle rounds.
The talented Melbourne teenager will sing for his TV life against Sydney pastor Tim Moxey in Tuesday night's blockbuster opening episode of the now-sudden death competition.
The Team Seal rivals and "nice guys" kick off the next phase of the Logie-winning series, which will be hoping to kick the audience slump it experienced last year, dropping well below its two-million average during the combative sing-off section of the show.
Mentored by Sneaky Sound System's Connie Mitchell, the popera pairing take on Josh Groban's international hit, You Raise Me Up, in another guaranteed goosebump moment of the series.
Producers have added a new twist to keep audience interest high, after fans saw some of their favourites including Mahalia Barnes and Mitchell Thompson eliminated mid-race in the debut season.
This year, each coach will have the chance to save just one singer from a rival team and given just five seconds, under pressure, to make the call.
After three weeks of blind auditions, the superstar coaches mark the
competition switch up with a costume change (much to their wardrobe critics
relief) and another all-in performance which sets an electric tone to the
battle rounds.
While the debate surrounding Abby Dobson's exit continued on social
media, another second-chance singer, Simone Stacey, had better luck with her
smooth rendition of Etta James' Sentimental Reasons, turning the head and chair
of coach Seal.
The 35-year-old, who enjoyed chart success in the noughties with diva
duo Shakaya, dedicated her romantic performance to her late grandmother, who
recently passed away.
With all four teams of 14 contestants now finalised, some of the best of
the bunch have revealed to News Limited the secrets to their success.
Team Ricky rocker Simon Meli has admitted he overcomes any performance
anxiety with "a neck of bourbon" and pulling on his lucky undies;
while Bondi zen master, Ben Goldstein, on Team Delta, combats nerves
"through meditation".
In the survey of each state's best chances, 2012 finalists Karise Eden
and Darren Percival emerged as the two contestants who inspired this new
generation to sign on for the show.
Asked to nominate their pick for this year's title, the top three
"player" favourites emerged as Michael Paynter, Karen Andrews aka
Miss Murphy and Harrison Craig, while the dark horses to watch were Mitchell
Anderson, Nicholas Roy and Caterina Torres.
No comments:
Post a Comment