Five things we learned from The Voice Kids
- Published
The Voice Kids kicked off on Saturday night with singers aged 7-14 facing blind auditions in front of judges Danny Jones, Pixie Lott, and will.i.am.
The show's winner will get 拢30,000 towards 'musical education' and a VIP trip to Disney Land Paris.
It's the first time that a junior equivalent of The Voice has come to the UK, although there have already been 30 versions of the show in other countries including Australia and France.
The show opened with will.i.am promising us laughter and tears - so did it deliver? Here are five things we learned...
1. Being young doesn't make these contestants' voices any less powerful
This was made clear right from the start, as the very first act, 13-year-old Jessica belted out 'Somebody to Love' by Queen. By her last note, all three judges had turned around, and will.i.am joked that the police might be on their way "because you just killed it".
Meanwhile, 12-year-old Courtney might have seemed quiet and shy while she waited to perform, but she transformed into a rock star when the music started, wowing the judges with moves she'd learned from Youtube.
2. The judges were kids once too!
We probably could have guessed this, but just in case you were in any doubt the show opened with a 'story time' sequence including childhood photos and videos of Pixie, Danny, and will.i.am, and honestly they looked pretty cute!
They chatted about childhood memories off-stage, and were clearly imagining how they would have felt appearing on a show like this back then.
3. It looks so nerve-wracking!
Did it look this scary in the adult version? The silence when the singers walk out onto the stage is deafening - you can hear the contestants and the judges breathing nervously, and even rustling in the audience adds to the tension. You can practically hear their heart-beats!
The stage somehow looks bigger as well - you suddenly realise what a massive space it is for one person to fill. The relief when the music starts makes it all worth the build up!
4. It's not nearly as harsh as other singing talent shows
We're quite glad about this to be honest - all the contestants were really good, so there wasn't really any reason for the judges to find their inner Simon Cowell.
Even when none of the judges turned around, they had loads of lovely things to say in feedback.
In fact, contestants seemed equally worried about upsetting the judges when they had to pick a mentor. Will.i.am didn't take it well when Leah, the youngest contestant, picked Pixie Lott as her coach instead of him.
5. The judges are definitely feeling competitive
Danny was the most buzzer-happy, and got a couple of acts without challenge, but it didn't take long for the judges to start competing to win their favourite acts.
Will.i.am *really* loved the show's first rapping entrant. He was so into the performance that he jumped up onto the stage to join him mid-performance! Attention-seeking? maybe... but Little T seemed happy about it, and he picked Will to coach him.
And Will wasn't the only one to perform - Danny burst into song to prove he could sing in Italian to Italian-born contestant Riccardo.
All three judges were desperate to win Riccardo over after his beautiful rendition of 'Hallelujah' and even resorted to listing their favourite Italian things.
Ultimately, Pixie won the act. Was it because she has (sort of) the same name as Riccardo's Italian Grandma? Or did Riccardo just like her best? We'll never know.