By: Clare Bruce
It wasn’t long ago Chris Sebastian shared about the turmoil of losing a baby, how his faith got him through that season, the song he released as a gift to grieving parents, and celebrating the birth of newborn Ava.
Fast-forward just two months, and he’s standing on the brink of a career takeoff – as one of the four finalists competing for the crown on Channel Nine’s The Voice. With Australians voting now for their favourite singer in the leadup to Sunday night’s Grand Finale, Chris has an anxious week ahead of him.
His progression through the show on ‘Team Kelly’ with coach Kelly Rowland, has been a chance to show his diverse talent – from massive piano ballads, to dance-worthy R&B hits.
It began with his ‘Blind Audition’ in May singing Labrinth’s Jealous, which turned all four chairs and brought his brother Guy, one of the show’s coaches, to tears.
The ‘Battles’ then saw him paired in a duet with young diva Sapphire Tamalemai, belting out an epic version of Sia’s Titanium, while in the ‘Playoffs’ he performed Bruno Mars’ hit 24k Magic, winning against seasoned professional Lyric McFarland from the band Brown Sugar.
In Sunday night’s ‘Showdowns’ he wowed the coaches again, singing Charlie Puth’s Attention – a performance made all the more difficult performing without any studio audience, while his coach Kelly was beamed in from the USA by video link only, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
For Tuesday’s Semi-Final Chris competed amongst the Top 7 performing a stunning rendition of Lewis Capaldi’s hit Before You Go.
Stepping Out From Guy’s Shadow
He admitted in a mentoring session with Kelly Rowland that it had always been daunting to try and make it as an artist, in the shadow of his older brother Guy’s success – and that he was amazed to have made it this far into the competition.
“I had no expectations coming into this,” he said. “I didn’t know whether it was going to be received well having a brother on the show.”
“For a long time I kind of did feel like I was in Guy’s shadow. I’d play shows and people would only associate me with him, and I struggled with that for a really long time. Identity has been a real weird thing for me. I love Guy but I’ve always kind of had to prove myself. It’s been hard to be taken seriously.”
Coach Kelly Roland in turn shared her own struggle of being constantly compared to former Destiny’s Child bandmate and global superstar Beyonce Knowles.
While winning The Voice could be rocket-fuel for Chris’s career, he isn’t in for an easy fight, being pitched against three incredible talents: American-born vocal powerhouse Johnny Manuel, young rapper-singer Siala, and cleaner-turned-singer, Stellar, each with their own unique story and musical genre.
Voting is now open, and closes after the four Grand Finale performances on Sunday night. Australians can vote up to three times – either now, or after seeing the Sunday performances – and can spread their three votes across contestants, or use all for the same artist.
Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
About the Author: Clare is a digital journalist for the Broadcast Industry.