A 15-year-old stunned 'The Voice' coaches with a song they’d heard a hundred times — but never like this
It seems like Sydney Sterlace's performance turned out to be a spiritual experience for Snoop Dogg! During the grand premiere of 'The Voice' Season 26, which aired on September 23, 2024, Sterlace, a 15-year-old singer hailing from Buffalo, New York, stunned the judges with her jaw-dropping rendition of Olivia Rodrigo's smashing hit 'Driver's License.' After hearing just a few notes, Gwen Stefani and Michael Bublé instantly turned their chairs for Sterlace. On the other hand, Reba McEntire and Dogg took their sweet time before turning their chairs for the young musician. At the end of her performance, Sterlace received a standing ovation from the judges.
As per NBC, when Dogg was asked to offer his feedback on Sterlace's performance, he quipped, "You captivated me like I was in church. The way you just held control of the audience. You made me move; you made me get up. I didn't even let you finish. I'm sorry. I haven't heard anybody that sounds as good as you. You have a beautiful spirit, and I would love to coach you. But I'm like, 'Damn! What can I give you when you've got everything?!' What I could give you is some love and a blank canvas so you could paint a picture of who you want to really be in life."
Soon after, Bublé stated that he was glad that Sterlace came on 'AGT' and exclaimed, "I love that one of us is gonna get to be a part of watching you find yourself. Thank you so much for coming to our show," meanwhile, McEntire said, "You've got a maturity to your inner self that comes out from your heart, your soul, and we felt it. I'm just so thrilled that you came on this show, and we're all here to help, so welcome to The Voice. I'd love to have you on my team."
Stefani also pulled out all the stops to get Sterlace on her team and went on to say, "It took me a minute to push my button because it was so unbelievably close to her tone. Now, finding out that you're 15 years old... For me, it would be all about getting to know you and how we can make your style of singing even more saturated with Sydney. That's why this show is so amazing because it's like a boot camp. You will learn so much so quickly. I know what you need; I'm like your mom right now. I'm like the cool mom, though."
In the end, Sterlace decided to join Team Gwen. During an interview with WGRZ, Sterlace revealed why she decided to pick Stefani as her coach by saying, "I chose Gwen because I feel like we're similar in the way that we both started when we were young with singing, and I've always watched her videos and seen how much confidence she has on stage. I feel like one of the things that I don't have a lot of is stage presence and confidence, and so I felt like she could really help me with that."
