I’ve been waiting a long time to write this post. Finally, the moment has arrived, and I can’t wait to voice out my joy!
After many seasons of watching my all-time favourite singing competition on TV — The Voice — I finally encountered a singer whom I knew, the instant he opened his mouth to croon his first note, I was looking at the competition’s next winner!
For those unaware, The Voice (the original US version) has been airing for 15 years, and recently completed its 28th season. Unlike other song contests, each season of The Voice (which lasts for several weeks) always kicks off with a series of blind auditions, where four celebrity judges (called coaches) sit in chairs turned 180 degrees away from the stage that contestants sing on.
As each contestant in the blinds steps up to the stage to perform, the coaches will hit a button to turn their chair around if they like what they hear and wish to coach the contestant. If more than one coach turns the chair, then the contestant gets to pick who they want to coach them through the competition.
Each coach will build a team of singers from the blinds who will move on to subsequent phases of the competition. At each phase, the contestants will be mentored by their coach and compete with one another until one winner out of all the teams is crowned “THE Voice” in the finale. (The decision is based on votes from the American audience)
Now that I’ve explained the show, I want to talk about this latest winner and why I’ve been waiting to write this post. (Warning: spoilers dead ahead!)
And The Winner Is…..Aidan Ross
There are some among us who are simply blessed with voices of divine angels.
These “angels from heaven” always hit the right note in a song, and are never out of tune or step (not without good cause). They carry the song from start to end with near-perfect pitch and can enthral an audience endlessly.
The rest of us in the human race can only watch and listen in stunned silence and awe. And wonder why our own vocal pipes sound like they’re clogged up and in desperate need of a good and thorough scrub!
But there’s more to singing than just being technically accomplished and hitting notes pitch-perfect.
There’s also the ability to go beyond the lyrics and the tune. To touch the listener’s very soul and being. To do that, one must not only sing the notes tunefully, one must sound effortless doing so. No matter how high or low the note goes. But most important of all, one must emote at the right moments in the song without it sounding premeditated or forced.
What people in the industry refer to as giving the audience “the feel”.
It’s visceral and not easily explained with mere words. Only experienced in the moment.
Aidan Ross, the eventual winner I spoke of at the start of this post, embodies this “feel”!
Why He’s “The VOICE”
While past winners were mostly shaky at the blind auditions but showed potential as they moved through the competition’s phases til their final triumph, Aidan was already a clear frontrunner from the get-go.
From the second he opened his mouth in the blind audition to conquer nothing less than an Adele song (Love In The Dark), it was obvious to me that this young man was going straight to the finals to win it!
Let’s be clear. To ace singing contests, song choice is an important factor in any participant’s bag of tricks. You would be careful not to pick a song with a high degree of difficulty in case nerves get the better of you. No matter how good you are.
So to perform songs by acclaimed voices of our century like the late and great Whitney Houston or George Michael would be potentially suicidal!
And then there is Adele.
Adele is arguably one of the most emotive and prolific singers of our time. She has a voice that could melt butter and also simultaneously smash through concrete walls! To even attempt one of her songs in public would require nothing less than terrific talent or incredible insanity.
Yet, not only did Aidan attempt an Adele and got all four coaches to turn their chairs within seconds of hearing him sing, Aidan did what his eventual pick, Coach Niall Horan (former member of One Direction), rightly said: he made that song his own!
Having heard the original version by Adele, I can tell you I love Aidan’s version so much more. In my books, Aidan now owns this song. Every single note of it! (Sorry Adele)
Aidan’s tone was mesmerising (as Coach Reba McEntire declared) and his delivery technically flawless. He seemed to know intuitively when to go high, inflect, belt out falsettos, do runs, and when to go low and deep in the song. He took his time, yet immediately made me feel the gravity and pathos of the song’s deeper meaning of love and loss. Like he was telling his own back story, and winning over my sympathy before I even knew I had surrendered it.
That’s the ultimate sign of a great singer. In this case, one who went on to nail each phase of the contest decisively on his way to the crown.
But while his virtuoso clearly dazzled every time he got on stage, it’s still his first jaw-dropping performance in the blinds that continues to blow my mind each time I replay that performance on Youtube.
[Fun fact: He was the first contestant to perform in the blinds and, at the end of the season, the last contestant standing when crowned the winner. As far as I can recall, this has never happened before in the history of The Voice!]
My Instincts For Beauty Honed
Now to the reason why I’m so joyful writing this post.
After decades of listening to music (been doing so since I was seven or eight years old), and following The Voice the past 15 years, I believe I have finally developed a good ear for spotting beauty in song.
In a world so ugly, tattered and torn. When we are bombarded daily with the worst kinds of news around the world — war, famine, greed, you name it. I strongly believe that most of us have lost the ability to see past the scars to what is beautiful.
The Voice has, over the years, helped me develop and hone my instincts to spot what’s beautiful and heart-wrenching. When I close my eyes and focus each time a record plays, I can now better pick up what I believe is a true work of art. A gift. A God-given and angelic talent that transcends explanation. Much like me now, stumbling and trying to put into words what I’m experiencing so powerfully whenever I encounter a thing of beauty.
No surprise. True beauty just defies logic and words to adequately describe it.
And it’s not just about songs and music. It’s about painting. Writing. Objects. Nature. Relationships. Even the weather.
I firmly believe now more than ever that if we dedicate time daily to pay consistent and deep attention to what’s around us, we can all, over time, develop the instinct to discern the divine, the glorious, the beauty that’s (still) around us.
If we but look and listen keenly. And feel.
In this new year, I hope you too would join me in seeking out beauty in all its many splendored manifestations. To soak it all in and, in doing so, live richer, more fulfilling lives.
To that end, I’m making this post the start of a mini-series on discovering beauty in our daily lives.
Meantime, please share with me in the comments box your thoughts and lived experiences of beauty. I would love to hear all about it!
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Thank you so much!
There’s a quiet profundity in what you’re describing: the voice as a recurring appointment with beauty. Not a one-off revelation, but something that needs tending – like watering a plant or walking the same path until the details start to speak. I know exactly that pull back to a certain recording, a certain timbre, because the first time it moved you wasn’t enough; it only opened the door. The real work, the real encounter, happens on the tenth, the fiftieth listen, when the voice starts to feel like a familiar room you can enter and still find new corners of light.
The human voice has this peculiar power: it’s never static. Even on the same track, the way your own ear shifts – mood, fatigue, memory – changes what it delivers. Returning regularly isn’t just habit; it’s a form of devotion to the fleeting. You’re right that beauty caught once and never revisited risks becoming a souvenir instead of a living thing. The voice reminds us because it keeps reminding us, if we let it.
This reflection feels especially sharp in a time when we’re encouraged to consume more and faster. Slowing down to let a single performance settle deeper each time is almost counter-cultural now. Yet that’s precisely where the depth lives.
Thanks for putting it into words. It’s made me think about which voices I’ve neglected lately – the ones that once stopped me cold and could again, if I gave them the regular audience they deserve.