Keith Urban took aim at the world’s ‘shine blockers’ as Channel 7 fired the first shots in the battle of reality TV behemoths on Monday night.
The network started The voice at 7 p.m., half an hour before Chef out of ten and Lego masters on Nine kicked off their seasons. He delivered a solid debut that was packed with laughs, drama and, yes, vocal talent, even though he only made it through seven blind auditions in nearly two hours of television.
The voice returned Monday with judge/coaches Rita Ora, Guy Sebastian, Keith Urban and Jessica Mauboy.Credit:Seven
Responding to the opening performance of Ally Eley, 19, from the western suburbs of Melbourne, the judges asked why she chose to cover the song. Teenage Dirtbaga hit for New York alternative rockers Wheatus in 2000. She explained herself by telling the story of a teacher she had admired in elementary school, but who responded to her very first performance, in front of the class when she was just nine years old, laughing and saying, “I thought you said you could sing.
“People talk a lot about the people who cheered us on in the beginning, the cheerleaders in our lives, the believers and all that, and we get a lot of fuel from those people,” Urban said. “But man, we get a lot of fuel from the naysayers, shine blockers, telling us ‘you’ll never be anything’.
“In life, it’s not what happens to us, it’s how we deal with it,” he added. “Do you know who your music teacher was? She was intimidated and terrified by your talent, and she was very jealous.
Despite the words of encouragement, she chose to go with Guy Sebastian.
Ally Eley, a 19-year-old from Melbourne, was the first performer of the season. Credit:Seven
The start of the season also featured a hilarious exchange between country singer Danny Phegan and Rita Ora, the Kosovo-born English judge, in which the cultural divide was significant.
Ahead of his performance, Phegan, a 45-year-old father of six from Walla Walla in outback New South Wales, played down his outlook.
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