During the third episode of “The Voice” Season 23 blind auditions, a 24-year-old contestant from Walnut, California made history by becoming the reality TV show’s first successful deaf contestant. Her name is simply ALI, but there’s nothing simple about her. “A fun fact about me is, I am hearing-impaired,” she explained to the shocked judging panel (watch above). “I wear two hearing aids. I was born deaf. I’m so blessed to be able to share this.”
ALI belted out “Killing Me Softly With His Song” on the big stage and earned two chair-turns from coaches Kelly Clarkson and Chance the Rapper. The other panelists, Niall Horan and Blake Shelton, remained planted in their seats but still praised her voice later in the show.
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“Oh my God, that’s crazy,” Kelly shouted after learning of ALI’s hearing disability. “Your runs were so intricate and cool and different. That’s a gift.” She later added, “Sometimes you hear a song that you know so well, it’s embedded in you. When some people change it, it can kind of be weird, but the changes you made — they were so you. I was like, ‘I need to turn around and see who is singing this.’ That was really cool.”
After calling her voice “insane,” Niall continued on, “You were amazing, but the second they turned, I knew you were set up … Any sort of adversity that you’ve had in your life, you are just jumping hurdles here, and it’s incredible to watch, so I wish you the best of luck, ALI.”
Blake chimed in, “If you had lined up all the singers that we’ve heard so far and then said, ‘Pick which one is hearing-impaired,’ you would be the — probably the last one that I would say. That vocal was just incredible. The only reason I didn’t hit my button is because [‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’] is so far out of my lane musically.”
Even though Chance spun his chair around, he was the last person to speak. “ALI, I’m just still so stunned to hear that you’re hearing-impaired,” he announced. “I work with this awesome organization called DEAFinitely Dope that does a lot of ASL performances for the festivals nationally. I’ve made a lot of friends from the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, and I think it’s so dope that they could look to somebody that loves music as much as they do.” He finished by saying he’d love to hear her sing gospel, noting, “Naturally, you just have an amazing voice, and all the choices that you were making felt very soulful.”
When it finally came time for ALI to make a decision, she agonizingly declared, “It’s just so hard to choose, but I think ultimately … I have to go with Kelly.”
Will ALI be the fifth Team Kelly artist to win “The Voice” after Brynn Cartelli (Season 14), Chevel Shepherd (Season 15), Jake Hoot (Season 17) and Girl Named Tom (Season 21)? Stay tuned.
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