On Sunday night (May 30), Australia crowned Lachie Gill as the winner of The Voice Australia. His powerful voice impressed not only coaches Rita Ora, Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy and Keith Urban, but also those watching at home.
The former P.E. teacher walked away with $100,000 richer and a contract with Universal Music Australia, a proud moment for the young musician. However, not everyone was pleased, with social media erupting in fury when host Sonia Kruger read out his name.
“Of course, the white boy’s gonna win,” said one user on Twitter, with another saying: “Not happy at all with the result on @TheVoiceAU you had three amazing singers with beautiful voices and the white guy with an average voice wins, please make it make sense.”
Joining him in the finale were Thando Sikwila from Team Keith, Jordan Tavita from Team Guy and Faith Sosene from Team Jess. Speaking to Lachie today, he seemed to be in high spirits after his win, but he did admit to seeing the negativity.
“There’s always going to be [negativity] and I totally understand where these people are coming from. Some can be a little harsh, but it’s a competition. They have their favourites and I had my favourites. I loved the three other people standing up there with me,” he told POPSUGAR Australia.
“Faith, Thando and Jordan were absolutely incredible and I leaned on them throughout the process because I knew they were such powerful and great singers. So, I understand that and it’s going to happen regardless,” he said.
“I’m just so thankful that Australia decided to vote for me and make me the winner, so it’s a very humbling and special feeling.”
While the backlash isn’t easy to face, Lachie is focusing on the silver lining, and there’s plenty of it. Since last night, he and his family have been celebrating his extraordinary win and now, he’s gearing up to pursue a career in music — a big jump from his teaching position.
“I started taking music a bit more seriously when I was 16-17, but I didn’t really believe that it could be a career, so that’s why I went into teaching. So, I’m pretty keen to put everything else to the side and make sure that music is my number one priority,” he said.
Having released his first single Wasted Time, Lachie is already looking to the next venture. His contract with Universal Music Australia is set to make his music journey a whole lot easier, but he knows he needs to put in the hard work.
“There’s so much more that I have written and I’m ready to record,” he shared. “For me, the hard work starts now. While the show was super exciting and tough, that was just the start, and now I need to make sure I work hard to stay in Australia’s minds to keep them listening to my music. That’s all I want, and I can’t wait.”
