Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Blind audition: Christian Fermin, ??, of Buena Park, Calif., performed “Brother” by NEEDTOBREATHE in a performance that was montaged, meaning we saw only a tiny snippet of it. Blake Shelton was the lone coach to turn, meaning Christian automatically became a member of Team Blake.

His background: According to Christian’s bio on The Voice website, he started singing by performing karaoke at family parties. After high school, he joined a worship band that gained some traction, but is hoping to find a place in secular music. He grew up in a traditional Filipino family, but lost his grandmother Violet in April. She moved to the U.S. from the Philippines so the family could have a better life here.

What the show didn’t show:
* Christian said he grew up in a family where karaoke and music were always a part of family gatherings. So he says he’s been singing “for as long as I can remember.”
* He realized he might have a gift for music when he started performing in high school talent shows. “Once I realized that I had the talent and power to inspire and serve people through doing music, that’s when I knew it was something I wanted to pursue.”
* Christian was co-lead singer and acoustic guitar player for that aforementioned worship band, called Supliko. They got their start leading worship at a high school winter camp, performed at church events and started working on original music. “But we all got super busy individually,” Christian says. “So the band didn’t formally disband, but we haven’t really worked on anything together within the last year.”
* Since then, Christian has worked as a youth worship intern at his church, mentoring youngsters and leading worship. He’s also been learning other instruments, including the cajon and the drums and now plays drums for the young adult service at the church.
* He’s also been working on learning new cover songs — songs he can make his own “to build originality and authenticity.”
* Post-Voice, he’s hoping for a solo career. “I think the type of music I’d perform post-show would be a mixture of pop-rock/r&b and singer-songwriter.”
* As for the blind audition we didn’t get to see, Christian says Blake turned right before the chorus “so I was pretty much chilling for the rest of the song. Right before I went up there, I kind of went in thinking, ‘Man, you know, there are so many talented people here, I’d honestly be fine with not getting a chair.”
* He said “Brother” is one of his favorite songs; NEEDTOBREATHE is one of his favorite two bands. “For me to sing that song on the show was super important to me,” Christian says. “Especially with the subject matter of the song and it having such a positive message. That’s the type of subject matter I’d like to pursue as an artist.

Keeping up with Christian:
Twitter: @christianfermin
Facebook
YouTube