Last night’s finale of The Voice Australia saw one well-deserving vocalist take home the grand prize.
23-year-old Bella Taylor Smith was crowned the winner after her stunning rendition of Never Enough from The Greatest Showman won the hearts of those watching around the country.
But it wasn’t just last night’s performance that blew people away.
Bella has been consistently delivering from the moment she took the stage during her Blind Audition. Her soulful voice and ability to hit every note effortlessly made her a frontrunner from the very beginning.
POPSUGAR Australia had the chance to speak to the singer to find out what’s up next for her.
POPSUGAR Australia: Congratulations! How are you feeling after your win?
Bella Taylor Smith: I think I’m feeling shocked to be completely honest. I feel so thankful and grateful for Australia getting behind me and for voting and participating. I think that I’m in shock and I just can’t believe it still, that it’s all happening and it’s all real.
PS: You chose Guy Sebastian to be your coach and it clearly paid off. What made you choose him?
BTS: We share a lot of the same morals — we share the same faith is what I mean to say — which I think is so important. He’s such a pillar in the Australian music industry as well, so I think paired with that and just his kind personality and character, I felt like he would be a great fit.
PS: What are you planning on doing with your $100,000 prize money?
BTS: Paying my bills. I haven’t been able to work because of COVID restrictions really, and it’s been a crazy few years. So, just kind of getting my head above water financially will be incredibly relieving. And then hopefully once the world opens back up for me, I’ll go on a little holiday.
PS: Tell us, what’s up next for you?
BTS: I love writing music and releasing music and singing to a live audience. So, I can’t wait for the world to all kind of open back up and for live music to get going because that’s one of my greatest passions. But writing and releasing is definitely what I’ll be doing, hopefully.
PS: You recently released your brand new single Higher. Tell us all about it.
BTS: The song has a really beautiful message about supporting the people that you love. When I heard it for the first time, I really felt like I could resonate with the lyrics and resonate what they could mean for others. So, that was a big defining moment when picking that song, but I think it’s beautiful and it’s a big sing — I love singing it. I couldn’t be more excited to sing it, hopefully in person in a different context.
PS: You’re a teacher, but now that you’ve won The Voice, will you be giving up your day job to focus on music?
BTS: I love teaching and I hope that I’ll be able to continue to do some teaching because I think it’s really rewarding. And I love my students, so it’s something I’m passionate about and hope to continue to do a little bit in the future.
PS: You’ve opened up about your family struggles in the past. How has music helped you get through that?
BTS: I think everyone has their struggles and their challenges, and we all deal with things that can be really challenging for our lives, so for me music was the thing that I turned to and that I was able to rely on to pick me back up and allow me to feel safe to express myself and process the things that I was going through. So, hopefully when I sing that’s what other people feel as well.
