EXCLUSIVE: The Voice’s Sofronio Vasquez & Michael Bublé on Winning Season 26: “I Trusted Him…”
An exclusive post-win interview with the two champion singers of The Voice Season 26.
Another whirlwind season of The Voice is in the books! First time Coach Michael Bublé closed out his freshman season with two of his Team Bublé members — Shye and Sofronio Vasquez — in the Top 5.
Ultimately, Vasquez won the hearts and ears of the audience, taking the Season 26 crown with Shye coming in second place. Not a bad way for Bublé to close out his proverbial first time at bat on The Voice, and he was beaming on the post finale red carpet on the Universal lot as he and Vasquez did their victory lap with press outlets including NBC Insider.
After speaking via satellite with the local news team from Utica, New York, Sofronio Vasquez’s current hometown, the duo gave us an exclusive interview where Bublé gushed about the global pride exhibited by Vasquez’s fans for his performances all season. Their vote has made him the only Filipino/Asian winner of the U.S. version of The Voice, or any other U.S. based singing competition show.
“There is a whole country watching this like a Super Bowl, no joke,” Bublé said with pride. “And what’s more interesting is that it wasn’t just the Philippines. It was Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, people in China. There were people everywhere that saw themselves in this kid and it’s very cool. He can’t believe it. He’s having a hard time grasping it.”
Vasquez and Bublé also touched on the surprising song selections this season and what they envision for the singer’s career going forward.
The song that gave Sofronio the confidence to go all the way
Sofronio Vasquez appears on The Voice Season 26 Episode 17 “The Playoffs Part 3”. Photo: Griffin Nagel/NBC
While Vasquez’s final two competition songs were Sia’s “Unstoppable” and “A Million Dreams” from The Greatest Showman soundtrack, the singer told us that the song selection he was given made him pause, but then eventually gave him so much confidence after he landed on the classic Roy Orbison ballad, “Crying,” from the Playoffs.
“It was really the shifter,” Vasquez said of the song that tested what he was capable of executing. “Everyone was amazed by how the song was [sung]. And to be honest, I emailed them like, ‘Why is Michael Bublé picking that song for me for playoffs?’ I was saying, ‘Can I just sing his song, ‘Feeling Good,’ because I know that I’ve been singing that for so long?”
Of that seemingly risky choice, Bublé said, “Honest to God, it was the fact that he could bend the songs to his will as an interpreter. That told me about what kind of artist that we had. And that’s artistry. There’s a lot of people that can sound like anybody that they’re singing a song of, but it’s different when you can make it yours, and you can bend it to your will. And that’s when the great ones become the great ones. And I knew.
“There was a reason I wanted to challenge him and I wanted to challenge the audience, because I knew that he could do it all,” he continued. “Let’s take new contemporary. Let’s take old school stuff. Let’s take stuff that’s swing and stuff that has a more blues feel, or pop. I just knew that he could do it the way he did it. But there was more than just the voice. What really floored me more than anything was the charisma, the stage presence that went along with that God-given talent. I know how much work he put into making sure that every move was thought out. I know, because this is what I do.I knew what it meant to him, and I could tell by the work ethic, the ambition and God-given talent that this was gonna happen for him.”
What’s next for Sofronio Vasquez? Michael Bublé has plans
Michael Bublé on The Voice Season 26 Episode 9. Photo: Tyler Golden/NBC
On the carpet, in the short term, Vasquez said he couldn’t wait to call his mother and family in the Philippines to celebrate the win. But what about decisions regarding what he and Coach Bublé envision for his overall career?
“I put my trust in him,” Vasquez said with an earnest trust in his Coach. “I don’t know where am I going tonight, but tomorrow, probably I’m gonna call him just asking that.”
Bublé confirmed that he “definitely” already has ideas to share. “I think it lands some more in faith,” he said of Vasquez’s future sound. “I think he’s a soul singer honestly. When you go look at somebody like Bruno Mars, or Adele, they are people that sing pop music, but it has that edge of a little gospel, a little soul. I think that’s a really exciting thing for a young guy like this to start finding. And by the way, I’m still finding myself. And it’s such a cool way to grow as an artist.”
