Teenager Anja Nissen can now quit cutting onions for a living after winning The Voice Australia and being offered a record deal by her coach and The Black Eyed Peas star Will.i.am.
Nissen, who was the only solo female artist in Monday night’s grand final, beat Victorian’s Jackson Thomas and Johnny Rollins, who finished second and third respectively.
Thomas was coached by Ricky Martin and Rollins was under the wing of Kylie Minogue.
Duet ZK (Kristal West and Zaachariah Fielding) and arena anthem specialist Frank Lakoudis were equal fourth.
Nissen has been slicing onions at her parent’s vegetable cutting business in country NSW to make ends meet while she tried to forge out a singing career.
Now the 18-year-old need not pick up a knife following her stunning victory which netted her a recording contract with Universal Music, $100,000 prize money and a Ford Eco Sport.
To top it off, her coach Will.i.am offered to sign her to his label.
“She’s awesome,” Will.i.am said.
“We signed Cody (Wise) and he had a number one and I’d like to sign Anja.”
Nissen’s beaming smile lit up the stage as she tried to express her gratitude and excitement of winning against the odds.
Had the rules of the Nine Network reality show not changed this season she would have missed the grand final.
Only the top four made it through to grand final in 2012 and 2013 but last week there was a change in format and the viewers got to pick a fifth act which happened to be Nissen.
“It’s surreal,” she said upon winning.
Minutes before the announcement she said that Will.i.am had taught her to push herself and trust her own ability and judgment.
“He taught me to believe in myself.”
Nissen is the second female act to win The Voice and it’s also the second time Will.i.am has coached an artist to victory this year.
He guided Jermaine Jackman to victory in the UK version of The Voice.
The previous female winner of The Voice in Australia was singer song writer Karise Eden, who won in 2012, while Harrison Craig won last year.
Both of those artists, like Nissen, got all four judges to turn their chairs during the blind auditions.
If Will.i.am has the lucky touch, not much can be said for Joel Madden.
For the third straight season, Madden’s pupil has finished fourth.
He took Sarah De Bono (2012) and Danny Ross (2013) as far as fourth place and that’s all he could steer Lakoudis to as well.
Lakoudis at least could have taken delight in Will.iam’s duet with Wise for the hit song It’s Your Birthday. There was not one, but four Will.i.am’s visible during the performance.
There were three on stage with Wise playing instruments and another Will.i.am was bopping along in the crowd in a film clip that is bound to go viral.
It certainly got fingers twitching on Twitter.
“Everyone thought the Madden twins were cool until will.i.am quintuplets came along,” tweeted Jai Higgs.
Another fan wrote: My head is exploding over the will.i.am performance.”
But Will.i.am’s brilliant pre-recorded film clip also showed that a live final is not always live.
Ad Feedback
“How is this live I AM NOW QUESTIONING EVERYTHING I SEE ON LIVE TV,” tweeted Jenna Gui
– AAP
