Kathy McCabe | The Daily Telegraph | May 02, 2012 | Pic: Robert McKell
IT would be hard to be anything but gutted if you were Mitchell Thompson.
Yet the Sydney teenager remained stoic and defiantly upbeat despite losing his shot to become The Voice.
The frontman of northern beaches band Is It Her? said he had been overwhelmed by the support of thousands of people who shared his disappointment that Seal chose the equally talented teen Fatai Veamatahau as the winner of their battle round on Monday.
“My phone was beeping all night; Twitter went insane with my followers going from 600 to more than 2600, my email has gone off the hook and I couldn’t sleep,”
Thompson said after the praise he received from rival coaches Keith Urban and Delta Goodrem that he dared to contemplate a win. But when Seal turned his gaze to Fatai, he knew it was over.
“It was bad … devastating. Even watching it back with everyone on Monday night, it still hurt. My mum cried – she didn’t get a chance to let her emotion out at the show because the cameras were on her so she wanted to keep herself together,” he said.
“My whole family has been incredibly supportive of me wanting to do music.”
Thompson said the mentoring sessions with Seal and Ricki Lee Coulter had given him invaluable techniques which improved his singing and boosted his confidence on stage.
The fact he followed their advice so closely and delivered the performance of his lifetime – plus the raves from Urban and Goodrem – had lead him to believe he proceed beyond the battle round.
“I am not putting anyone down; no one who got out would do that, but I thought I stepped up to the challenge and displayed a big change in my performance. I thought they might take that into account. Honestly, I wanted it more than anything.”
But Thompson is nowhere near giving up on his career and from the huge groundswell of fans on his social media sites, the singer and musician is confident about continuing to pursue a recording deal.
Universal Music Australia has options to sign any contestant whether or not they make it to the final rounds but will not do so until well after the series is finished.
“Hopefully I have made some impression on the music industry – I have to take this opportunity and kick it in the arse now and we have a couple of gigs coming up to keep building the fanbase and make some money so I can keep writing songs,” he said.
Is It Her? plays at Lizottes in Dee Why on May 19.
