Of all the pop stars in the world, few are as recognizable or as intimidating as Beyoncé.
She was born and raised in Houston, Texas and has been a star for a long time.
She rose to prominence in American culture through her performances with Destiny’s Child, though she later broke out with her own solo album Dangerously in Love in 2003. Throughout her career, she has had innumerable number one hits and plenty of successful albums.
For these reasons and others, she’s not the easiest artist to cover or interpret.
Still, that’s exactly what one performer on The Voice Portugal decided to do.
For those who don’t know, The Voice is actually a worldwide franchise with many different versions of itself around the world. In each one, performers step on stage to do a “blind audition” before the judges.
All of the judges have their backs turned to the stage, and if they like what they hear, they can hit their buzzers to turn around and try to recruit the singer onto their team. Though the best singer wins the entire show, the judges also compete amongst themselves to be the best vocal coach.
The performance we’re talking about came from the show’s 2016 season.
The performer’s name was David Gomes, and the song he chose to sing was “Crazy in Love.”
The original version was an upbeat pop song and a kind of party anthem that swept the world. Still, Beyoncé herself did a new version of the 50 Shades of Grey soundtrack that was slower and more atmospheric—it was that take that Gomes seemed to draw on.
At the beginning, Gomes stands on stage in complete silence. After a moment the backing music starts playing.
As soon as they hear his voice, the judges are captured.
As he keeps singing, Gomes’ voice keeps building and building.
To start off singing so slowly and deliberately shows huge confidence, and it’s that confidence that gets him his first buzzer! Seeing that first judge turn around gives him a whole new confidence—and his second judge buzzes in as well.
Shortly after that, the third judge buzzes in as well. By the time he hits the chorus, his attitude is fully present and his voice is soaring!
Still, there’s one judge who holds out.
After the chorus is over, there’s still a little bit left—and the judges are on the edges of their seats.
When it’s finally over, the whole audience gives him a huge round of applause! While The Voice Portugal isn’t exactly a popular show all over the world, the video of this performance still has more than 12 million views on YouTube.
While it’s definitely hard to take on a famous song sung by the Queen Bee herself, Gomes proved that he was more than up to the challenge. As his audition shows, sometimes it pays not to blow the judges away with raw power or technicality. Sometimes all it takes is the right song choice and enough confidence to go through it slowly and deliberately with emotion.
Congratulations to David Gomes on an amazing performance! Be sure to watch the whole thing in clip below:
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