By CASEY NEILL
Maddison McNamara is still in the running to win The Voice – but only just.
The Officer resident performed in a ‘battle’ against fellow Team Madden contestant Nazzereene Taleb on the Channel 9 talent contest on Monday 30 May.
The Madden Brothers elected to keep Nazzereene on their team and send Maddison home – and back to work in her dad’s Dandenong South factory – following their rendition of Stole the Show by Kygo.
But judge Jessie J used her only ‘save’ to add Maddison to her team and keep her in the competition.
“It was quite surreal. I wasn’t really expecting that to happen,” Maddison said.
“I sort of wanted Jessie from the start anyway. I was very honoured.”
She said she “could have done better” and would work on not comparing herself to the other contestants ahead of her Super Battle Round appearance, airing at 7.30pm on Monday 6 June.
“You’ve got four contestants up against each other,” she said.
“It’s hard because you’re all striving for the one thing and you all want to get in.
“It plays with your mind.
“You have to stay strong and do what you’re there to do.”
Maddison has grown her social media following and received messages of support since her emotion-packed rendition of Gone by Lianne La Havas in her blind audition on Sunday 1 May grabbed the attention of all four judges.
Hear Maddison in action on The Voice:
She took to the stage with the Madden brothers, Jessie J, Delta Goodrem and Ronan Keating sitting in large red chairs with their backs to her.
“At the start I was just freaking out because it was halfway through my audition and no-one’s turned yet,” she said.
The Madden brothers were the first to turn around after she sufficiently wowed them with her soulful vocals, and the other judges followed suit.
She then had to choose which team to join and went with the Maddens.
The 21-year-old has worked at timber finishing business Top Quality Finish since 2011.
It pays the bills but she hopes The Voice will provide her with the exposure she needs to turn her passion into a career.
“I’ve just been performing my whole life, since the age of five,” she said.
Star News Group spoke to Maddison back in July 2008, when she was a 13-year-old Year 8 student at St John’s Regional College in Dandenong.
She spoke about her dreams of stardom after recent talent quest wins, starting to perform with bands and writing songs.
