The Voice Australia 2024 winner, Reuben De Melo, has revealed the touching reason he decided to audition for the singing reality show.
The 32-year-old was announced as the winner during the finale, which aired on October 27. During an exclusive interview with Chattr, he revealed that his wife, Olivia, was the reason he appeared on The Voice Australia 2024.
“My wife actually signed me up to be on the show, and the rest is history,” he said.
However, Reuben shared that there was another driving factor for him to compete in the show.
“I was a bit sceptical of the showbiz industry, but we lost a couple of mates to suicide last year, and a few of the boys would have really wanted me to give it a go as well, so it all lined up, and it turned out to be the great, really good experience,” he explained.
What’s next for The Voice Australia 2024’s Reuben De Melo?
For winning The Voice Australia 2024, Reuben received $100,000 prize money and a “music masterclass and industry recording development package.”
Now that the Perth-based father of three has The Voice Australia 2024 title under his belt, he’s hoping to plunge headfirst into the music industry.
“I have so many songs that I’ve got sitting in my bank right now — the song bank — and I just want some time [to release them], but hopefully, this money will allow me to get some time to get in the studio and just smash it out and put it out there,” he told Chattr.
“I’ll also be using that money towards trying to get a bit debt-free and get some breathing space with finances and family so I can actually use my time wisely and focus on my calling.”
Reuben De Melo on what the judges are really like
Reuben told Chattr that his coach LeAnn Rimes picked his final solo performance song, which was House Of The Rising Sun by The Animals.
“We workshopped them, and she turned out to pick the song that I really loved,” he explained.
“House of the Rising Sun was the first one I ever learned on a guitar. So she thought we’d better do a full circle and kind of end it with that song that has meaning to it as well.”
Reuben shared how grateful he was for LeAnn and said they’ll “definitely” stay in contact.
“I’ve gained a friend now, and we’ll definitely be doing stuff together as well, in terms of music,” he teased.
Reuben’s finale duet with LeAnn of Fix You by Coldplay was undoubtedly a standout of The Voice Australia 2024 finale, and he said that if he could pick any other The Voice Australia coach to sing with, it would be another one from the 2024 panel.
“If there was a coach I could do it with, it would be Guy [Sebastian],” he said, adding that he’d also like to duet with a former contestant, Letitia Butler, who was eliminated during The Voice 2024 semi-finals.
Congratulations to Reuben and we can’t wait to see what he does next!
Stream The Voice 2024 on 7Plus.
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