Gwen Stefani had one word to describe Sydney Kronmiller’s second performance on “The Voice”: “weird.”
“And I mean that in a good way,” Stefani said. “Like, great weird.”
Kronmiller, a 25-year-old singer with a surprisingly low voice, paired up with spunky singer Eric Who for a performance of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” during the show’s Battle round that aired Oct. 18. Although both of the singers impressed the coaches, only one could move forward in the competition.
Who won ‘The Voice’ battle: Sydney Kronmiller or Eric Who?
During her blind audition for “The Voice,” Kronmiller, who is from Ogden, Utah, surprised all of the coaches with the lower part of her vocal range.
“Not many people can sing that low and then also go so high,” John Legend said during the audition, per the Deseret News. “That was very impressive.”
Sydney Kronmiller, a 25-year-old singer from Ogden, Utah, performs during the Battle round on “The Voice.”
Elizabeth Morris, NBC
Kronmiller continued to show off her lower range during the Battle round, giving a haunting effect to Lady Gaga’s pop song.
“Sydney, your vocal style is different than anything out there right now,” Stefani said. “It’s so unique.”
“Your voice is shocking,” Blake Shelton added. “And if it came on the radio, I’d turn it up.”
Legend, meanwhile, noted that both Kronmiller and Who were “phenomenal.” Viewers didn’t get to see much of Who’s audition, which got clipped on the show, but during the Battle round, Who’s charisma and stage presence really came through — “you just have a light within in you, and you let it exude,” Legend said.
Legend also credited Kronmiller for her wide vocal range.
“So few people can sing that low and sing it really well, especially,” the “All of Me” singer said. “That was really remarkable.”
But in the end, the choice was Camila Cabello’s to make — and the pop star seemed visibly stressed by the impending decision.
“I’m going home,” she said, putting her head down in despair.
Although Cabello said she had “literally never heard a voice” like Kronmiller’s before, after some deliberation, the “Voice” coach ultimately chose to move forward with Who, noting that the singer has already shown so much growth as an artist.
“I was really sad that I couldn’t save Sydney, because she was one of the people that I was most excited about on my team,” Cabello said in a clip that aired during the episode.
Who is Sydney Kronmiller on ‘The Voice’?
Kronmiller shared some of her background with the “Voice” coaches during her audition. The show aired a clip of the singer strolling along Ogden’s historic 25th Street as she talked about how music was an important part of her upbringing, the Deseret News reported.
“Most kids when they’re going to bed at night, they’re asking their parents for just one more bedtime story. But for my sister and I, it was always like, ‘Just one more song,’” Kronmiller said, recalling how her father would play the guitar for his children every night before bed.
Currently, Kronmiller is studying music, writing and production at the Berklee College of Music in Boston — a school she was inspired to attend after discovering singer-songwriter Charlie Puth and learning from his Wikipedia page that he had attended Berklee.
Coincidentally, Kronmiller ended up getting to meet and work with Puth on “The Voice,” as he was an adviser for Cabello’s team during the Battle round.
“Now I’m out here doing what I’ve actually always wanted to do,” Kronmiller said on “The Voice.”
“The Voice” airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 7 p.m. MT on NBC.