“Can we hug? I don’t know!” she yelled over the piped-in crowd noise. (There was no live audience allowed this season.) Ultimately, they did not hug, and Stefani settled for shouting, “You won ‘The Voice’! You won ‘The Voice’! You won ‘The Voice’ during a pandemic!”
Indeed he did, and the prize comes with $100,000 and a recording contract — plus, Rubin made show history by becoming the youngest male winner. (Brynn Cartelli was just a few weeks younger when she won Season 14.) Rubin’s victory also gave Stefani her first coaching win; she was especially delighted to triumph over her fiance, Blake Shelton, who had two contestants in the finale. Runners-up included Jim Ranger and Ian Flanigan (Team Blake) as well as Desz (Team Kelly Clarkson) and John Holiday (Team John Legend).
Although it can be difficult to predict who will win reality singing competitions, Rubin easily had this one locked up last week in the semifinals after one especially moving performance. The coaches chose the tracks for their singers, and Stefani picked “Rainbow Connection” from “The Muppet Movie” for Rubin. “I think America is connecting with Carter because Carter has this purity and youthfulness to this voice outside of genre and age,” she said.
Rubin loved the choice, and declared he was dedicating it to his autistic older brother, Jack, whom he frequently talked about on the show. After he delivered a pitch-perfect rendition of the quiet ballad, Stefani — who said she used to sing that song to her sons to rock them to sleep — was sobbing.
“Oh my God,” she said. “That was God, like, answering my prayers. That was so beautiful. I’m so happy for you. You’re so gifted, you’re so intuitive, your heart is full of music. I’m so honored that you picked me.”
Stefani lobbied hard to become Rubin’s coach. During his blind audition episode, when he belted out Lewis Capaldi’s “Before You Go,” she and Legend were the only two coaches to press their buttons and spin around when they heard his voice. They were both visibly shocked to see the teenager in front of them, who at the time was 14. Stefani later admitted that she thought he sounded like a 50-year-old woman.
“I cannot believe what I’m hearing and seeing right now,” she gushed, and then segued into her pitch: As the mom of a 14-year-old boy, she could serve as both a musical mentor and a maternal figure.
“You probably don’t have tons of experience with being on TV and being able to have that stage presence, because you’re going to be picking songs that need to be age appropriate,” she said. “I can help you to wrap your head around that emotion and your style and how you’re going to dress and present yourself.”
Although Legend was quite complimentary (“You sounded polished. You sounded strong. Your voice has control, which a lot of people your age wouldn’t have, and your tone is just piercing and brilliant”), Rubin liked what Stefani had to say, and chose her. He sailed through the early rounds of the competition and it soon became clear that no one stood a chance against his powerhouse voice, especially when he took on ballads such as Mariah Carey’s “Hero” and Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb.”
It also helped that in addition to his vocal talent, he had a delightful personality, joking around and easily chatting with the adults around him. He also spoke candidly of being bullied in school and why it meant so much for him to be on the show.
“Being a teenager, it’s a lot of pressure to try to fit in and be ‘cool,’ whatever that means,” he said. “Being a 14-year-old boy in middle school-slash-high school that sings, doesn’t really play sports, not very athletic — most boys my age, their voices have already dropped down. So I have been picked on by the other kids for being this different, unique individual.”
“But as I get older, I’m realizing that unique isn’t a bad thing,” he continued. “I don’t need their validation, and I think it was totally worth staying strong through all that nonsense to have gotten here and show my unique side.”
Following that segment, he performed Lauren Daigle’s “You Say,” which is all about believing in yourself, and the coaches were beside themselves. Clarkson, who was crying, said the performance “broke me in the most amazing ways.”
“Carter, you actually nailed it. You are a prodigy,” Legend said. “You are special because of your age — but also, anybody who sang that would have been proud to sing it at any age.”