The Voice-battle rounds part 2!

 During the battle rounds you have to sing in a trio against two other team members and at the end of the song the celebrity judge gets to pick who they want to advance to the next battle round. There are two loosers and one winner (this is done so the kids don't feel too sad walking off the stage alone- they  have a friend). Since each judge has 15 kids, they have 5 groups of 3 singers. After the battle round each judge will have 5 kids left.

Olivia was on team Delta and was feeling pretty good since she had gotten all three chairs to spin in the blind auditions. Most kids only got 1 or 2 chairs to spin. There was one other girl who got all three chairs to spin, her name was Alexa, her BFF...and that was who Olivia got paired up to sing against! Alexa was the same age as Olivia (but taller- as most kids are). The second kid Olivia had to sing against was actually a duo- a 9 year old boy( Anthony) and girl (Tamara) who auditioned with a duet. So it was the 4 of them on the battle stage (which looks like a boxing ring- see image below).

Interestingly enough, Olivia had to sing 'Stop' by the spice girls. Olivia had recently learned about the spice girls once we found out Mel B was a judge. We  never would have guessed that Delta would pick a song preformed by another judge. The song was a surprise for Mel B, and the whole studio was in on it. They dressed the kids up like minuter spice girls- it was pretty darling!

Olivia was supposed to look like baby spice, Alexa was scary spice and Anthony/Tamarra were a sporty spice duo. Apparently this song was a huge success in Australia (much bigger than it was in America) and pretty much every person on the street knows the song (it's true anytime Olivia would start humming it, a perfect stranger would comment on how much they loved that song).

We were all feeling pretty good until we saw how the song was broken down. Olivia got to start the song (1st verse), Anthony and Tamara did the next bit (second verse) and then Alexa got to belt the chorus.  This continued throughout the song and once Olivia understood she wouldn't get any lines to belt we realized this would be a very difficult battle round to win. 

Instead of giving up, Olivia created a few improv's on her regular lines to compete with the belting lines. They were GOOOOD, but when she showed them to Delta, Delta said she needed to stick to the regular notes. So then Olivia decided she would just have to put a lot of spin, vibrato, growl, sass etc... on the notes she did have. I can honestly say she did her personal best with what she did have. She was hilarious and any time she rehearsed with Delta or the stage crew she would make heads turn. My favourite memories were the dance moves she invented any time she sang. 

For some reason, unlike the blind auditions, the battle rounds were a lot less stressful, they were just fun!! The ending would be bitter sweet because only one could go up. 

Alexa & Olivia having dinner the night before the battle round

The picture of the day (colored by Alexa & Olivia)- just so you know this is a big deal because the kids are all coloring for hours and the submissions start to pile up.

Hanging out at 3:00am after someone pulled the fire alarm in the hotel....

getting ready to climb the Sydney Harbour bridge-

On the last day the girls did their battle round. The song was a huge success. Mel B was so surprised and the crowed was jumping out of their chairs! Everyone was dancing and singing and clapping and you actually could hardly hear the kids at all, but Olivia had the time of her life singing on stage.  At the end of the song Delta said some nice things about each of the kids, but it finally came down to Olivia vs. Alexa. Olivia told me knew she had been beat when Delta kept coming back to her and talking about how much she liked her. Alexa was the better singer, so it was fair- but you could tell Delta adored Olivia and that she was sad to let Olivia go.  

It should be noted that anytime Delta walked with her group of kids for the cameras, she would pick Olivia up and put her on her hip. She did it the whole week and Olivia would constantly come to me after a practice with a lipstick mark on her cheek- she didn't want to wash her face!  

After the battle rounds, the kids exited. Alexa went off to be interviewed by the cameras and Delta ran after Olivia- and ended up catching our whole family in the tunnel. She stopped us and gave Olivia a hug and told her how sad she was that she couldn't take her through. It was a very kind thing to do and it meant the world to Olivia.

The main reason Olivia picked Delta to be her coach was because Delta was a childhood cancer survivor. This reminded Olivia of her friend Millie Flamm who recently died of cancer; Olivia saw Delta as a huge inspiration. Currently Delta is considering an offer to be part of the "Anything can be project" http://www.jmdiazphotography.com/anything-can-be-2

It is a book where kids with cancer share their dreams (what they want to be when they grow up) and then the picture is altered so it looks real. The back half of the book features celebrities that have had cancer and shows how they have made their dreams come true. All proceeds will go towards the Millie Princess Foundation.