Last night, the first season of Vocea României Junior wrapped up with its finale; which saw three contestants battle it out to be crowned the winner of the show. Maia Malancus came out on top beating Andrei Ciurez and Karina Stefan.
The show is based off The Voice Kids and had three coaches, who were Marius Moga, Andra, and Inna. The Romanian Television show has been a hit in the country with over a million viewers tuning in each week.
The final took place on 9 April 2017, where it saw the contestants perform a solo song, a duet with their respective coach, as well as a duet with a popular artist. The show also had guest performances from României au talent season 6 winner and America’s Got Talent season 11 contestant, Laura Bretan, who sang “I Dreamed A Dream“, as well as Vocea României season 2 semi-finalist Feli, who sang “Timpul“.
The grand prize is €50,000 which becomes available to the winner when they are 18 years old, and a trophy, which Maia Malancus can be seen holding in the air when she was announced as the winner.
The contestants sang a variety of songs. First on was Andrei Ciurez, who sang Michael Jackson’s “Beat It“. He was followed by Karina Stefan who duetted with her coach Andra for song “Iubirea schimba tot“. Then Maia Malancus came on stage with What’s UP and sang “K la Meteo” – which originally featured Andra.
Then Andrei Ciurez returned to the stage, this time with his coach Inna, and they sang a rock version of Inna’s song “Bop Bop” which originally featured Eric Turner. Karina Stefan sang her solo song “Ain’t Nobody” originally sang by Rufus and Chaka Khan but was made popular all over again by Felix Jaehn and Jasmine Thompson. Then coach Marius Moga took to the stage with Maia Malancus for their duet of “Pe Barba Mea“.
The last three performances saw Andrei Ciurez perform with Vunk singing “Pleaca“; Maia Malancus sang her solo song “Girl On Fire” originally by Alicia Keys; and, Karina Stefan finished the competition off with a collaboration with Nicole Cherry on “Cuvintele tale“.
It was quite the competition, and it was clear that this meant a lot to these contestants, as they were all crying while they waited for the announcement of the winner. All three gave it their all on the night, but Maia Malancus’ “Girl On Fire” was so full of passion, that we’re excited to see what the future brings for this Vocea României Junior winner.
You can watch all of the performances from the final on their official website, this includes the guest performances as well. These videos also appear on their official YouTube Channel.