The Voice 25 LIVE Top 12: Serenity Arce shows emotions beyond her years on “traitor”
The Voice Season 25 Live Shows kicked off Monday night as the Top 12 performed. The finalists will be whittled down to a Top 9 on Tuesday night’s results show (May 7). The performances were a bit up and down which is to be expected considering that the artists hadn’t sang on The Voice stage for months at this point, as the Playoffs were taped in October. One singer, Serenity Arce, from Jupiter, Florida, turned 17 in the time since the last show was filmed. (Read Our Recap)
During rehearsal, her coach Chance the Rapper noted that the singer failed to get a turn in the Blinds in a past season, and has a great comeback story making the Top 12 this season. Going back to school has been weird, she said, adding, “Everyone is kind of like, giving me those looks.” Serenity shared that Sam Fischer reposted her Blind Audition of “This City” and that he invited her to sing on a tour show. For her first live performance, Serenity chose “traitor” by Olivia Rodrigo. She relates to the song with how high school boys act. Chance observed that Serenity is “way beyond her years” with delivering emotion. He advised her to sing the line “you betrayed me” in a more vulnerable and simplistic manner.
“You really make the stage your own”
Serenity started the performance with nice phrasing. Her tone was expressive and emotive. She isn’t the best technical singer, but she does really feel the lyrics. Her rendition was a bit more angsty as the chorus went on. Her audition was her best vocal moment to date, but this was her next closest. It’s a solid effort for a singer who seems to still be finding her footing as an artist. A smart move if she advances to the next round would be to show more sides to herself by either doing something slightly more uptempo or by putting a current spin on an older song.
All four coaches stood for Serenity as her performance wrapped up. Dan Smyers from Dan + Shay loved the performance saying, “I feel like every performance you have done on the show has been done with so much conviction.” He can’t believe she is 17. Chance said, “you really make the stage your own every time you come in.” He said she always gives “heartfelt” and “emotional” performances.
Serenity gave an emotive performance, but viewers don’t always connect with the super current song choices, so it will be interesting to see if she makes it or if she has to sing for an instant save. Performances that seemed worthy to advance were Team Dan + Shay’s Madison Curbelo’s simplistic but effective take on The Beatles’ “Yesterday” and Team Dan + Shay’s Karen Waldrup’s beautiful vocals on “I Hope You Dance.” Team Chance’s Maddi Jane did a nice job on “Happier Than Ever” as she continued to show growth and new sides to herself. We will see what America thinks on Tuesday’s results show.
