When 16-year-old Nicholas McDonald walked onto the stage on The X Factor UK, the first thing he did was let the judges know how nervous he was. It was a move that did not inspire a lot of confidence in anyone watching.
“I’m really nervous, I’m really nervous,” Nicholas said twice.
However, what happened shortly after instantly changed everyone’s opinion of the teen.
He chose to sing the song “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri.
It was an interesting pick for a young male singer. After all, what would his friends back home think? However, it definitely got the crowd’s attention. From the first note onward, no one could take their eyes off of the young star.
They heard his beautiful voice and all of a sudden his nervousness became cute and endearing versus awkward and weird. They listened to him softly deliver the heartfelt lyrics of Christina Perri and all of a sudden his unique song choice was bringing tears to people’s eyes.
Judge Gary Barlow glanced over at Nicole Scherzinger who was clutching her heart, clearly moved by the performance.
He gave her a knowing nod as if to say, “I feel it too”.
Nicholas has a voice that is not only powerful but very controlled.
He hits both the low and high notes with ease, without ever letting his pitch get away from him. This ability is something that takes many singers a lifetime to develop. However, for Nicholas, it comes naturally. He did mention before the performance though that he had been practicing basically non-stop.
It was pretty easy to tell.
He never missed a beat and all of the lyrics of the song were delivered flawlessly.
As if to get one last jab in on all the people who doubted him, he then ended the performance by holding his final note for a good 10 seconds. Where he gets the lung power for something like that is anyone’s guess, but it certainly was impressive.
His voice reverberated across the entire arena, sending both the crowd and judges alike into roaring applause.
“Nicholas, you have a gorgeous voice. You are really special. that was a lovely audition. It was effortless. Bellissimo!” said Nicole.
Bellissimo is an Italian word meaning “very beautiful”, and we definitely agree. The performance was lovely.
“You nailed it. That was just incredible. If I was marking that out of 10, I’d give you a 10,” said Louis Walsh.
When it came time to vote, there was no hesitation at all.
The judges all wanted to hear more from Nicholas and all four of them gave him a “yes”.
Nicholas was blown away. He took a deep breath while trying to hold his tears back. All he could manage to say in response was “thank you”, but nothing else was needed. His humbleness and talent spoke for themselves. The judges loved his performance and so did the world. Nicholas became a fan favorite that year and ultimately finished the season in second place.
Watch the full video of Nicholas McDonald singing “A Thousand Years” on The X Factor UK below.
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