Bryan Bautista is yet another example of what Latinos can achieve when they set their heart and soul into something.
The 24-year-old performer, who started singing in public when he was in elementary school, first auditioned for NBC’s “The Voice” last season. Unfortunately, no chairs were turned.
“I felt a little disappointed,” he told Latin Times. “Only because I knew it wasn’t my best performance that I gave with that song. I had been practicing the song for a while but there were different elements that I hadn’t taken into account, like nerves and things of that nature.”
But that did not stop the Dominican-Puerto Rican crooner from following his dream. He listened to the advice coaches Adam Levine and Pharrell gave him and came back for season 10. On Tuesday, he made it to the show’s semi-finals.
“It’s amazing,” he said of Tuesday’s results. “Just to look at my journey as a whole and you know, how I started of a season ago, season nine, and to look at where I am now…it’s just incredible for me, and something I can always take with me after the show is done.”
Throughout the competition, Bautista has decided to stay true to himself as an artist and has proudly represented the Latino community in his performances. On Thursday, his rendition of “Promise” by Romeo Santos debuted No.1 on the Billboard Latin Digital Songs chart.
“It’s been an honor to introduce the Latino community and the culture,” he said. “We are beautiful people who make beautiful music, eat delicious food and I’m just honored to introduce that culture to the show and bring it to a platform that’s big and I just appreciate all the support.”
After noticing the incredible welcoming his bilingual charm has received, we asked the charismatic artist if he would be interested in building a Spanglish career like other Latino stars have done, such as Romeo Santos, Prince Royce, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, to name a few.
“I’m definitely up for it,” Bautista stated. “I mean if you take a look at my coach [Christina Aguilera], you wouldn’t say that she is a Latin singer but she’s done an album in Spanish and she has a Latin Grammy. So it’s definitely something that I would do, I’m definitely comfortable singing in Spanish and it’d be true to who I am, because I am Dominican and Puerto Rican. It wouldn’t be me trying to force something so I’m definitely open for it.”
One thing the Sheepshead Bay homeboy is definitely not open for is labeling. A few weeks ago, he mentioned on the show that he did not want to be known as “just a soul singer but a singer with soul.”
“I have so many influences when it comes to music,” Bryan explained. “I definitely listen to an eclectic catalogue. I love R&B but there are some rock songs that I like. There’s also bachata, salsa, so many influences that contribute to my sound that I would never just want to be labeled as an R&B singer, although I love R&B so much, and you can hear it a lot in my voice. But at the same time, I just want to be a singer with soul, and I feel like you can sing any song with your soul so, at the end of the day that’s what I want to do and connect with people.”
We could not let Bautista walk away without asking if he preferred Dominican or Puerto Rican food, but after admitting he had the best of both worlds, he could not pick just one.
“I definitely love sanchocho, I get that from my Dominican side. It’s my favorite soup to eat,” he confessed. “And then, you know I love the way my mother makes some arroz con gandules. It’s like, my favorite rice to eat. So, I don’t know I definitely do have the best of both worlds!”
Finally, Bautista said that being on Team Xtina has been an “indredible” experience and his only hope is to “be able to pass on the knowledge that she’s given to him to an aspiring artist one day.”
His future in the competition is in your hands, America! Go vote for this incredibly talented kid who is taking “The Voice” by storm!
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