Kelly Rowland and Boy George clashed again on The Voice Australia last week, when Melbourne rapper Denzel from Team Kelly performed an original song in the Knockouts – something George considered breaking the rules. But Denzel doesn’t really believe he was in the wrong.
“People can say it’s unfair, and I’ll probably be like, ‘Yeah, that’s fair to say,'” Denzel, 20, tells TV WEEK.
“But at the same time, everyone else puts me in a very small box, and that’s also unfair on me.”
Kelly had asked Denzel to perform a cover of Childish Gambino’s This Is America. And while Denzel was willing to give it a shot, he says it just didn’t “resonate” with him.
The day before the Knockouts, Kelly changed her mind, and offered Denzel the chance to perform an original.
“I felt back in my element, because that’s what I do,” he explains. “I rap my own raps. I felt level with the competition again.”
Denzel quickly wrote something new, “like, literally, the night before”.
“It was crazy,” he recalls. “I spent six hours just repeating the verse over and over to make sure I got it.”
Denzel’s performance has caused quite a stir…
He says being a rapper isn’t the same as being a singer.
“When you’re a singer, you practise hitting those notes,” he explains. “When you’re a rapper, it’s more about lyricism and the words. The voice is like a second thing after that.
“The reality is I’m not the same as everyone else on the show. I’m not trying to put myself on a pedestal, but I don’t come from that same area where I can just cover [other people’s songs].”
He’s not going to say whether it was “right or wrong” for Kelly to choose him over Elsa Clement and Amanuael Visser.
“I felt kind of guilty after the fighting and everyone making their points,” he explains. “But I felt like I did what I should have been doing and what I always do. So, in that sense, I felt deserving of it.”
Denzel “felt kind of guilty” over all the drama.
Meanwhile, The Voice host Sonia Kruger can see both Kelly and George’s sides of the argument.
“It falls into a grey zone,” the star, 53, says. “What I like about Kelly is that she makes her own rules. She’s fearless and creative. Nobody has said, ‘You can’t do this’, so she’s going to push the envelope to win.
“What I find surprising about George is that for somebody who broke all the rules when he was younger, he’s now a stickler for them. It’s a real contradiction.
“Ultimately, I think it will push the other coaches to bend the rules themselves.”
Sonia says she sees “both sides” of the argument.
The Voice Australia airs Sunday, 7pm, and Monday and Tuesday, 7.30pm, on Nine Network.
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