Julio Cesar Castillo is proving to be El Rey of the stage on The Voice…
During Monday night’s first live show – with Adam Levine and Blake Shelton’s team members taking the stage during the Playoffs Round, the contestants performed in hopes of earning enough vote to advance to the next round.
Castillo, who performed Justin Bieber’s ”Somebody to Love” in the previous round to defeat his fellow Team Blake member MarissaAnn, returned to his mariachi roots to perform the Spanish-language classic “El Rey.”
The 21-year-old singer, who was the first contestant to audition with an all-Spanish song on The Voice, received a well-deserved standing ovation from the audience and the hard-to-please coaches on NBC’s reality singing competition.
“The first standing ovation of the night! I know you made all the Latino people out there so proud,” said Voice coach Christina Aguilera. “This is so the reason why you’re still standing strong in this competition and why you’re still here. I love that you stay true to yourself. And this is what you gotta love about Latin people. We’re so passionate and we have so much heart. It’s just in our blood. And I know not everyone was able to follow along, but you truly gave your heart to that song. And the richness of your vibrato, just mmmm. I loved it!”
Castillo’s coach agreed with Aguilera.
“ I don’t know what you’re saying,” said Shelton. “He had to find a way to make everybody understand emotionally, what’s going on on that stage. And, I don’t know if you noticed what happened in the audience, but it was pretty good buddy!”
Castillo’s fate will be decided on Thursday night’s show, when America’s votes will send two of Shelton’s five team members to the next round. He’ll then pick one of the remaining three contestants on his team to move forward.
