Lyme resident Braiden Sunshine needs your help to become "The Voice" in Season 9 of the NBC singing competition.
Braiden, a sophomore at Lyme-Old Lyme High School, performed for Team Gwen in Monday night's live show and America's votes will determine if he moves forward.
Before the show, Sunshine recorded a video message for his fans that his mother sent to NBC Connecticut before his performance.
"I do need your help to get through the next round. If you could do me a huge favor and buy the iTunes song and go on nbc.com/thevoice and give me your vote, that would be absolutely amazing. I need all the help I can get. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you later," Sunshine said.
Sunshine made it through the voice battle and knockout rounds on Team Gwen to advance to the live shows. Sunshine is only 15 years old, one of the youngest contestants on the show, and that has stood to impress the judges throughout the season.
His voice coach, Gwen Stefani, lead singer of No Doubt, chose an older song -- "Everything I Own" -- for him because she thought he could give it a fresh take.
In addition to gaining vocal experience on the show, "The Voice" team has also ben developing new looks for the teenager with the baby face, so one of the judges joked about how he looks different every time he performs. Sunshine emerged on stage in a leather jacket and his naturally curly hair was slicked down and straightened. He also performed without his glasses, quipping in his talk-back with Maroon 5's Adam Levine after his song that he couldn't see him, eventually putting his glasses back on.
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Levine was very apologetic in delivering some criticism, telling Sunshine he thought he tried to do more than the song than was there in it. But Stefani said she's grown very protective of Sunshine and praised his voice and how broke away from being still at the mic stand toward the end and added more dynamic to the song as he move around the stage and worked the crowd. She even called him "cute," which prompted a smile from Sunshine.
Braiden has been singing since he was 5 years old and performing since he was 9. He says he wouldn’t be on "The Voice" if it wasn’t for his mom, Elizabeth Sunshine. She was the one who pushed him to audition in New Jersey.
"The Voice" polls stay open until noon eastern time Tuesday, so you still have time to vote.
You can watch "The Voice" on NBC Connecticut Wednesday night at 8 p.m. to see if Sunshine makes it to the next round.
His songs in the competition are available for purchase on iTunes.
