Lyme Teen Wins Team Gwen ‘The Voice' Battle

When "The Voice" contestant Braiden Sunshine isn’t having a jam session, he’s at school at Lyme- Old Lyme High School, where he is a sophomore.

“I’m just a normal kid I go to the same school, I do the same work, I’m out of school a bit more,” said Braiden Sunshine, who lives in Lyme. He's originally from New London.

Braiden won his voice battle on Team Gwen, which aired Monday night, advancing to the next stage of the competition. He watched the episodes with a crowd of his fans at Lyme-Old-Lyme High School Monday night.

"When we were in there and then they said that I won then everybody freaked out, I freaked out with them like it was somebody else and I'm just like 'oh wait that's me!' That was so cool," Braiden told NBC Connecticut

Sunshine is a contestant on Season 9 of NBC’s “The Voice.” He’s 15 years old, one of the youngest contestants.

“I’d like to prove that I’m a contestant no matter what my age would be, that I would be able to do this at any point,” said Sunshine.

His coach in the competition, No Doubt's Gwen Stefani had a tough time choosing between him and Lyndsey Elm, of Vacaville, California. She said on the show it was a good experience working with an artist so young and said Braiden was the riskier choice as she toiled over who to pick. After one last plea from Braiden, who reminded her that risk is what the competition is all about, Stefani said she was going to go with what her heart was telling her at the moment. She chose Braiden and teared up after making what she said was a difficult decision.

Stefani tweeted this message out after the voice battle aired.

When asked after his voice battle if he had anything to add, he mentioned a particular note he noticed he was sharp on and Maroon 5's Adam Levine marveled over his technical attention to detail.

Sunshine had the opportunity to sing for artist Selena Gomez in rehearsals to prepare for the voice battle.

Braiden has been singing since he was 5 years old and performing since he was 9. So far he’s gotten through the blind auditions. He says he wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for his mom, Elizabeth Sunshine. She was the one who pushed him to audition in New Jersey.

“Your eyes will just water, you get goose bumps when you hear him sing certain songs and it happens and it’s not just me,” said Elizabeth Sunshine, his mother.

When the chairs turned, he thought the chairs had broken.

“But then I looked down and saw the little lights and I kind of freaked out and I had to bite my hand to keep myself from freaking out,” said Braiden Sunshine.

Lyme-Old-Lyme High School held a viewing party in the auditorium at 8 p.m. on Monday and Braiden was there. Many people came to watch with him and cheer him on.

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