On talent shows such as Australia’s The Voice, there is both a wealth of talent and, most importantly, entertainment. This entertainment mostly comes from the unexpected stars that audition on the show, and blow us away with their personality, talents, or both. Sometimes, however, the entertainment comes from drama, and the British pop star Boy George provided that with aplomb in this particular episode.
Daniel Shaw’s audition was supposed to be like all the rest: he would introduce himself, perform, and be judged. If he was deemed worthy of being in the competition, he would eventually be under the guidance of one of the four judges, one of which being Boy George. Sadly, a comment from Shaw about nobody wanting him to play the guitar was taken the wrong way, resulting in Boy George swiftly exiting the stage. Watch the drama unfold below:
Before his audition, we learn a lot about Daniel Shaw. His approach to life is more in the here-and-now and less about social media or the digital world. He is fully tuned in to the immediate, and this has seemingly come from his tendency to busk. Busking is in his very nature, and he has performed on the street for over 10 years and gathered a following in the process.
Despite his enjoyment of busking, he mentions his desire to get off of the streets and perform in venues for crowds and make something more of himself. He also notes that his audition for The Voice was the first time he had ever performed for a crowd of that size, which is more than enough to make a seemingly simple performance seem terrifying to comprehend beginning.
As it happens, Daniel Shaw is an incredible vocalist and musician. His audition, performing Labrinth’s touching piano ballad “Beneath Your Beautiful”, is an astounding hit with both the audience and the judges, with each judge pressing their buzzers indicating their wish to work with him. All seemed to be going well for Shaw, but one innocent comment taken the wrong way was about to create a storm of drama.
After his performance, the judges have nothing but praise for this talented musician and are bewildered that he hadn’t already been turned into a superstar. When asked about other instruments he plays, he mentions: “I can play guitar, but nobody really cares if I play guitar.” Boy George takes this as a negative remark on music and promptly storms off-stage.
Eventually, Boy George returned to the stage and realized that he misunderstood the comment, but that didn’t stop the conflict from turning into a media storm. Despite performing exceedingly well and reaching The Voice’s final, but losing to Diana Rouvas, many came to know him as from Boy George’s unnecessary strop.