By Karen MoulThis week Julio Cesar Castillo became the first contestant in
The Voice to sing his audition number in Spanish. He chose “La Bamba,” the Mexican folk song popularized Richie Valens back in the 1950s. Although the song is well known to American ears, it was still a risky move.
“You have to take a risk to stand out,” explained Castillo in an interview the day after the show. “I just went for it. So I'm glad I got the results I did and I'm glad I did it.”
The risk paid off, as Blake Shelton spun his chair almost immediately and was followed later by Cee Lo. Before choosing a coach, Castillo told them of his love for mariachi, a form of Mexican folk music, and Cee Lo invited him to sing a bit.
He fell in love with mariachi around the age of six. “I started listening to music because of my parents and my grandparents,” he explained, “and it’s part of my roots. “And ever since I was young, I had a feeling that that type of music was something I wanted to get into, which I did and I'm still into.”
Is it something he'd like to try on
The Voice? “I’d definitely like to try it on the show. I'm not sure what America’s reaction would be,” mused Castillo, “but like I said before, it’s good to take risks sometimes. And sometimes, the outcome’s even better than you imagined.”
Before the night was over, Castillo and country singer Casey Meussigmann signed up for Team Blake while Adriana Louise got all four judges to turn and joined the one-named Aquile on Team Christina. Mackenzie Bourg chose Cee Lo as his coach and Adam Levine went home empty handed.
Scifi Vision caught up with the contestants the day after their auditions.