Performing on a big stage in front of many people is as natural as breathing to Siahna Im.
“I just love to make people smile. I was just having the time of my life,” said the 15-year-old Auburn girl, a Kentlake High School student, who recently survived the first round of blind auditions on NBC’s “The Voice”.
Advancing to the battle rounds of the hit television show, Im secured a spot on Team Pharrell Williams. Episodes air at 8 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays on KING-5.
Singing the classic tune, “Fever,” rendered famously by Peggy Lee in 1959, Im pulled off the unexpected, wowing the judges.
“I wasn’t really nervous, I was more excited,” Im said of her performance at Universal Studios in Hollywood, Calif. “I just tried to embody the sound and not think about things around me.”
Im, who has been singing, as she likes to say, “since I was in the womb,” only recently started to perform publicly. She took up voice lessons only two years ago, and began doing gigs around Seattle.
The teen saw an online promotion and decided to audition for “The Voice.” Her parents – Hong, who is of Korean descent, and Nanette, who is French Canadian – gave her their blessing.
Im hopes “The Voice” can open doors to a career as a soul singer.
“I just have to do the best that I can,” she said.
Im also is enjoying the opportunity to work with Williams.
“He is a very amazing person, and so humble for a person who has accomplished as much as he has,” she said. “I call him my Zen master because he’s always so calm.”
As is Im, a teen who is enjoying the moment.
“It’s been the most amazing experience any girl could ever ask for,” she said.