Watch an 8-Year-Old Nail Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin” on Philippine ‘The Voice Kids’ Contest
If Journey's crowded tour schedule ever ends up getting the best of Arnel Pineda, the band may not have to look far for his replacement.
He'll have to finish school first, but as evidenced by his attention-getting performance in the above clip, 8-year-old Nathan Bautista has the vocal chops to tackle the band's classic hit "Don't Stop Believin'" — and the guts to get up on stage and do it in front of three judges and a studio audience.
Bautista's rendition of the song, captured last year during a taping of the Philippine "kids" version of the reality singing contest series The Voice, prompted all three of the show's coaches to pound their buttons during his blind audition, causing their chairs to whirl around before he'd even finished his first line of lyrics. Coach Lea Salonga was particularly taken, leaping out of her chair at the end of the performance to give him a hug.
Unsurprisingly, Bautista has become something of a celebrity since making his big debut on The Voice, and now has a Facebook fan page as well as an official site that includes everything from video and audio links to a Super Nathan video game, which is now available for beta testing on your Android device (and appears to violate several Nintendo trademarks, but we'll leave that to the lawyers).
He's come a long way since first performing "Don't Stop Believin'" on TV, and has recorded covers of a number of songs since then, but he hasn't forgotten his roots — just check out his subsequent studio version of the track, which you can hear below.
Listen to Nathan Bautista's "Don't Stop Believin'"
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