Yahoo Entertainment
Father and transgender son join Team Ariana Grande and make history on ‘The Voice’
During night two of the blind auditions on The Voice, Jim and Sasha Allen made quite the impression on coaches Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande. The duo wasn’tjust any singing duo, they were a father and transgender son duo, who made history Tuesday night. “I do have a special connection to the concept of a Blind Audition, where the only thing that matters is the art and who the person is inside,” 19-year-old Sasha said before taking the stage to warble “Leaving on a Jet Plane” with his 57-year-old dad. “I was born female, and I never felt comfortable, and it ate away at me the more I grew up.” Sasha also confessed, “I remember at night just laying in bed and thinking, if I could just wake up as a completely different person, I would do it. I would give up everything I have to be able to live in peace and live comfortably without being tormented internally. I used to write in notebooks, ‘I feel like a boy. I want this so bad.’ And I’d shred it up into such tiny pieces because I was so scared for anybody to know.” When Jim and Sasha finally got onstage to perform, they didn’t share Sasha’s backstory with the coaches. Instead, they let the music speak for itself, which viewers actually appreciated. In the end, the duo chose Team Ariana Grande, which made the new coach extremely happy. “With Jim and Sasha, I felt like I was in the ’70s. I feel like I should have had flowers in my hair,” explained Ariana. “It was really beautiful. It was really refreshing. I don’t know that we have anyone on the show that sounds like them.” As for Sasha, he was also excited to work with the pop star, as he shared, “Ariana, she has such an incredible and unique voice. And I feel like her range and her singing style could really benefit in coming up with parts for a duo and harmonies.”