By the end of the second episode of blind auditions on NBC’s ‘The Voice,’ Sacramento’s Shane Q would be the first contestant to get all four judges to turn their seats with a bid to recruit him on their team for the singing competition’s 17th season. With a gripping rendition of Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey,” he would not only capture the attention of audiences across the nation, but he would demonstrate an impressive range of vocal runs that set him up as a favorite for the whole season.
John Legend would say Shane had “a lot of gospel flavor,” Gwen Stefani would mistake Sacramento for San Francisco and Blake Shelton would make a fool of himself. But it was a single comment on his ability to not categorize himself by the enthusiastic Kelly Clarkson that would ultimately find him on #TeamKelly, lead by the “beast of a vocalist” he has been following since American Idol.
“In that moment, there’s a lot of things going through your head and real quickly,” said Shane, via phone call a few days after the show’s airing. “So one of the things that popped in my head was, she’s been through something like this, very similar situation, and she mentioned my voice is, you know, I could sing anything, and that’s what I like to do. I love to sing all genres of music and when she said that, in that moment I said, she’s the one and I went with my gut and I—I just picked her man and I’m glad I did.”
Browsing between Shane’s YouTube and Instagram accounts, you could find covers ranging from Bob Marley’s “Turn Your Lights Down Low” and Allen Stone’s “Unaware” to Sam Smith’s “Too Good at Goodbyes.” Most performances he plays his acoustic guitar and sometimes he even plays a ukulele, but every time he hits a stage, or simply performs, he does it with great intention.
“My friends will tell you this, my family can tell you this—a goal of mine—every time I perform I want to capture the audience,” said Shane. “I love to just make somebody feel a certain type of way that they’re just, you know, they’re feeling it and the room is either roaring or dead silent and they’re just enjoying the performance, that’s my goal.”
If there is any indication of where his career may go from here, it may lie in the overwhelming support several communities have shown out for Shane. Those who know him seem to repeatedly agree the Rio Linda High School alum is well-deserving of all the praise coming his way. His Guamanian roots have also welcomed another bandwidth of support he was not expecting.
“My dad is Guamanian,” said Shane. “So I’ve had a lot of support from that community as well, which is pretty crazy because I didn’t mention it on air or anything, but the Island of Guam is also going crazy right now. It’s a very small place so they’re really supportive right now.”
As of publication, Shane’s audition is currently the most watched video of the budding season with 1.2 million views in a week. While that may not mean much in the long run, it’s a clear indication that he is doing exactly what he should be in sharing his gift with the world. A long time fan of the show, he had actually wanted to audition in the past, but ultimately felt the timing was not right.
“I didn’t think I was ready,” said Shane. “This year, I’m 29 years old. I know what I want to do. I found my style, my sound and I’m confident. This was the year that I was ready to make some moves if the opportunity came, opportunity came and I’m just doing my thing man.”
For those in Sacramento eager to see Shane Q perform live, he will be performing two sets this coming weekend: Saturday, October 5 at Shine Sacramento and Sunday, October 6 at the grand opening of Aligned Nutrition.
To keep up with Shane Q, follow him on Instagram @shaneqofficial and Twitter @shaneqofficial.
And don’t forget to watch NBC’s ‘The Voice’ on Monday and Tuesday nights to see what happens next!
