With apologies to The Beatles, “Here comes the Sunshine!”
Yes, this evening Lyme’s very own Braiden Sunshine will belt his heart out in NBC’s ‘The Voice’ as one of the 12 finalists on the program — and you can safely wager that the whole population of Lyme and Old Lyme, Connecticut, will be urging him on to victory.
After being lured to New Jersey by his mom, Elizabeth Sunshine, on the pretext of visiting a car show, 15-year-old Braiden – a sophomore at Lyme-Old Lyme High School – sailed through the Blind Auditions with Blues Traveler’s “The Mountains Win Again.”
He joined Team Gwen [Stefani] and then proceeded to win the Battle round with”No One Is To Blame,” by Howard Jones. After undergoing an image change along the way and sporting a new hairstyle (no more boyish curls, instead sleek, straight hair) and wearing a snappy suit, he simply cruised through the Knockout round with Michael Bublé’s “Feeling Good.”
Last week, Braiden sang Bread’s classic “Everything I Own” in the Live round and then learned on Wednesday’s results show, in his mom’s words, “… that after America voted, Braiden was one of the two members on his six-artist team to receive the highest number of votes from the nation and therefore he was put through to the Top 12.”
Elizabeth Sunshine explains what happens next, “The Top 12 will perform Monday night, [Nov. 16, in the Live Play-Off round and] on Tuesday one person will go home. The two people with the lowest [number of] votes will sing and then there will be five minutes for America to use Twitter to send in their vote to save their favorite artist. The artist receiving the most Instant Save votes in that five-minute period on the live show will be saved and the other sent home.”
There will be a screening of The Voice Monday night in the LOLHS Auditorium, starting at 8 p.m. with doors opening at 7:45 p.m. All are welcome.
Members of the high school have been showing their support for Braiden in numerous ways including honoring him with the traditional sheet on the tennis court fence.
Asked how he felt about being selected to be in the Top 12, Braiden responded, “It is incredibly exciting. And humbling that I was chosen to stay by the American public. It makes me so happy to know that people are enjoying what I love to do. I love the people here that are so supportive.”
Braiden continued, “I am so happy to represent Connecticut and would love to stay here so if you could please download the free Voice app and vote for me every Monday night after the show. You get 10 votes on the Voice app and 10 more on NBC.com and if you purchase the song on ITunes it also counts as a vote.”
To keep this incredible experience alive for this naturally humble young man (and, of course, the associated fame for Lyme and Old Lyme!), Sunshine is now dependent on votes to continue advancing in the show, so here at LymeLine.com, we’re delighted to show our support for him by sharing information about how to vote for Braiden.
There are four voting platforms:
- The Voice app on your phone
- Twitter:follow Braiden.sunshine
- The Voice Facebook page
- NBC.com/thevoice website
Each platform will accept up to 10 votes from each viewer.
Additional votes can be cast with an iTunes purchase:
If you download the song performed on the show, it counts as one vote, but if the song is in the Top 10 at the close of voting, iTunes votes are multiplied by 10.
Voting is open for 14 hours, starting at 10:01 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 16.
Vote while the show is in progress on Monday using the voice app.
Voting closes at noon on Tuesday.
Congratulations, yet again, to Braiden on this incredible achievement!
The whole town is rooting for you tonight …
Editor’s Note: Click here to read a great article about Braiden published by APlus.com.