Son Seung-yeon, the winner of the debut season of the “Voice of Korea” reality audition program last year, captivated the public with her powerful and wide-ranging vocal skills. Son sang a revamped version of 2NE1’s popular hit “Go Away” during her blind audition, and landed herself a place on iconic singer Shin Seung-hun’s team where she flourished and eventually walked away with the first-place crown.

In hindsight, it is almost shocking to imagine that the talented 19-year-old singer nearly threw in the towel prior to her audition for “Voice.”

“Before going on ‘Voice,’ I must have gone on around seven or eight other auditions and failed them all,” Son admitted. “At the time of the ‘Voice’ auditions, I told myself that it would be my last one, and if I failed, I was going to give up on my dreams of becoming a singer forever.”

As a young girl, the thought of pursuing a career as a singer never once occurred to her. However, when Son was in middle school, one of her friends persuaded her to participate in a talent show that ended up changing her life path. 

“It all started when I won my middle school pop song talent show,” she explained. “I ended up singing Whitney Houston’s ‘I Have Nothing’ and winning the competition. I would say that was a huge turning point in my life.”

After the competition, Son became the talk of her school with everyone recalling her performance at the school talent show. It was during this time that Son decided that she would shift her focus to music and ended up choosing to attend a music arts high school.

As a contestant on “Voice,” the young singer lit up the stage when she showed off her range through passionate ballad songs, particularly her rendition of BMK’s “Muldeuleo,” which became one of her most memorable stage performances on the show. Son quickly found her groove and became widely recognized for her incredible ability to serenade the audience with slow, yet ultimately moving pieces.

Despite the singer’s tremendous talent in performing ballads, Son expressed a deep desire to move away from her image of being a ballad singer.

“Honestly, I don’t even really like ballad songs,” Son said laughing. “I am personally more into hip-hop and music with a beat. My plan for the future is to transition into this style of music.”

After winning “Voice,” she went on to release her debut album “The Wings of an Ugly Duck” in October last year. The album, produced by hit composer Park Geun-tae, contains six tracks, most of which stuck with her signature ballad style, including her title track “Heart, Heart.” However, Son said that she had always had an interest in rapping and decided to include the song “Replay” in her debut album in which she took on the role as a rap artist. American R&B artist Ne-Yo, who was in Seoul last year, met with Son and said that he enjoyed listening to the Korean singer rap on the track.

On Wednesday Son released her newest single “I’m Not Crazy” featuring MC Sniper. Although she claimed that this particular rap ballad track does not quite represent the style of music she wishes to pursue in the future. “It’s a step in the right direction,” she said.

“When people hear my music, obviously I would want them to think that I am a good singer,” she explained. “But most of all, I want people to see me and think to themselves, ‘Wow, she’s a monster.’”

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)