‘The Voice’ winner Sofronio Vasquez opens up about his ‘very tragic,’ ‘saddest and weirdest story’ : ‘I am able to bring a little justice for the family’

Published On December 11, 2024 » By »

When Sofronio Vasquez won The Voice Season 26 this week, his reaction was one of the most genuinely touching displays in the series’ 13-year history — a stunning must-see-TV moment, as he fell to his knees and began sobbing as soon as host Carson Daly announced his name. It was the culmination of a harrowing and emotional journey for the 32-year-old Philippines immigrant, some of the details of which still remain private.

Two weeks ago, when Season 26 went live with the top eight, Vasquez’s supportive coach, Michael Bublé, implied that Vasquez was grappling with some sort of serious personal struggle, praising Vasquez’s show-must-go-on attitude and stating: “Nobody in the whole universe besides you and your family know what you’re going through.” Bublé insisted that viewers would be astounded if they “understood the strength” that Vasquez had tapped into to overcome “all of this adversity” and still “take the brass ring.” Vasquez did indeed seize that that ring — and the Season 26 trophy and $100,000 prize — on Tuesday’s finale, and the following afternoon, he opened up, slightly, about what was going on behind the scenes this season.

“Michael Bublé is very careful of telling everyone what’s my story. But I guess I want to say that story is not friendly as everyone could ever hear,” Vasquez stated cautiously. “I had the saddest and the weirdest story, but it’s very tragic. Very tragic. The only thing that I could say it’s political. But I am here, and now that I am able to win The Voice, people up above — I could say ‘people,’ because they are many and now they’re just angels — I know that they’re very, very happy with the situation, knowing the fact that I am able to bring a little justice for the family.”

Sofronio

Vasquez’s emotional reaction Tuesday seemed to be one of genuine shock, but almost nobody else was surprised by his win. Perhaps not since Season 9’s Jordan Smith had there been such a clear Voice frontrunner as this Team Bublé belter: From the moment his audition was uploaded to The Voice’s YouTube channel as a teaser for Season 26, he seemed like the man to beat. Vasquez admits that as the season progressed with the live shows, even his fellow contestants told him, “‘I feel like you’re winning the show. … Everyone has just been rooting for you.’” But he tried to ignore that chatter and “self-shield in my bubble,” in order to protect himself from more potential disappointment.

“I mean, I was hopeful and I was praying since Blind Auditions that I would make it to the final five, but I never really thought in my mind that it’s going to be possible,” a still-processing Vasquez marveled the afternoon after his victory. “So, yeah, me dropping on the floor was a relief and a happy moment — and a flashback moment, for all the rejections that I’ve got, that finally I made it. And it’s going to be me forever that I won The Voice.”

In the past, Vasquez was, as difficult as this may be to believe, a no-chair-turn on the Philippines’ version of The Voice, and he was rejected no fewer than seven times by another hugely popular talent show in his homeland, Tawag ng Tanghalan. “I really tried auditioning [for Tawag ng Tanghalan] every two months, just to get in,” Vasquez chuckled. “I could clearly see, every time I auditioned, people in the staff would be like, ‘Oh my gosh, you again!’”

Vasquez got in on his eighth try, in 2017. He “took it very, very gracefully” and was “very grateful” that the Tawag ng Tanghalan producers, with whom he was now on a first-name basis, gave him a shot, but he was eliminated during that show’s semifinals. In 2023, after the death of his father, he decided to give music another serious go and moved to the States, and now, to “finally hear it from Carson Daly that I won The Voice, wow — it’s emotional for me. And it’s a gift from God. It’s really Him. It is power.

“It’s really me saying that even if you’re rejected 10 times, your life’s going to be moving forward,” continued Vasquez, a fan of The Voice since Season 1. (He can still recall watching winner Javier Colon champ singing “‘Time After Time,’ sitting on a chair with his white cap.”) “It’s not the end of your journey, if you’re really manifested. … It’s really true that I would hear Carson Daly’s voice saying, ‘The winner of The Voice Season 26 is… Sofronio! And now, thinking about it, that manifestation is really powerful. Once you believe it in your heart, your heart really sends it to the universe, to God.”

It remains to be seen what’s next for Vasquez, but right now, he’s just savoring this hard-earned victory. “I’m just so blessed to be working with Michael Bublé, and I just want to end this conversation by saying to all who voted for me, who prayed and who supported me, thank you so much,” he said. “And America is just an awesome and great country to live in.”

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