NORTHBOROUGH – Zach Newbould, who is a 19-year old Northborough native, began humming before he could talk.
Now, he is competing on season 22 of “The Voice” under the coaching of Camila Cabello.
“I love to write music and to be able to tell people my stories. It [singing] is a great way to show your emotion, rather than speaking a story, that way you can almost like, yell your story out, so people can really feel what you feel,” Newbould said. “I love that the emotion I have can be translated to other people.”
Newbould attended Algonquin Regional High School where he participated in the school choir for two years.
“I didn’t feel like I could tell a story when I was in choir and harmonizing wasn’t something I was into,” he said.
Newbould landed his first gig in the fifth grade, thanks to his choir teacher Katrina Wayland, who offered him a solo singing “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.
“I was like, alright, why not, let’s try this. My parents pushed me toward it and told me I could do it. That [the solo performance] is what really sparked it [his passion for singing]. And I was like ‘wow, I really do like performing before an audience,’” Newbould said.
After graduating high school, Newbould attended Quinsigamond Community College for a semester, but then decided to take time off to pursue a career in music.
Newbould said he wants to use the “momentum” from the show and continue to “push on” toward a career in the music industry.
Among the ways Newbould said he will use the “momentum” is by “gigging around” Northborough.
“There is definitely a lot of feedback around here and awesome people who are just very supportive. I have a lot of very supportive friends and family in the area. It [Northborough] is just a great crowd of people,” he said.
On “The Voice,” Newbould wowed celebrity judges Gwen Stefani and Camila Cabello, who both turned their chairs for him.
After his performance of “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon, Stefani yelled out, “I love you” to Newbould. However, he ultimately chose Cabello because she promised to give him the coaching he needs to “perfect” his “special” voice.
Newbould said that Cabello helped him hit high notes “cleaner”, which was something he said he struggled with while singing “Use Somebody.”
“She gave me great advice and taught me quite a bit. All around, it [Cabello’s coaching] made me more confident on stage,” he said.
While competing on The Voice so far, Newbould has learned that many musicians try to categorize themselves into a single style of music, but he doesn’t believe there is “such thing as one style.”
“Here I was just looking for whether I was pop or country or rock and I have kind of reached the point where I feel like I took parts of different genres and threw it into my own music,” he said.
Newbould added, “I like to implement a little bit of everything. It’s [being a professional singer] something I have always wanted to do,” Newbould said.
Meanwhile, his alma mater is celebrating his success.
“We are all very excited about Zach’s success,” said Algonquin Principal Sean Bevan. “The clip from “The Voice” made its way around the building very quickly – teachers were excitedly sharing it with each other. And, it got a huge response on our social media. We are so proud of him and hopeful that he continues to perform well in the competition!”
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