"Not the right song choice" — The Voice fans react to Sydney Sterlace's rendition of I Love You, I'm Sorry

Season 26 of The Voice aired episode 20, Live Finale, Part 1, on Monday, December 9, 2024. The top 5 contestants stepped onto the stage to compete against one another for their chance at the title. Among the contenders was 16-year-old West Seneca native Sydney Sterlace from Gwen Stefani's team.

For the first night of the finale, each artist had to perform a ballad followed by an up-tempo song in front of coaches Gwen Stefani, Michael Bublé, Reba McEntire, and Snoop Dogg for an opportunity to bag the winner's title. Each singer aimed to put their best foot forward, hoping to garner enough votes from the viewers.

For her first act, Sydney sang I Love You, I'm Sorry by Gracie Abrams. Although the judges appreciated her performance, fans of The Voice were unimpressed. Sydney's rendition of the pop song failed to captivate viewers, who felt it was not the right song choice for the occasion. Netizens took to X to share their opinions of Sydney's act.

"I love sydney, but this performance isn’t doing it for me. Not the right song choice I fear," a fan wrote.

"Is this a popular song being performed by Sydney? I don’t get the song choice…sounds nervous & pitchy. No comparison to the first two…not even Shye. Sweet girl but sour voice tonight," another fan commented.

"Sydney Sterlace, what is that? A high school talent show performance? This is not it, babe," a netizen tweeted.

Many fans of The Voice were disappointed by Sydney's finale performance.

"Sydney my girl ugh this was not a the best song. She did amazing lost her a bit in some moments but overall she needed a stronger suited song for her voice," a user reacted.

"So disappointed in Sydney’s song choice. This is the worst she’s sung," a person commented.

"I usually like Sydney...eh nothing exciting tonight," another fan wrote.

"Sydney. Good voice. Not very exciting, but nice," one user posted.

In contrast, some fans of The Voice were satisfied by her rendition of Gacie Abram's song.

"Sydney Sterlace so easy-breezy natural, flowing through the verse, communing with the audience. Such a sweet vocal. Yes, youthful but also grounded and solid throughout her range," a person reacted.

"I wanna say this sydney sterlace performance is beautiful and sydney is performance is excellent and this is the best performance of night so far and this is a winning performance so far," another netizen commented.

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"You're fulfilling my dream" — The Voice coach Gwen Stefani comments on Sydney's performance

Sydney was the sole contestant from Gwen's team to make it to the top 5 after Jan Dan's elimination in the semi-final last week. In contrast, Team Michael entered the final with two singers, Shye and Sofronio Vasquez. Although outnumbered, Gwen was hopeful that Sydney could meet her expectations and mesmerize the audience with her performance.

Before stepping onto the stage, each contestant was asked to write a letter to music to contemplate their journeys and reflect on their lives. While Sydney wrote a letter dedicated to music, her younger sisters joined her on stage and expressed how inspired they were by her.

For her first act, Sydney presented a cover of Gracie Abram's I Love You, I'm Sorry, impressing the coaches. Her falsetto and vocal range were the highlights of her act that surprised the mentors. Coach Snoop Dogg commended The Voice contestant's growth and said:

"You grew up tonight."

He added that Sydney looked like someone from the film Wicked. Sydney's coach Gwen Stefani was equally complimentary. She was pleased to see her sole team member presenting tough competition to the other contenders.

"You're fulfilling my dream," she said.

Later, The Voice contestant returned to the stage with another performance where she took on Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.

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The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 pm ET only on NBC.