How 15-Year-Old Sydney Sterlace’s “Captivating” 4-Chair Audition Took Snoop to “Church”

During Season 14 The Voice on NBC, Brynn Cartelli (Coached by Kelly Clarkson) became the show's youngest winner ever at the age of 15. Could Season 26 contestant Sydney Sterlace end up tying the record?

Sterlace, a 15-year-old singer from Buffalo, New York, made an impressive debut during Monday night's premiere with a Blind Audition that yielded a rare 4-Chair Turn. "Coming from little coffee houses on the corner of my street, I think it hasn't even hit yet that I'm actually here," she said just before taking the stage.

RELATED: Teenage Gwen Stefani Looks So Cute in a Mullet While Getting an Autograph From Sting

With her mother, father, and grandmother looking on with pride and nervous anticipation, Sterlace launched into a powerful rendition of Olivia Rodrigo's first-ever single: "Driver's License." Both Gwen Stefani and Michael Bublé turned their Chairs around in quick succession mere moments into the Blind Audition. Snoop Dogg and Reba McEntire followed suit not long after, with the former leaping out of his seat to give the contestant a standing ovation before the song had even ended.

Watch Sydney Sterlace's Performance of Olivia Rodrigo's "Driver's License" During Blind Auditions for The Voice Season 26

Sydney Sterlace performs onstage during The Voice, Season 26 Episode 1. Photo: Tyler Golden/NBC

When it came time to convince Sterlace which Team to join, Coach Gwen came out of the gate swinging by mentioning the fact that she and Rodrigo became friendly after performing together at Coachella this past spring. "It took me a minute to push my button because it was so unbelievably close to her tone. Now finding out that you're 15-years-old... For me, it would be all about getting to know you and how can we make your style of singing even more saturated with Sydney? That's why this show is so amazing because it's like a boot camp. You will learn so much, so quickly. I know what you need, I'm like your mom right now. I'm like the cool mom, though."

Coach Bublé came next, explaining that sometimes, it's fine to crib from the best. "I got to work with my hero, Tony Bennett. I said, 'Mr. Bennett, I've stolen everything from you.' He said, 'You know, kid. When you steal from one person, you're just a thief, but when you steal from everybody, you can call it research.' And that's what we do as artists. We stand on the shoulders of the people that we love and then we find ourselves. I love that one of us is gonna get to be a part of watching you find yourself. Thank you so much for coming to our show."

RELATED: Watch Tony Bennett Duet "Steppin' Out with My Baby" with Christina Aguilera

The audition bordered on religious experience for Coach Snoop, who said: "You captivated me like I was in church. The way you just held control of the audience. You made me move, you made me get up. I didn't even let you finish, I'm sorry. I haven't heard anybody that sounds as good as you. You have a beautiful spirit [and] I would love to Coach you. But I'm like, 'Damn! What can I give you when you've got everything?!' What I could give you is some love and a blank canvas, so you could paint a picture on who you want to really be in life."

"You've got a maturity to your inner self that comes out from your heart, your soul, and we felt it," concluded Coach Reba. "I'm just so thrilled that you came on this show and we're all here to help, so welcome to The Voice. I'd love to have you on my team."

At the end of the day, Sterlace couldn't pass up an opportunity to remove one more degree of separation between herself and her idol, Rodrigo. In other words, she became a member of Team Gwen. How could she refuse when Stefani literally brought an adorable kitten onstage and named it "Sydney" on national television?