Army brat Bryana Salaz makes her live national television debut on tonight's episode of "The Voice."
The main advice from her singing coach Gwen Stefani: "emote and connect." The 17-year-old thinks she's found a way to do just that, with a song that will resonate for service members on Veterans Day.
"This song is about losing someone you love, and it's something a lot of military families can relate to," Salaz said, unable to reveal the song title. "I'm able to connect with the song, in a different way than it's written."
Among the crowd during tonight's Los Angeles performance will be her father, Col. Ed Salaz, who serves with the 757th Transportation Battalion in St. Louis.
It's not his daughter's first first foray into singing contests . In sixth grade she competed in a Schofield Barracks talent competition in Hawaii.
irst entered a competition with her singing multiple stops ago while in sixth grade in Hawaii: a talent competition at Schofield Barracks. She blew her father away, and others started telling her she had serious, professional-level talent.
Then, at age 13, she tried out for "America's Got Talent," but didn't make it far. She said the song she sang, "Barracuda" by Heart, which she said didn't fit her style.
"I didn't even know what set me apart or know who I was. You're going up against people who have been dancing for 25 years or singing for 25 years," Salaz said.
Rather than keep chasing television shows, Salaz focused on her education (and moving to four different high schools). Now a senior, she felt the time was right to try again this year.
In her first performance on the "The Voice" she sang the pop hit "Problem" by Ariana Grande, which resonated with the judges and the audience.
She didn't keep chasing television shows, instead singing where she could as she focused on school along with packing and unpacking her belongings in new states. But she figured the time was right to try again this year.\
During the blind audition on The Voice, her voice prompted three of four judges to push their button to effectively ask her to be on their team in the episode that aired Sept. 22. Maroon 5's Adam Levine turned first and country star Blake Shelton second, but she followed a gut feeling and went with Stefani and said she hasn't regretted it.
Tonight's 2-hour show airs 8 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. At the end of the show, it will be up to the audience to vote. The top two vote-getters on Stefani's five-member team will survive and Stefani will choose a third, all of which will be determined on Wednesday night's one-hour show, also at 8 p.m..
Salaz said she's excited to perform live. She said that comes with a lot more pressure, not unlike the pressure when she was a "nervous wreck" before that first competition in Hawaii.
"I'm trying to tackle it like any other performance and not let it get to me," she said. "I think it's going to give me more positive energy to get on stage and do my best."
She knows she wants to make music her career – she has her sights set on the music business program at UCLA – and hopes this experience might open doors.
"I'm not going to stop, even if I get eliminated Wednesday night I'm going to keep going. It'll crush me for about five minutes, and then I'll get up and keep going," Salaz said.
Salaz is a senior living at Scott Air Force base in the St. Louis area.
She said she wants to express appreciation to military service members every chance she gets.
