Did Sam Perry change Boy George’s tune in The Voice battle rounds?

Voice artist Sam Perry has beatboxed and looped his way into The Voice finals.

Despite stirring up controversy throughout season seven, the humble singer is now one step closer to snapping up a lucrative record deal.

On Sunday night's episode of Nine's singing competition, the 28-year-old vocal looping expert went head-to-head with fellow Kelly Rowland team member AP D'Antonio. The pair were tasked with singing Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones.

The Perth DJ was nervous about battling the folk singer given Boy George's past criticisms. In an earlier episode, the so-called "Queen of England" claimed Perry wasn't really a singer.

But Rowland was quick to give some words of encouragement before the knockout.

Advertisement

"As much as I love George, he's always got to have something to say," she said. "[But] I think he's started to question himself. I had to remind him what you're doing is just fine. Show them that you can sing, show them you have a voice.

"I have a lot of respect for you and my job. My job as your coach is to make sure other people have that respect as well."

During the performance, Perry and D'Antonio had the judges dancing on top of their chairs despite the latter losing his earpiece halfway through the performance.

The duet even got a nod of approval from Perry's harshest critic.

"It was great," Boy George told them. "It was absolutely brilliant. What a bizarre combination. It shouldn't have worked, but it did."

Rowland ultimately chose Sam to proceed into the finals. However, she threw AP a last-minute lifeline by handing out a rare wildcard.

This doesn't mean the folk singer is through to the live finals, though. Instead, after Monday night the Australian public are allowed to vote on which wild card performer should make it into the finals.

Perry previously told Fairfax Media he doesn't understand why his part in the competition is controversial.

"Everything is made from my voice and nothing else," he said. "All the harmonies and the bass lines and everything is coming from me."

Comments disabled

Broede Carmody is an entertainment reporter at Fairfax Media.

Morning & Afternoon Newsletter

Delivered Mon–Fri.