Elijah Noralez Eyes America’s Got Talent

The Bliss Center for the Performing Arts will come alive next week Tuesday night for KTV the Remix Season Six finale. Three contestants battled it out on stage this past Tuesday. Fans have up until Sunday to vote for their favorite contestant. The winner will be announced at the finale. Ahead of that show, we will be featuring each of the three finalists in our nightly newscast to learn more about who they are and their musical journey. News Five’s Paul Lopes travelled down to Harmonyville today to speak with Elijah Noralez. He brings us that story.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Twenty-four-year-old Elijah Noralez is one of the three finalists in KTV the Remix Season Six. Today, we stopped by his Harmonyville residence to learn more about his passion for music and his journey in this year’s competition.

 

Elijah Noralez, KTV the Remix Finalist

“I use to sing on the way to preschool. My aunty use to tell me that all the time. I use to sing the whole entire trip to preschool and that is probably where that started. I think that comes from a long line of musicians and musically inclined people in my family. My dad said he use to sing to us when we were in the womb. So, from I was very young and just the lineage, I think that is how I started.”

 

 

 

As Elijah tells it, he was born into a family of musicians. He says that his sister Alysia Noralez was his biggest inspiration growing up. In this video, a young Elijah and his sister are captured in a recording studio singing their rendition of I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. Here, that same young talent is taking on the Jackson 5’s Who’s Lovin You.

 

 

 

Paul Lopez

“Do you recall those moments growing up singing with your sister and your family?”

 

Elijah Noralez

“Yeah, I think those would be some of the most memorable moments in my childhood. We have done a lot of small stuff on TV and a lot of stuff. We have been on the stage before. She was the one that brought me into this singing thing. She is really the one that influenced me the most.”

 

 

 

Elijah says he spent time developing his voice singing in church. And, after several years of contemplating whether he should send in his application to be a contestant on KTV the Remix, he finally decided that season six was the opportune time.

 

 

 

 

Elijah Noralez

“I was giving up on singing around the age of sixteen to eighteen. It is not something I would generally pushed in Belize. It is something that I just backed off on. I was not singing at all. I said let us do this thing, so how we can go from here. It has been successful. I think I have gathered a lot of support and I am thankful for that. I have done a lot of small karaoke events, Double O’s Restaurant, Millers Depot, and OI have a lot of people bombarding me with text saying I want to vote for you, how do I vote, sending money and stuff like that. It has been a journey. Being in that battle round is nothing nice, because you could get a song you cant sing and you just get eliminated right there and then. The whole dream is cut short. I knew that week I was going to be in the battle round because I couldn’t do any karaoke because my voice was messed up.”

 

Off the stage and away his job at Acquity BPO, Elijah Noralez can be found with a weedwhacker or machete in hand working on his family’s farmland. He told us about the most fulfilling and the most challenging parts of his KTV the Remix journey.

 

Elijah Noralez

“Just the words of encouragement that people bring. People are telling me that you should just be full on take this on as a career, the messages, the support is so overwhelming, nothing like I have ever experienced before.”

 

 

 

Paul Lopez

“For you what has been one of the greatest challenges?”

 

Elijah Noralez

“I am very anxious about a lot of stuff. Sometimes I struggle with a lot of anxiety. So to perform in front of a lot of people. When I was young, I use to stand up with my hand in my pocket and I sing. Going from that I feel has been a very, it has been scary, because people make fun of you and it is a bit scary, I don’t like negative feedback, so that has been one of the hardest things for me.”

 

Andazi Panton, KTV The Remix Jude  

“I will keep saying, you just do not imitate. You are always yourself. That is something that is so very special about you.”

 

 

 

 

Elijah Noralez

“For me it is not much of a show. It is just to captivate the people with my voice and see how I can get them to feel the song. It is not about the stuff around, the background noise. It is just so you can hear and feel the song. When I am up there I am feeling the song. It is going through me and I am feeling all these emotions.”

 

Elijah says if he wins KTV the Remix Season Six, he will use the ten thousand dollars cash prize to pursue a bachelor’s degree, purchase equipment to build a music studio or invest the money in taking a shot at America’s Got Talent.

 

 

Elijah Noralez

“People think I am cocky. The way I present myself on stage and the way I answer questions, it is not to be cocky. It is just to entice people and entertain. People think I have vocal training, I don’t. this is all just me listening to YouTube, listening to my mom and dad. Just listening to people around me. I have a lot of confidence in what I am able to do but I am also open to the criticism and stuff like that.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.