James Okulaja in final of The Voice for Will.I.Am
07:18, 21 March 2021
updated: 11:13, 21 March 2021
A head boy from Kent has thanked fans for their support after performing in the final of The Voice.
Rapper James Okulaja, from Gillingham, made the final four following last weekend's semi-final after he had dramatically returned to the show and represented Team Will.I.Am last night.
James first stunned the judges with his bold rendition of Billie Eilish's Everything I Wanted during the blind auditions in January.
It secured him a spot in the second round of ITV's singing competition.
The 18-year-old began his performance with the words "this is my dream" – a nod to Martin Luther King's iconic 'I have a dream' speech.
After rapping his heart out about equality, bullying and togetherness the Rainham Mark head boy couldn't quite believe who turned around.
He said: "When Will.I.Am turned around my eyes were closed - when I opened them and saw he had turned and I was in disbelief, I was gassed."
The semi-finals saw James go head-to-head with Andrew Bateup, who grew up in Tunbridge Wells, and secured a spot on Team Olly after his performance of Michael Bolton's How Am I Supposed to Live Without You in his blind audition.
James was selected by judge Will.I.Am to make it into the final - despite being eliminated from the competition two weeks ago.
However, when contestant Janel Anthoneshia withdrew, he was recalled to the contest.
He performed Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' hit Can't Hold Us and got the nod from his American mentor.
Will.I.Am said of choosing the Kent sensation over his other team-mates: "Each one of you is equally important to me. The person I'm going to send through is Okulaja."
Last night's final saw James do a performance of OneRepublic's 'Counting Stars' where he rewrote the lyrics to honour the NHS.
That was followed by his duet with Will.I.Am which saw the pair sing the Black Eyed Peas' classic 'Where is the love'.
But it wasn't enough to see the teenager through to the final two with the public voting for Grace Holden and Craig Eddie to perform in the sing off.
Craig - who was on Team Anne-Marie - was crowed the winner.
