Straight A’s, a county speech title and a place in NBC’s Live Shows make up the unusual mix in 15-year-old Delano student Koumba Cariño Diallo’s year. After turning all four chairs on The Voice, she is heading into the live rounds on Team Kelly.
Diallo auditioned on her 15th birthday, turning a long-held dream into reality, according to turnto23.com. Her performance of Demi Lovato’s “Stone Cold” earned a four-chair turn, as reported by news.kern.org. She chose Kelly Clarkson as her coach and became the first artist Clarkson selected to advance straight through this season, according to 23ABC News Bakersfield.
The announcement caught Diallo off guard. She told 23ABC that her heart was pounding and she was spacing out when Clarkson said she was moving forward. “Music is a feeling,” Diallo said. “It’s really a feeling.”
A Brother Who Connects Through Song
Diallo is also balancing school, family and the competition, 23ABC reports. Her 7-year-old brother Omar, who has autism and is nonverbal, engages with her audition at home: he plays it back and joins in, and sometimes imitates pressing a judge’s button, according to 23ABC…