Well, America’s Got Talent was wrong.
Before Long Island’s Carter Rubin won Season 19 of “The Voice” on Tuesday night – and became the youngest male champion of NBC’s singing competition juggernaut at 15 – he was turned down when he auditioned for “America’s Got Talent” in 2017.
“I’m honestly so glad I didn’t make it,” the Shoreham, NY, crooner told The Post. “Now I have won ‘The Voice’ and I feel like this is where I belong, and I am thriving.”
After Just Sam won the ‘American Idol’ title in Harlem in May, Rubin took another trophy to New York as the first Team Gwen winner – Stefani of course – on ‘The Voice’. But because of the COVID-19 protocols, he and his coach had to leave a big victory hug behind them.
“It’s so hard – you just need to hug from a distance,” Rubin said. “But even if we couldn’t cuddle, we could develop such a close bond.” He added, “We joked about how I have my real mom, and I have my ‘Voice’ mom too.”
Rubin chose Stefani as his coach after both she and John Legend turned their seats for him during the blind auditions. He ended up feeling really good about choosing the former No Doubt front woman: “One thing I learned from her is that it’s okay to be myself … because there’s no one else like me – and you have to I own. “
With his clean-toned pipes and dimpled charm, Rubin brought Stefani to tears as he sang “Rainbow Connection” in a moving performance that sent him to the “Voice” finale. The song was dedicated to his older brother Jack, 19, who has autism. “He’s kind of like the most kind, positive, caring, and loving person you’ll ever know,” said Rubin, whose mother Alonna founded the Families in Arms charity to help parents with autistic children.
Music runs in Rubin’s family: both his brother Jack and his father David, who works in the financial world, play the drums. And his grandfather Ric Mango once sang with the 60s group Jay and the Americans (“This Magic Moment”). “He can’t talk about me without crying,” Rubin said of his proud grandpa.
Though he may be too young to ride, the child prodigy said, “I sang a little bit.” His experience opening local bands, performing at LI restaurants, and appearing in school productions helped prepare him for ‘The Voice’. Still, singing without an audience during this COVID-modified season was not easy.
“I thrive with a live audience; it gives you an adrenaline rush, ”said Rubin. “So it’s definitely hard when it’s just you, the four coaches and the virtual audience because there’s no cheering or anything. You can hear a pin drop. It’s a bit intimidating. “
Even when he stayed with his mother in Los Angeles for ‘The Voice’, Rubin could feel the love in his hometown. “They were wearing Team Carter T-shirts and hanging banners with my face on them,” he said. “They all really got behind me, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
The 10th grader – who returns to Shoreham-Wading River HS in January – is also grateful to be artistic rather than athletic, even when bullied for it. “I’m a little bit different from the average teenage boy, so I would get bullied here and there,” said Rubin, “but I learned that being unique isn’t a bad thing. It’s a really beautiful thing.”