On Sunday, April 26, Carrie Sauce was revealed as the winner of the competition after wowing the judges and live studio audience with their powerful vocals.
On Sunday evening Carrie Sauce from Cardiff made history. Not only was she crowned champion of S4C’s Y Llais, but she also became the first drag act to win any version of global TV franchise The Voice.
The 31-year-old performer and Welsh language learner was announced as the winner of the competition after wowing judges and live studio audience members with their powerful vocals.
But for Oliver Martin it has not been an easy ride. Originally from Somerset they have lived in Cardiff off and on for the last seven years and performing as Carrie for the last three in venues across the Welsh capital.
It was actually a chance meeting with Liam J Edwards, a finalist in the first ever season of Y Llais, that inspired Carrie to learn Welsh and enter the competition this year.
The drag act said: “Just watching their experience and what they’ve done ever since, I was like, yeah, that seems really fun. When they said, ‘oh yeah, you don’t actually have to be a fluent Welsh speaker as long as you’re willing to sing in Welsh’, then I was like, yeah, I don’t see any reason not to.” For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter
Carrie then proceeded to start learning the language ready for their audition. The English born performer said it never crossed their mind to learn Welsh before as “everyone who speaks Welsh also speaks English.”
They thought that this gave them the perfect opportunity to start their Welsh journey. Carrie said: “Doing this, I think it’s different when you decide to sing in Welsh because it’s such a beautiful language. It’s nice to hear it spoken, but sung there is something special about it. It’s so gorgeous.”
When it came to learning Welsh for their audition, they were nervous but had previous experiences that helped them master singing in a different language. They said: “I was lucky as they chose a song that I already knew in English. So I already had the inflexions so I knew what I was singing about, even though I didn’t understand each Welsh word. But then I’m used to learning words like that in other languages as well, as I’ve taught myself opera singing Italian and French. “
However, this didn’t make them any less nervous to walk on stage. Carrie said: “Getting on stage is a completely different thing. You get on that stage, and you’re like, ‘oh, I can see people. They can’t see me, but I can see them.’
“You walk out in complete silence because the audience can’t give the judges any kind of indication about what they’re about to see. As a drag queen walking out to complete silence is so disconcerting, like clearly something’s gone wrong. They don’t like my look, they don’t like my hair, they don’t like my shoes. Then I’m like, ‘no, no, no, that’s just how TV works.’
“I think if you ask anybody the same thing, they’ll say it’s really nerve-racking up until the moment that people turn because you’re like, ‘I have no idea, this might not happen, I might be doing this two minute song and nothing happens’. Then when it does you’ve got that confidence boost, whether it’s one person or whether it is four.
“Did I ever think that they were all going to turn at the same time? Absolutely not, I would have been happy with any one of them, but to have all four at the same time was just, it was incredible.”
Despite all four judges – Sir Bryn Terfel, Aleighcia Scott, Bronwen Lewis, and Yws Gwynedd– turning around for Carrie, they only had one mentor in mind. During the first episode they said: “I’ve had a crush on this person ever since I watched him play Sweeney Todd at the English national opera years and years ago.”
They were of course referring to Sir Bryn, who they saw performing live 12 years ago.
Carrie said: “I think it was just the fact that I knew Bryn already and I knew that our voices would go well together. I was thinking the entire time about the duet I’d get to do if I got to the final and I was like, yeah, I think Bryn and I’s voices would go really nicely together. Clearly they did.”
In the final Carrie and Sir Bryn sang a duet to Time to Say Goodbye (Con te partirò) (Amser Dweud Ffarwel) by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli, before being crowned the second ever winner of Y Llais.
Their partner, Eli, who supported Carrie throughout the competition worked out that they are the first ever drag winner in all 74 global versions of The Voice. This means that the performer from Cardiff has made history winning the show.
They said: “It’s incredible, like I’m expecting a phone call from Guinness Book of Records any day now. It’s fabulous! Like that’s gonna go on my Instagram bio. The first ever drag winner of any edition of The Voice ever. That’s wild. I always worry about whether people are gonna remember Carrie in the future, long after I’ve retired, but that’s something that can be part of my legacy.”
The drag queen from Cardiff hopes that they can inspire other members of the LGBTQIA+ community to follow their dreams and perhaps apply for the third season of Y Llais. Carrie said: ” I’m really looking forward to seeing who comes up next. I’ve got a few friends that I would like to apply for Y Llais season three, but honestly, I’m just really, really proud.
“Even just myself existing is a protest to something. I mean, performing at things like Cardiff Pride is so wonderful, and a lot of drag queens do say like, ‘oh yeah, my drag isn’t political, I don’t really do that kind of thing’. But they don’t realise that just performing like this is enough to make people angry and upset.
“It takes so much confidence and so much bravery. Even to just put all this stuff on. Even just walking from the taxi over to the BBC to do this interview, I get weird looks. I mean, fair enough, it’s a Monday morning when I’m walking over. I’d be a bit confused by a drag queen with no wig on walking past me, but there’s still so much prejudice.
“I think, in Cardiff, it is not too bad because it’s a major city. I can’t imagine what it must be like- well, no I can, because it’s very much like Somerset- but to quote Little Britain, being the only gay in the village in a tiny little Welsh mining village where you don’t really have anyone like you around and to have someone on television that you can look up to and think, ‘oh, I’m not the only one and they’re flourishing and they are happy’. It’s just a nice feeling.”
Carrie wasn’t only representing the LGBTQIA+ community, but also a community of Welsh learners whilst appearing on Y Llais. Their appearance on the show, had mixed reviews with some people applauding their decision to learn the language, and with others outraged that they weren’t speaking fluently in Welsh on the show.
They said: “I know that there are going to be some people who are upset that I’ve won, saying it should have been someone who’s a fluent Welsh speaker or someone who lives in Wales and has always lived in Wales. But, I just think this is a really wonderful thing to happen for people who are learning Welsh and I hope it inspires people to learn Welsh.
“Even before we started filming this series I knew that Y Llais was one of the biggest draws into the Welsh language and into S4C for young people, and it’s only gotten bigger through the second series. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like in three or four or five years. It really upsets me that the Welsh language was censored, and now it’s coming back with such like a renaissance, it’s beautiful and to be even a tiny little part of that is incredible.
“I always say to anybody who’s trying to learn the Welsh language, you’re on your own journey. It’s going to take me years to be a fluent Welsh speaker and that’s absolutely okay. But everybody on production, everyone in Wales, they’re just so appreciative of people trying to the language, whether you know one word or whether you know a thousand. It is just such an incredible experience.”
Although, they did have one negative experience on set where someone in the audience said “bloody English coming over.”
Carrie said: I was like, ‘okay fair enough, alright yeah fair play, you’re clearly very passionate about it’. But it’s just one of these things, I think if it had been someone who was fluent Welsh and who was born in Wales and had always lived in Wales. It doesn’t have that same feel of accessibility. It doesn’t make you think, ‘oh, anyone could win Y Llais.’
“Whereas I’m very early on in my Welsh learning journey and I’ve proven that I can do it. I can learn to speak Welsh and I can sing Welsh beautifully. So I hope that means that anyone else watching will think, so can I.”
Carrie was proud to win the competition as a Welsh learner to show others that it is possible. They said: “It feels incredible. I didn’t go into this thinking that I’d win. I just thought I would go in, have a wonderful time, meet some great people, learn some more about the Welsh language, and here I am.
“I wasn’t sure whether the language barrier would be an issue or the fact that I did drag, but everyone has been so incredible about it. I’ve had so many good critiques, comments, feedback, people messaging me on Instagram, TikTok, saying how inspired they are.
“It has been so wonderful, and honestly every time I enter a competition I always find that when I’m just there to enjoy myself that’s when I have the most fun and when I flourish the most. This was one of those times I went in with no expectation of winning and then this happened and honestly I think the song is going to be incredible but I’ll cherish the experience far more than I will the thought of actually winning.
“The people I’ve met, the language I’ve learned, just the friends I’ve made along the way. That’s really corny. Maybe the real reward and the real prize was the friends we made along the way.”
After winning the competition, Carrie has a jam packed year of gigs. They are also looking forward to performing in and out of drag, as both Carrie and Oliver. They said: “We’re coming into Pride season. So I’ve got lots of Prides coming up. I’m doing Cardiff, I’m doing Abergavenny. We’re going to have a wonderful time. We’re just going to see where it takes us, and maybe I’ll do some stuff as Oliver as well, we don’t know.
“I think a lot of my confidence comes from Carrie and I think Ollie can learn a lot from that, and I think Ollie has learned a lot from Carrie so there’s no reason why I can’t sing as both.”
The performer auditioned for Y Llais with a Welsh language rendition of Eurovision winner and fellow drag artist Conchita Wurst’s Rise Like a Phoenix. When asked if they’d ever like to compete on behalf of the United Kingdom in the famous song competition, they said they’d love to as Eurovision is very camp.
Carrie said: “I’d love to if the UK are confident enough in themselves to put a drag queen as their entrant, they always do quite well because Eurovision is very camp anyway so. If not, maybe it’s time that we actually just start entering Wales, and have Wales as its own separate entry for Eurovision.”
You can stream all episodes of Y Llais on S4C Clic and BBC iPlayer.
