Ireland’s Zena Donnelly joins Team Pixie after successful audition on The Voice Kids UK!

A few weeks ago, we discovered by chance that Zena Donnelly would be taking part in the first season of The Voice Kids UK. Of course, Zena represented Ireland in last year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Her performance of Bríce ar Bhríce earned Ireland their first top 10 finish at Junior Eurovision. Tonight, the second auditions episode of the series aired on ITV and Zena took to the famous stage!

Zena knows best!

The 14-year-old chose to perform a cover of Mamma Knows Best by Jessie J, a track from Jessie’s debut album Who You Are. She had to impress at least one of the three coaches, Danny Jones, Pixie Lott and will.i.am, in order to progress to the next round. Our Irish starlet belted out the big-band influenced number and won immense praise from the coaches and support from the studio audience. Pixie turned her chair for Zena as soon as she hit the first big note! Zena then joined team Pixie. You can watch Zena’s performance below:

In a beautiful moment, Zena told the judges about when she sang a duet with Whitney Houston when she was 7 years old. Seeing Whitney on tour, Zena held up a sign asking to sing with her. Whitney saw Zena and invited her up on stage! Will.i.am quickly found the video on the phone, and showed his fellow judges and the audience at home! Here it is for those of you who haven’t seen it:

Excitement built throughout the week

Earlier this week, Zena was expressing her excitement for the beginning of her journey on the show via her Twitter page.

https://twitter.com/ZENAdonnelly/status/874370870332063744

The official Twitter page for Junior Eurovision Ireland also tweeted their support to Zena:

https://twitter.com/JESCIreland/status/876016926379704320

The journey continues…

Now as part of Team Pixie, Zena will progress to the battle round due to air next month. We wish Zena the best of luck for the rest of her journey on The Voice Kids UK! The show will air every Saturday evening for the next couple of months on ITV.

Did you see Zena on tonight’s episode? How far do you think she can go? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and via our social media channels @ESCXTRA!