Nicola De Sensi has been a fan of The Voice since the start.
The Grays Point resident watches the program with her Nonna every year - and every year her Nonna encourages her to apply.
And this year, she finally did it.
Now the 20-year-old is all set to appear on The Voice stage and sing her heart out before the judges' chairs.
The was excited to take the leap after watching two of her closest friends, Jordan and Sian Fuller, make it well into the series last year.
"Jordan and Sian are two of my best friends, so I was at all the audience shows when they were on The Voice," De Sensi said.
"I went four or five times because they made it all the way to the semis.
"It was really cool to see their whole journey and they told me how amazing it was. That was one of the biggest reasons for me to give it a go. They pushed me over the edge."
The friends met at school - St Patrick's College Sutherland - and even sang together in church.
De Sensi said it was a "really exciting" feeling to be involved with The Voice.
"I was trying to keep myself calm but as soon as the doors opened all that went out the window," she said of walking onto the stage for the first time.
"The most scary part was knowing that it's on TV. There were also quite a few people that I knew there in the audience, and when you know the audience it makes it that much more nerve-wracking."
De Sensi said she had always jumped around from "habits, fads and crazes" but had always come back to music as her number one.
Since she started performing in front of crowds as a youth she'd been drawn to the energy of getting on stage.
"It's a good sort of nervous energy," she said.
"You get attached to that feeling."
Going into The Voice, De Sensi was most hoping judges Guy Sebastian and Jessica Mauboy would turn around and invite her to join their team.
She felt her poppy, ballad sensibilities would best pair with their musical styles.
"I connect mostly with ballads which are slow and show off your voice," De Sensi said.
"My biggest inspirations are Ariana Grande (I love her interpretation of music), Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish - the more musical voices in contemporary music.
"Nowadays pop is more about the sound of the song, whether you can dance to it, but I love the vibratos and showing off people's voices in the songs, so I tend to be more drawn to the musicians who showcase that."
De Sensi said she was so thankful to her family for being her biggest supporters to this stage.
The Voice Australia premieres Monday, April 18 on Seven.
