She's got a voice that sends a bolt through the heart. She sings lyrics that make you lean forward.
Siala Robson, one of the top four finalists of The Voice Australia, is known for her intensely raw and emotionally charged performances.
Speaking to Mamamia ahead of the grand finale on Sunday night, she explains that The Voice stage feels like the home she never had.
"I've never felt a feeling of home," the 18-year-old reflects. "On there, I feel like I'm at home. It's this warm feeling. And when I felt that during my first blind, it made me hell emotional. It's a feeling I've never felt before, and it's so warm."
Watch: Siala Robson turned four chairs during her audition. Post continues below video.
Siala's upbringing was inconceivably difficult. Until the start of this year, she was living in a women's refuge with her mother and five siblings, of whom she is the eldest.
"My upbringing was rough. My mum was in a very bad domestic. I was having to mentally grow up and protect my mum at a young age and protect myself."
At times, Siala would need to physically shield her family from the threat of domestic violence.
"It was really scary," she remembers. "Being eight years old and seeing your mum balling her eyes out is the worst thing ever."
Siala says it left her family "injured physically, mentally and spiritually."
"I just adapted to that lifestyle, then I ended up running away from what was going on at home when I was younger. I ended up in a worse situation where something happened to me that was really bad. I was in a very bad environment, with a big gang of bad people. I just got so caught up in that whole world. I was abusing myself in bad ways."
