Sasha Allen Makes TV History on The Voice! Singer Says Reveal Was 'Really Hard Decision'

When Jim and Sasha Allen made it onto The Voice Live Shows, they made history because Sasha is the first openly transgender singer on the NBC competition series to make it past the Battle Rounds in the entire 21 seasons of the show. Now the duo from Newtown, Conn., has taken it even a step further into the Top 8!

Sasha revealed that he was transgender during their package for the Blind Auditions, and he told Parade.com that it was a decision that took thought and consideration.

“That was a really hard decision to make because you are showing a very vulnerable part of yourself to millions and millions of people,” said Sasha, who transitioned while he was in high school. “But [last week during fan week], seeing people’s support and responses and how that has impacted people really showed that it was worth it and the right decision even though it was a hard one to make.”

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For The Voice fan week, which is when fans select the songs for their favorite artists to sing, Jim and Sasha were given Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain", and both father and son were happy with the choice, even though they landed in the bottom two on Tuesday’s elimination show.

“‘Have You Ever Seen the Rain’ is a song that has been on a list of songs that we’d wanted to play on the show for a really long time,” Sasha told Parade.com. “We played it before The Voice was even a thing in our lives. We were so excited when we got it. It was a song we already knew; it was a song we already had ideas for arranging. I was really surprised how much the fans hit the nail on the head.”

And Jim added, “I loved the fact that it coincided with the first moment in the show when we were actually able to bring the band closer in. It is the ultimate jam song, and we love playing with those guys. It was just so fun.”

Even so, they couldn’t have been too happy with the results. So, on Tuesday, the father/son duo sang Jason Mraz’s “I Won’t Give Up” for the Instant Save and what could have been their final performance on The Voice, but they were put through to the Top 10 by America.

“It was sad and emotionally distressing, most of all because there was pressure of trying to emotionally convey to Ariana Grande how much we love her," Sasha told Parade.com. "You could see because we both started crying. It was overwhelming and the pressure was on, but also in that moment, I expected myself to be more down in the dumps about it. I was not happy, but at the same time there's this thing that kicks in that there are 8 million people watching and I have to do this right now and I'm just going to do it. It has to happen so you can't really feel that down about it in the moment. We made it so far. I didn't expect us to get through, especially after we performed the song, but you know it wasn't as bad as I thought emotionally, but it was traumatizing severely.”

And Jim added, "For me, it was liberating. I knew that if we were to walk off the stage and not come back after that song that we would be very proud of what we've accomplished on this show and very surprised at how far we've come and profoundly grateful for all the great people who made it possible."

Before getting the results that they were through to the Top 10, Sasha told Arianaand the audience of trans kids watching, “The greatest part of this experience has been knowing you. You have been the greatest gift of my life. You are such an incredible person. I love you so much. You’ve been so impactful on me and my music and us. I treasure these moments with you. To every trans kid out there who still thinks there’s no way, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Following is more of our interview with Jim and Sasha Allen:

When you’re done with the show, will you take time off or go straight into career mode?

Sasha: I am not great at handling a schedule that is so intense and super demanding, which this is. But even with that being the case, I would like this to be my life nonstop. No breaks. When we ultimately go home, whether we win or not, I definitely want this as my life and career. And I want my life to be crazy and revolve around music and singing and performing and I want to be tired and doing things all the time, so whenever we are off the show, I plan to move to L.A. and go full force, no breaks.

Jim: I ditto that.

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How will your tour look different from what you’ve done on the show?

Sasha: That element would be original music, which we haven’t done on the show. We are both songwriters and I feel that would be a really important element of it.

What will you take with you when you leave The Voice?

Sasha: Aside from the friends that I’ve made here and how those relationships grew me as an artist, from this whole experience, I think I learned that I am capable of more than I think I am. I can do more vocally and musically than I give myself credit for. I still kind of have imposter syndrome of I’m not really supposed to be here. But it’s taught me that you have to put that out of your mind because I am where I am. We made it here and we worked hard to be here. I got pushed out of my comfort zone a lot on this show, but it’s helped me to grow so much, so I’m going to take the lesson that I can do it and I don’t need to feel insecure about my singing.

Jim: There’s not much I can add, but I would also take the realization that in life, the most unlikely things can happen and, suddenly, in an unexpected season, all your dreams just start coming to life in ways you could not plan, but sort of held on to some version of and that feeling of joy, of having that dream follow us here. It led us here together. I am here as a performer, but I am here with Sasha and that is extraordinarily special.

If you make the finale, who is the dream artist you would like to perform with?

Sasha:Taylor Swift.

Jim:Stevie Wonder.

Do you want to win The Voice?

Sasha: We are definitely in it to win it. We want to win it but at the same time, we feel like we already won. It is a really relaxing feeling to enter every performance and doing everything related to the show feeling as if we are already on top of the world. We already feel like we are on the upside and on the greatest journey of our lives. Making it to this point, it feels like we won. I can’t imagine what it feels like being the last one standing, but at the same time, it is this weird thing because I am rooting for all of my teammates, and I am rooting for all the other teams and I can’t help but do that because they’re all the greatest people I’ve ever met, so it doesn’t feel like a competition, and it never has.

The Voice airs Monday and Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

How old is Sasha Allen on The Voice?

Sasha Allen is 19 years old as of 2021.

Is Sasha Allen a boy or a girl?

The Voice singer Sasha Allen was born a girl. Sasha came out as trans when he was a freshman in high school and began the transition to male.

"im the third trans person to ever be on the show, & im so stoked to represent the trans community on such a huge platform," Sasha said in an Instagram post.

Next: Find Out Who Went Home and Who Made the Top 10 on The Voice Season 21