Connor Closs stepped onto The Voice stage with a love song and a deeply personal reason for singing it. But behind his heartfelt performance of *NSYNC’s “This I Promise You” lies another remarkable story: the 23-year-old New Jersey singer who is now competing among the show’s strongest voices did not even begin singing seriously until his junior year of high school.
For someone now receiving extraordinary praise from Adam Levine, that is a surprisingly late start. While many aspiring performers spend their childhoods training, entering competitions, and preparing for a musical career, Connor originally devoted his attention to basketball and track. Music was not always the obvious direction for his future, making his arrival in the Top 10 of The Voice Season 30 particularly fascinating.
His November 9 performance during the first Live Show offered viewers a glimpse of how far that journey has taken him. With the competition celebrating Y2K Night, Connor selected the 2000 *NSYNC ballad “This I Promise You,” a song associated with romantic devotion and emotional sincerity. His decision carried an especially personal meaning because he dedicated the performance to his fiancée following their recent engagement.
That dedication gave the song a connection to Connor’s own life. Rather than simply choosing a familiar hit from the early 2000s, he had an opportunity to express something meaningful through music. For a contestant whose appeal increasingly rests on his vocal tone and understated delivery, the selection provided a fitting showcase.
It also highlighted an interesting contrast in his musical journey. Connor has spent years developing the confidence to entertain audiences in different settings, yet this particular performance was rooted in a private milestone. The same singer who has performed in clubs, at weddings, and aboard a cruise ship was now using a nationally televised stage to celebrate his own relationship.
The story becomes even more compelling when considering where his performing career began.
Growing up in Middletown, New Jersey, Connor initially pursued athletics rather than the performing arts. Basketball and track occupied his attention during his earlier high school years. It was only when he reached his junior year that singing became a serious part of his life.
That change eventually led him to study musical theater at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. The move from high school athletics to formal performance training marked a significant shift in direction, opening the door to opportunities that would help shape his musical identity.
Musical theater can demand considerably more than a strong singing voice. Performers must learn to communicate emotion, understand the meaning behind lyrics, work within different musical arrangements, and connect with an audience. Those skills are especially relevant to a competition like The Voice, where a memorable performance often depends on the relationship between technical ability and emotional expression.
Connor continued gaining professional experience through the 2023 Hits The Musical Tour, which travelled to 48 cities across the United States. Touring offered an entirely different kind of musical education, requiring consistency and adaptability across repeated performances in changing venues.
He also became a lead vocalist for The Cliffs, a Jersey Shore cover band performing music spanning the 1960s through contemporary hits. That wide-ranging repertoire meant working with songs from different generations, vocal styles, and musical traditions.
It is a background that helps explain why a classic boy-band ballad might suit him so naturally. Although performing an *NSYNC song on The Voice presents different pressures from singing with a local cover band, Connor has already spent considerable time interpreting music originally made famous by other artists.
His professional experience has extended beyond traditional concert settings. He has performed at weddings, clubs, and aboard the Coral Princess cruise line, environments that each require different approaches to entertaining an audience.
Wedding performances, in particular, frequently involve songs carrying significant personal meaning for the people listening. Connor’s dedication to his fiancée during Y2K Night brought a similar emotional connection into a much larger setting.
Yet his experience was not limited to live venues before The Voice.
Connor had already begun attracting attention online through TikTok, where a cover of Sienna Spiro’s “A Visitor” accumulated more than 750,000 views. That milestone demonstrated his ability to reach listeners beyond the audiences attending his performances in person.
Social media success and television competition success are not interchangeable, however. A popular online cover can introduce an artist to thousands of listeners, while The Voice requires contestants to deliver under pressure, respond to coaching, and maintain consistency through multiple competitive rounds.
Connor has already faced some of those challenges.
During the Battles, he competed against Cal Cook with a performance of Sombr’s “Homewrecker.” Connor emerged victorious, continuing his journey under Adam Levine’s guidance. The performance also prompted praise from Kelly Clarkson, who highlighted his vocal runs and described his tone as “ear candy.”
Levine was already recognising something distinctive about Connor at that stage, describing him as “sneakily one of my best.” The comment suggested that his coach valued qualities that might not always attract the most immediate attention in a competition filled with powerful voices.
That assessment became particularly relevant during the November 9 Live Show.
After Connor performed his dedication to his fiancée, Levine praised his rich vocal tone and his ability to sing across different registers without relying on excessive vocal force. He called Connor a superstar and once again identified him as one of the competition’s strongest singers.
The recurring praise points to a potentially important advantage. Connor does not necessarily need to approach every song as an opportunity to demonstrate maximum volume or the most elaborate vocal runs. His coach appears to value the distinctive character of his voice and the control behind his performances.
That distinction matters because The Voice brings together singers with very different strengths. Some contestants make their strongest impression through dramatic high notes, others through unusual arrangements, stage presence, or powerful storytelling. Connor’s emerging identity appears to centre on warmth, musicality, and a delivery that allows the song itself to remain important.
His advancement to the Top 10 confirms that his journey is continuing, although it does not establish how far he will ultimately progress. The next challenge will be showing that his strengths can translate across different songs and increasingly demanding stages of the competition.
There is also an intriguing personal dimension to his growing visibility. A young man who once concentrated on sports has now built a professional performing background, attracted hundreds of thousands of views online, and reached a major national singing competition. His engagement adds another milestone to a period already filled with significant changes.
In my view, the most interesting aspect of Connor’s story is not simply that he received praise from a famous coach. It is how his relatively late introduction to singing developed into a career built through formal training, touring, live entertainment, and now national television.
His romantic dedication during Y2K Night offered a memorable moment, but the years of work behind that performance make the story much richer. Whether he eventually wins Season 30 remains an open question. What is already clear is that his path to The Voice has been anything but conventional.
Could Connor’s natural tone and emotional connection with his songs take him all the way to the finale, or will the competition eventually favour singers with a more explosive performance style? And after hearing his dedication to his fiancée, which song would you most like to hear him perform next?
