Chris Lanzon, 15, and his teenage band have moved to the next stage of Australia’s X Factor show after receiving a standing ovation during the auditions.
His band In Stereo played an adaptation of Taylor Swift’s Style and got nods from the four judges. The group now goes through the next part of the competition known as boot camp.
Just a year ago, Chris, whose parents are Maltese, made it to the finals of the Australian talent show The Voice Kids as one of six children chosen out of 8,000 who had auditioned.
His mother, Ingrid, said the experience last year had been very positive. Apart from winning a trip to California for his family, he also made good friends with one of the other contestants, Ethan Karpathy, aged 14. Together with a third singer, Jakob Delgado, also 14, they formed the band In Stereo.
The boys have been singing and shooting music videos since the beginning of the year, and established a strong online following before the new X Factor series aired on Sunday.
In an article published after the show kicked off on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph asked whether In Stereo were the new One Direction, the English-Irish pop boy band that shot to fame especially among female teenagers.
“Once we formed our band In Stereo, we decided that X Factor would be the perfect platform to launch ourselves and gain a bigger audience,” Chris told the Times of Malta.
The audition for X Factor was the band’s first public appearance and the judges and audience loved them.
Chris is passionate about his music and it’s good to see him doing something that he enjoys so much
“Now we’re off to boot camp, the next phase of the competition. We can’t wait,” Chris said.
Asked whether they thought Chris would make it so far, his parents said they were pleasantly surprised.
His father, Peter Lanzon, moved to Australia from Malta when he was seven, and his mother, Ingrid German, emigrated 20 years ago.
“Chris is passionate about his music and it’s good to see him doing something that he enjoys so much,” they said.
His parents added that their son was also interested in sound production and video production; he usually edits his own music videos and most of the In Stereo ones.
Chris enjoys all the preparation behind the scenes that goes into making a television show, they said. “Of course, being so young has its challenges for us because he needs us to take him to and from venues. One of us also needs to be with him as his guardian while he is on the show. Another challenge is making sure he keeps up with his schoolwork,” they added.
Follow In Stereo on Instagram (@weareinstereo)
Another Maltese contestant, Fr Robert Galea has also made it through the auditions.