Entertainment

Mia Z Was Amazing Before 'The Voice' Too

If there's frontrunner for this current season of NBC's The Voice , it's certainly Mia Z. The 16-year-old has an incredibly powerful and memorable voice that knocks the socks off the coaches — and viewers — each week. And the young singer from Pittsburgh — her full name is Mia Zanotti — has been singing long before The Voice and Mia Z even has performances on her YouTube channel. Last week, Mia Z advanced to the live shows in the first-ever three-way knockout round (due to another singer withdrawing from the competition) as a member of Pharrell William's team. Can she go all the way? If her pre-The Voice performances indicate anything, it's that Mia Z is the real deal.

"Human beings don't have the ability to sing as high as you can. It's like dolphin language," The Voice coach Adam Levine remarked after her performance of Sam and Dave's 1966 hit "Hold On, I'm Comin'." But Mia Z hit all the high notes and then some. The high school sophomore watched the episode with her family and friends back home in Pennsylvania and hadn't seen the performance until Monday night — and she very much approved of the job she did. But the young singer still has a level head about it all and highly respects her fellow singers on the show. "You can't think of it as a competition," Mia told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "Just the way I was raised, you respect other people's music, their art, who they are."

So we've all seen Mia Z hit those high notes on The Voice, but here are three performances from her on YouTube that show she really could be the new champion:

"Someone Like You" and "Set Fire To The Rain"

It's pretty hard to top Adele and cover her songs, but Mia Z attempted — and succeeded — in the Summer of 2012. She performed the British singer's two hits "Someone Like You" and "Set Fire to the Rain" in her hometown's Hyde Park. Accompanied by a band, Mia Z literally knocks it out of the park filled with hula hoopers, parents, and kids.

"You Will Never Change"

Mia Z takes to the piano for this 2013 video of her playing and singing a somber tune called "You Will Never Change." She delivers a gorgeous song that is filled with emotion and really beautiful piano-playing as a bonus. "I know that you will never change / because you'll always think the same," she sings. At the end, Mia Z smiles and nods at the camera, knowing that she just charmed YouTube.

Mia Z on TV Before The Voice

The NBC singing series isn't her first taste of television. At age 14, Mia Z was featured on a her hometown's local show called Dirty Dog Music TV. The host interviews her before Mia Z takes the stage with a band at the he Academy Theater in Meadville, Penn., and belts a whole concert filled with her bluesy tunes.

Image: Tyler Golden/NBC