A rapper and singer from Welling will star on the reality competition show The Voice on ITV this Saturday – and she says she’s “doing it for Welling”.
Hatice Tuzun was scouted to be on The Voice around one year ago after having found her musical identity and growth in confidence after leaving university.
The 25-year-old studied music at the University of Westminster and has loved music ever since she was little – seeing it as a “form of expression”.
Hatice, whose artist name is Redrum, says she thinks she has brought a “kind of authenticity to the show that she will cherish forever”.
The Voice UK returned to screens on October 8 with a brand-new set of contestants hoping to wow the celebrity judges Anne-Marie, Tom Jones, Olly Murs, and will.i.am.
Hatice told the News Shopper: “I'd love Welling to support me because I'm doing it for my area.
“I want to be known for making a change in music, living in Welling and helping people realise that they can follow their dreams.
“I grew up at my nan's house in Lodge Hill and then I moved to Lower Belvedere where I lived on an estate.
“That's where I met my best friend and we used to do videos on our Nokia phones pretending that we were superstars – she would rap and I would sing.”
Hatice said filming for The Voice “is not an overnight thing” and you have to go through five or six producer auditions to “prove yourself as an artist” before doing the blind auditions that you see on TV.
The episodes are filmed in advance and are not shown to anyone, with the results are kept secret.
The singer begins their audition with the coaches turned away in their chairs and if the judge likes what they hear, they hit a button to spin around and reveal the face behind the voice.
Hatice said: “I remember me and my dad watching The Voice and he said ‘I'd love to see you up there’.
“I said ‘I'm not doing that, I’d get rejected’ but another year went by, and I found myself on there.
“My family couldn’t believe it, and neither could I."
The producers asked her to pick a song for the first blind audition, but they also put forward a couple of different ideas of their own.
Hatice said that she absolutely loved one of the songs they suggested and listened to it all the time – and although she can’t say what it is, she says that everyone will know it.
Hatice explained that the song choice gave her the chance to both show off her singing and rapping skills and that she was even able to write her own rap verse for the performance.
She said: “I was so excited but I was also so nervous, and when I'm nervous, my true personality comes out.
“I do a couple of weird things on stage and it gets the crowd going.
“I also got a bit emotional because being on that stage was so special for me.
“So many people have told me that I would never make it, or I couldn't do it.
“I'm a quite positive and confident person but when it comes to the music, I don't want to be dubbed like that.
“The crowd was amazing and the support that I've got from the judges I'll cherish forever.
“I think I bought a kind of authenticity to the show and hopefully, it opens doors for me and shows people that they can do what I do.”
Hatice said that people will “not miss her on stage” as she chose a very unique outfit for the audition which she bought from a charity shop in Welling.
She said: “I saw this bright green suit and I was like, ‘oh my god - I love that’ “It was brand new from Pretty Little Thing and I bought it for £8.
“I took it to the table and the lady was like, ‘oh, you're so spunky, that's gonna suit you so much. You look like singer.’ “And I was like well I am a singer, and I might be on TV one day.
“She said she’ll keep an eye out for the suit and now, I’m on TV.”
Hatice’s own music can be quite political, often taking inspiration from her own life experiences.
She said: “When I was younger in Belvedere I was kind of observing things that were going on around me and I saw so much poverty, people on drugs, and I saw people that wanted to make it but they just didn't believe in themselves.
“This was so many years ago, and why do we still have it happening now “I moved back to Welling when I was around 13 and I have been here since.
“I love this area, like don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it, but there are a lot of lost souls and I think that the reason why they're lost is because the government and the system doesn't support them the way that they should.
“There's so much racism going about, there's poverty, there are people on the streets, and there's money that's just being thrown.
“All this anger that I feel I put into my music – music really speaks.”
Many of Hatice’s music videos are filmed on an iPhone in various locations around Welling, including one which was recently filmed at a Turkish restaurant named the Barn on Bellegrove Road.
Hatice, who is also half Turkish, says she loves the place and is grateful for their support.
Alongside her music, Hatice currently works as a compliance officer for a recruitment company in central London but was unemployed during filming for The Voice.
You can watch Hatice perform on The Voice on ITV on Saturday at 8pm.
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