Kiwi pop singer Cassie Henderson is through to the grand finale of The Voice Australia.
On Sunday night, in Australia, the Aotearoa Music Award winner will fight for the $100,000 cash prize in the first-ever all-female finale.
Despite making it to the quarter-finals of X-Factor New Zealand when she was just 14, releasing two EPs, headlining Christmas in the Park and winning Best Pop Act at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards, the now 26-year-old says seeing herself perform on the TV screen still doesn’t feel real.
“It’s kind of ... Hannah Montana because I watch myself on TV and it sometimes feels like a different person. Then I go live my life and keep building what I’ve been building for a couple of years, and it’s all very strange and crazy,” she tells The Herald.
It’s been a wild ride for the Christchurch-born star, who began her Voice journey last year with early conversations and auditions, which the singer had to keep secret from family and friends.
Fast-forward to August 2025, and the singer’s blind audition - where judges’ backs are turned - resulted in the full panel of judges - Kate Miller-Heidke, Ronan Keating, Richard Marx, and Melanie C - turning their chairs and trying to recruit her for their teams.
The clip of Henderson singing Chappell Roan’s Good Luck Babe in that audition gained nearly 2 million views on Instagram, 1.3 million on TikTok and 300K views on YouTube.
The performance also earned her the pick of the judges to be her coach. Henderson selected Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm, best known as Sporty Spice, to team up with.
Henderson says working with the music icon has been a life-changing experience. She says the two formed an instant bond and Chisholm is “very, very down to earth”.
“I never anticipated being this close to someone who has had such success, but has also been through such a remarkable journey. The bond that we had built, you can definitely see it on screen, so it’s really been really cool,” Henderson says.
And she will be living every millennial’s dream during the finale, when she gets the chance to perform a duet with Chisholm, which she describes as a dream come true.
She will also perform two other songs, one which she thinks Kiwi fans in particular will get a kick out of.
So close to the grand prize, Henderson admits she’s extremely nervous, because unlike the rest of the episodes, which were filmed ahead of time, when this one airs, she will find out the outcome live on stage. And it all comes down to a public vote.
New Zealanders are unable to vote in The Voice Australia, so Henderson has been forced to ask Kiwi fans to ask their Aussie pals to cast a vote her way by texting CASSIE to 0417 779 677.
“Unfortunately for Kiwis, we have to sit on the sidelines a bit. Same with my family; my parents are desperate to do stuff. My advice is to absolutely spam any Australian resident that you have in your contact book and say ‘This is my Kiwi friend Cassie competing in the show and she needs your help’.”
One of her loyal pals was even down on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, drumming up support by shoulder-tapping people to vote.
So what would it mean for the young star if she was the one who woke up with the $100,000 cash prize in her bank account and an all-inclusive recording development package?
“I mean, that’s the $100,000 question, isn’t it?” the grand finalist says with a laugh.
“When I entered the show, I wanted to really challenge myself, and I wanted to see if I could step up to a plate this big, and I never anticipated making it this far - that was never on the cards.”
But if she does walk away with the win, she will be the first Kiwi to do it.
“So there’s a lot, a lot riding on it, and honestly, I think I would be smiling for the rest of my life and my parents would be incredibly proud of me, which will top it off,” she says.
No matter the outcome, Henderson’s mission remains the same: “Make music, work hard, find people that like it and do my very best to make that the rest of my life.”
“The only thing that I want out of this is a connection with people who feel connected to me or my music, and I just hope that we can keep doing that together for however many years that they want to be here.
“I am proud of what I was able to accomplish in my time on The Voice, and I love all of the other finalists. It’s going to be a great outcome anyway it goes, and I’ll wake up the next day anyway and keep trying.”