Whatever your age, you most likely put your fist in the air in anticipation of rocking out when you hear the opening notes to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” And while lead singer Steve Perry’s incredible voice is nearly impossible to replicate, we’re all happy to try (and mostly fail).

So when 8-year-old Nathan Bautista walked out onto the stage for the blind audition of the very first season of The Voice Kids Philippines and those opening notes played, the judges were already poised to rock out.

More than 10,000 kids auditioned for the first season of the show but only 100 made it to the blind auditions.

At this point, when contestants walk out, the judges are seated with their backs to the stage. Only if they’re interested in personally mentoring a singer through the following rounds do they push a button and get to view the contestant.

It only took 3 seconds for all three judges to slam their buttons and turn around to see Bautista once he began singing.

Backstage, his family went from nervous to elated.

As the judges looked on, the 8-year-old sang some decidedly unchildish lyrics, much to everyone’s amusement (does he really know “the smell of wine and cheap perfume”?)

Judges Lea Salonga and Bamboo Mañalac are already out of their seats well before the chorus.

What can we say, there’s just something irresistible about a Journey song!

As Bautista hits that first big note, the auditorium erupts.

The judges look ready to hand over the final prize to him already. They’re singing along, dancing, and cheering the boy on.

Ok, let’s face it, he does miss a few great opportunities to hit more high notes, but he is only 8-years-old and Steve Perry even admitted that he needs to work hard to keep his voice in shape.

After his performance, Bautista got a standing ovation and even legendary Broadway star Lea Salonga couldn’t help but run on stage to congratulate him.

Since the 2014 performance, Bautista’s audition has been viewed over 17.6 million times.

And while he easily made it to the next round, he was eliminated in the sing-offs.

Prior to his audition, the talented tike won the 2013 Promil i-Shine Talent Camp Grand Singing Champion, so this wasn’t his first major performance.

Bautista credits his dad with his love of classic rock.

But according to his YouTube page, his roots are in gospel and he started humming along to music before he was even a year old!

“Before he turned One-year-old Nathan’s vocabulary was already rich with words from the gospel, picked up from the first songs he heard in church. Since the day he learned his first song, music has filled his heart and home.”

“Don’t Stop Believin'” appears to be his claim to fame and he’s recorded multiple music videos for the song since his audition.

Bautista continues to sing in venues around The Philippines and post videos to YouTube. His voice is maturing quickly and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for this mini singing sensation!

Be sure to scroll down to see his original audition on The Voice Kids Philippines.

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Source: The Voice Kids Philippines via YouTube, Nathan Bautista The Voice Kids Philippines via Facebook