PODCAST | Yung Milla on winning The Voice Australia 2026 on Channel 7 – Aaron Ryan speaks with the history-making Darwin rapper about culture, family, community and what must remain unchanged as the music industry comes calling.
Yung Milla, whose name is Levi Nichaloff, became the first rapper to win the Australian series after a season of performances built around lived experience and connection to home. The proud Marranunggu artist won $100,000 and an all-inclusive recording and development package.
In this exclusive TV Central: One on One interview, Yung Milla goes beyond the usual winner questions. He explains where his stage name came from, why his brother J-MILLA had to share his first national moment and how he decides which painful experiences are ready to become lyrics.
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What’s in the podcast?
The conversation begins with the people who came into Yung Milla’s mind when Sonia Kruger announced that he had won The Voice Australia 2026. He remembers family members who had passed away, the people who continued to believe in him and the community he wanted to make proud.
Aaron then asks how Levi Nichaloff became Yung Milla and what the stage name allows him to express. The answer connects his mother, Kylie Miller, with his older brother J-MILLA and reveals why music gives him the confidence to tell stories that can be difficult to say aloud.
Topics discussed
- The family members and community Yung Milla thought about when he won
- How Levi Nichaloff became Yung Milla
- Why he performed J-MILLA’s All My Life at his Blind Audition
- The pressure of proving that rap belongs on The Voice
- Reimagining Men at Work’s Down Under without losing the original song
- Deciding which personal experiences can become lyrics and which remain private
- Competing against The 60Four in the Grand Finale
- Protecting his integrity, morals and connection to home
- What would make the win meaningful beyond his own career
Episode chapters
- 00:00 – Introduction and Yung Milla’s road to victory
- 01:45 – Who came to mind when his name was called
- 02:35 – The story behind the name Yung Milla
- 03:52 – Sharing his Blind Audition with J-MILLA
- 04:50 – Why rap belongs on The Voice
- 05:50 – Rebuilding Down Under around culture and home
- 07:01 – The cheeky question about competing against The 60Four
- 07:44 – The personal lyrics he was not ready to share
- 09:06 – Integrity, the industry and making a wider difference
- 10:25 – Final reflections
“Wherever I go, my people come with me”
For Yung Milla, the victory was immediately bigger than an individual television result. Before the confetti and interviews, he thought about family members who were no longer there to celebrate with him.
“There’s a lot of people that have passed away in my family who still had hope in me,” he tells TV Central. “I just know I did them proud.” His thoughts then extended to everybody around him and to his wider community.
That same responsibility shaped his four-chair Blind Audition. Although the team encouraged him to perform one of his own songs, he chose All My Life, written by his older brother J-MILLA. His brother had introduced him to the music industry, so Yung Milla believed it was only right that they shared the opportunity.
“When I get my big-chance moment, he can have a moment as well,” he says. “Wherever I go, my people come with me. This isn’t just about me. This is about all my people.”
Read TV Central’s recap of Yung Milla’s four-chair Blind Audition.
How Levi Nichaloff became Yung Milla
The stage name carries two family connections. “Milla” comes from his mother Kylie Miller’s maiden name, with the final letters changed from “er” to “a”. His older brother performs as J-MILLA, making Levi the “young Milla”.
The distinction between Levi and Yung Milla is not about creating a false persona. Instead, it gives him the confidence to step onto a stage and tell personal stories that Levi might otherwise find difficult to share.
“Having Yung Milla makes it so much easier because I know me speaking my story is going to be helping one person out there,” he explains.
Follow Yung Milla on Instagram.
Why rap belongs on The Voice Australia
Yung Milla admits that he felt like the odd one out in a competition traditionally associated with large vocal performances. That created pressure, but it also sharpened his reason for entering.
“It’s called The Voice, and rapping is a voice. Singing is a voice. Speaking is a voice,” he says. “I used my voice to empower my people.”
He did not enter simply to show off his ability. He saw the Channel 7 stage as a national platform for a story and perspective that deserved to be heard. Coach Melanie C supported that approach throughout the season and encouraged him to remember why he was there.
Reimagining Down Under
One of the defining performances of the season was Yung Milla’s reworking of Men at Work’s Down Under. The arrangement kept the familiar chorus while adding yidaki, a choir and new verses drawn from his upbringing, culture and community.
Keeping the chorus was a deliberate way of preserving “the original beauty of the song”. The new material then made the Australian classic unmistakably his.
“I’m not just speaking about myself. I’m speaking about everybody back home,” he says. He also wanted the performance to reach people elsewhere who had experienced similar struggles.
Read how Yung Milla turned Down Under into a personal tribute during the semi-final.
The lyrics Yung Milla was not ready to share
The podcast also explores the boundary between truthful songwriting and a public belief that an artist owes an audience every detail of their life. Yung Milla says he writes when thoughts arrive naturally, but he will remove a line if sharing it does not feel right.
That happened while he was preparing Down Under. He initially wrote lyrics that went deeper into his personal experience, then decided he was not ready to say those words publicly.
“I thought, ‘I can’t say that yet. I’m just not ready for it,’” he says. As his journey continues and his confidence grows, he believes more of those stories may emerge in time.
What the industry cannot change
Winning brings prize money, a recording package and a much larger audience. However, Yung Milla is clear about what he will not allow the industry to polish away.
“My integrity, my morals, the things that I stand for,” he says. “Everything I’ve been through has made who I am today.”
He intends to remember who he is, where he comes from, what he does and who he does it for. A year from now, he will judge the wider value of the win by whether he has connected with more people and taken his message to broader audiences around the world.
Watch Yung Milla’s The Voice Australia journey
These performances trace the path discussed in the podcast, from the four-chair Blind Audition to the Grand Finale.
All My Life – Blind Audition
Pray For Me – Quarter Final
Down Under – Semi Final
Changes – Grand Finale
Watch the winner announcement
Yung Milla defeated Daisha Auda, Tommy Novak and The 60Four after the Australian public voted in the Grand Finale.
Read TV Central’s complete report on Yung Milla winning The Voice Australia 2026.
Edited podcast transcript
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity, spelling and length. Pre-interview setup and the private conversation after the recorded outro have been removed.
Introduction
Aaron Ryan: Hello, gorgeous people, and welcome to another TV Central: One on One podcast. I’m Aaron Ryan.
Australia has chosen its winner of The Voice Australia 2026, and for the first time in the history of the Australian series, the winner is a rapper.
Yung Milla, Levi Nichaloff, is a proud Marranunggu man from Darwin whose music is grounded in culture, family, community and lived experience. Away from the stage, he has worked in support and mentoring roles with young people, so using his voice to help others did not begin when the television cameras arrived.
His journey on The Voice began with a four-chair turn for All My Life, an original song by his brother J-MILLA. He chose Melanie C as his coach and remained on her team throughout the competition, taking on Gangsta’s Paradise, Pray For Me and a remarkable reimagining of Men at Work’s Down Under.
He then performed Tupac’s Changes in the Grand Finale and joined Mel for Never Be the Same Again. Australia’s vote has now delivered him the title, $100,000 and an all-inclusive recording and development package.
His first reaction was disbelief and gratitude, but one line captured the bigger purpose behind the win: “I’m doing it for my people.” He will be asked how he feels many times today, so I want to go a little further into the name, the choices behind the performances, the responsibility of representing home and what must remain unchanged when the industry suddenly starts paying attention.
Yung Milla, congratulations and welcome to TV Central.
Yung Milla: Thank you, mate. Thank you for having me. That was a great introduction.
Who came to mind when Yung Milla won?
Aaron Ryan: Your first words after winning were about gratitude, and you said, “I’m doing it for my people.” In the instant your name was called, before the confetti and the interviews, who came into your mind first and what did you feel you had to prove to them?
Yung Milla: The first people were all my family who passed away, the people who aren’t here today to celebrate with me. There are a lot of people who have passed away in my family who still had hope in me. I just know I did them proud. They were the first people who came to my head, and then it was everybody who was around me. It extended to my community. There was so much going through my head.
The meaning behind the name Yung Milla
Aaron Ryan: A lot of Australia has met Yung Milla, but the person underneath the stage name is Levi Nichaloff. Where did the name Yung Milla come from, and what can you express as Yung Milla that Levi might find harder to say out loud?
Yung Milla: Yung Milla comes from my older brother. His name is J-MILLA, and “Milla” comes from my mum’s side. My mum’s name is Kylie Miller, but we have taken the “er” out and turned it into an “a”, so it is M-I-L-L-A. My older brother is J-MILLA, so I called myself the young Milla.
I think it gives me confidence and the ability to step onto a stage and talk about my personal stories — things that Levi can’t. It is not me putting on a persona or a certain attitude. It is a role that I have taken on. Having Yung Milla makes it so much easier because I know me speaking my story is going to help one person out there.
Why J-MILLA shared the Blind Audition
Aaron Ryan: For the Blind Audition, you chose All My Life, a song by your brother J-MILLA, and then brought him onto the stage. In a competition designed to introduce you as an individual artist, why was it important that your first national moment also made room for your brother and your family?
Yung Milla: Morally, you always give back to the people who helped you. My brother brought me up in the music industry. Without him, I wouldn’t be here. It was only right that when I got my big-chance moment, he could have a moment as well. That is why I chose his song.
I could have done one of my songs. The team actually pushed me to do one of my songs, but it only felt right to do one of my brother’s songs. Wherever I go, my people come with me. That is the perfect example. I brought my brother up with me because this isn’t just about me. This is about all my people.
Proving rap belongs on The Voice
Aaron Ryan: Melanie C said your win changed what The Voice can mean because it is not only about being the biggest singer; it is about having a voice and using it powerfully. During the competition, did you feel pressure to prove that rap belonged on the stage, or did you shut that thought out and simply tell the story?
Yung Milla: It was definitely weird. I was the odd one out, 100 per cent, and I did feel pressure. It is The Voice — a rapper shouldn’t be on there. But it is far more than that. It is called The Voice, and rapping is a voice. Singing is a voice. Speaking is a voice. I used my voice to empower my people.
I didn’t just go up there to showboat. This is actually a big change. This is something I do for my people. What other platform should I speak and rap on than The Voice?
Making Down Under his own
Aaron Ryan: You have a gift for taking a song people think they already know and making them hear it differently. Down Under became a story of culture, resilience and home, while Changes carried everything you stand for. When you rebuild a familiar song, how do you respect the original while making it unmistakably yours?
Yung Milla: That was hard as well. That is why we kept the chorus in there, to make sure we didn’t forget the original beauty of the song. I definitely wanted to put my story and my taste on there because I am not just speaking about myself. I am speaking about everybody back home, and everybody who has gone through similar struggles.
Down Under is an Aussie classic. For them to believe in me and let me put my twist on it, I feel so grateful for that.
Competing against The 60Four
Aaron Ryan: I have to ask a cheeky question. The show is called The Voice, singular, yet one of your Grand Final rivals, The 60Four, arrived with four voices. Did that ever feel like they had brought extra players onto the field? Did competing against a polished group sharpen your sense of what only Yung Milla could offer?
Yung Milla: Not really. I just accepted it. Everything is meant to be and everything is meant to happen. People could look at me and say, “He’s a rapper,” so I wasn’t too fussed about it.
What remains private
Aaron Ryan: Your music draws on difficult personal experience, but you have never owed the public every detail of your life. How do you decide which part of a painful experience is ready to become a lyric and which part still belongs only to Levi, his family and his community?
Yung Milla: It is when I am in the moment. It depends where I am. Lyrics can come into my head whenever and wherever I am. I can have things running through my mind right now, but when I am ready to talk about certain things, they will come out naturally.
If I feel off about certain things I say, I will take them out. It has happened a lot of times. I have gone very deep in certain lyrics and taken them out because it was a bit too much. I did that with the Down Under remix for The Voice. I wrote some deep lyrics and thought, “I can’t say that yet. I’m just not ready for it.”
As the journey continues, and as I get stronger and more confident, I will come out with more things.
Integrity, home and making the win matter
Aaron Ryan: You were mentoring young people before becoming the first rapper to win The Voice Australia. Now there is prize money, a recording package and a much larger audience. What is the one part of yourself you refuse to let the industry polish away? A year from now, how will you know that this win has made a difference beyond your own career?
Yung Milla: My integrity, my morals and the things that I stand for. I won’t let that be stripped away because everything I have been through has made me who I am today — the struggles, the hard times, the good times and my home.
I will never forget who I am, where I am from, what I do and who I do it for. That is what I will always stand on and always remember.
I think making a difference means connecting with more people, connecting with other audiences and connecting with people around the world — just reaching a broader audience.
Outro
Aaron Ryan: Yung Milla, thank you so much for your time today. You did more than win a television competition. You showed that rap, culture and lived experience can stand at the centre of one of Australia’s biggest entertainment stages without being translated into something safer or more familiar.
Congratulations on the win. I cannot wait to see what you build from here. Yung Milla, thank you for joining me at TV Central.
Yung Milla: Thank you, brother. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Aaron Ryan: That was Yung Milla, the winner of The Voice Australia 2026 and the first rapper to win the Australian series. You can watch his journey on The Voice Australia on 7plus.
That is it for another TV Central: One on One podcast. For all the latest television news, streaming information, ratings, cinema reviews and podcasts, head to TVCentral.com.au.
For now, I’m Aaron Ryan. Thanks to the epic Yung Milla. Bye for now.
TV Central: One on One Podcast
Season 2026, Episode 10
Watch Yung Milla’s journey on 7plus. For more Channel 7 coverage, visit TV Central’s Channel 7 section and browse the latest stories through the The Voice Australia hub.
For more podcasts from TV Central, visit the TV Central podcast section.