Northern Territory hip hop artist Yung Milla has been crowned the winner of The Voice Australia 2026, claiming a $100,000 cash prize and a full recording and development package after audience votes were tallied from across the country. The 23-year-old Marranunggu man from Palmerston — known to his family as Levi Nichaloff — capped off two months of national television exposure with a victory celebrated by hundreds of fans at a community watch party in his home city on Sunday night.
From Palmerston to a National Stage
Yung Milla's journey on the show began in August when he stepped onto The Voice stage for the first time, performing a song written by his brother and fellow artist J-Milla. His audition placed him in front of a judging panel that included Spice Girls' Melanie C, Ronan Keating, Richard Marx and Kate Miller-Heidke.
The performance was striking not only for his rap skill but for the raw honesty of its lyrics, which drew directly from his own upbringing:
"DV [domestic violence], crime scenes, and drug dealing / Seeing my eyes, I'm traumatised from blood spilling."
Yung Milla went on to reach the grand final alongside three other contestants, before ultimately taking out the title on the strength of the national public vote.
A Win Built on Community Support
Speaking after his victory, Yung Milla was emphatic that the win belonged as much to his community as to himself. "If it wasn't for my people I wouldn't have won it, it was all their votes," he said, adding that he felt "so grateful right now" — not just for the result, but for the support he had received throughout the competition.
That community rallied visibly on finals night. A grand final watch party held in Palmerston drew hundreds of locals who had followed his progress since his debut episode, making it a collective Top End celebration.
A Story Shaped by Hardship — and His Mother
Throughout the competition, Yung Milla spoke candidly about growing up in what he called a "rough household", marked by domestic violence, alcohol and drugs. In the semifinal episode he described the lasting impact on him as a child: "My dad would hurt my mum and, you know, having to lie to my school about bruises on my mum's face, cuts — that destroys a kid's world, especially when you're a young boy."
He has repeatedly credited his mother with steering him toward a better path. "My mother was the main rock of my family and showed me the right way," he said. Both he and his brother J-Milla adopted their mother's maiden name — Miller — as part of their stage names, a quiet but deliberate tribute to her influence.
His mother has spoken publicly about her own experiences, acknowledging that domestic violence is "harder to get out of than it really seems" and that as a single mother of four there were many difficult years, including time spent in housing commission. The family's story reflects a broader reality: the Northern Territory continues to record the highest rates of domestic and family violence in Australia.
What Yung Milla Plans to Do Next
Beyond the recording deal and prize money, Yung Milla has made clear he intends to give something back to the community that raised him. He plans to use part of his $100,000 winnings to build a music studio in Darwin that local kids can access — turning his own "once-in-a-lifetime moment", as he described the experience, into an opportunity for the next generation of Territory artists.
The win marks a significant moment for Northern Territory music and for the representation of Indigenous and regional Australian voices on mainstream national television.
