Filipino singer Sofronio Vasquez has made the Asian community, especially Pinoys, proud when he won the latest edition of The Voice USA. This big win makes him the first Filipino and Asian to ever win the title.

Before the grand finale, the Pinoy singer opened up about the most challenging part of the international singing competition.

“The hardest thing that I did with this journey is being away from my family. Being in the Philippines is really weird because we have a different scene of music there… they are not looking for the big belters here,” Sofronio said in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE last Monday, December 9.

Sofronio said that he noticed early in the competition that the audience was looking for “soul” in the contestants and realized that it’s something that he needed to overcome.

“And I overcame. I think I was just like, ‘Come on, Sofronio, settle in. You have your voice, you have your heart. Just sing it,’” he said.

Even though it was hard for him to be away from his family, he considers The Voice family the most beautiful part of of this whole experience. Win or lose, the Pinoy singer said that he would “go back to the hotel and just celebrate.”

“We’re just going to celebrate that this was a very, very good run for The Voice and we really felt that we are loved by the production and no one is superior… we are all loved,” Sofronio said.