‘America’s Got Talent’: Fans slam judges for putting seasoned singer Chris Klafford and Charlotte Summers in the same league
The quarterfinal round of ‘’America’s Got Talent’ has fans fuming over the judges’ feedback. On the episode that aired on August 20, we saw thirteen-year-old Charlotte Summers opening the episode by crooning a sultry James Bond track ‘Diamonds are Forever’. While this teenager’s vocals had the entire audience spellbound and awestruck by her power-packed performance, the judges didn’t feel the same.
In fact, the judges focussed on her song choice rather than her performance and critiqued it extremely harshly. In fact, Simon repeated the word “terrible” thrice in his feedback for Charlotte’s song selection. The other judges felt that her choice of song was better suited for someone older than her and that her personality didn’t shine through in her performance. Poor Charlotte broke into tears after receiving such harsh feedback.
In the same episode, Swedish singer Chris Klafford had the judges divided with a soulful rendition of his original piece “Singing Hallelujah”. While Howie couldn’t look beyond the singer’s flowing tresses, Julianne and Gabi found his performance very moving and loved it to bits. Simon however “didn’t feel the emotional connection”.
The audience could save one of their favorite performers from the evening, and they chose Chris. Several fans felt that it was unfair that Chris was even allowed to be on the competition let alone receiving the votes. In case you didn’t know Chris won season 13 of ‘Swedish Idol’ in 2017. He tasted success with over three top-five singles on the national radio and a record 35 million streams of his songs. So him being on the same platform as amateur Charlotte Summers or any other performers in the competition feels a bit biased, considering the amount of exposure and experience Chris has in the music industry.
Fans too took to Twitter to express their discontentment with the audience votes and Chris’s presence on the show. A fan wrote, “@AGT should not have @ChrisKlafford in #AGTSemiFinals #agt #AGT. He already has a record, big shows, @gibsonguitar that’s totally unfair. He’s a great musician but just check out his @instagram than you’ll wonder how he got in #AmericasGotTalent #hollywoodbs”. Another fan commented, “#agt why is Chris Klafford presented like he's not successful. He won Swedish Idol and has 3 to ten songs and Platinum records! These people should not be allowed 2 compete!”
On the other hand, some fans felt that Charlotte was judged a bit too harshly and that she should have been given a chance. A fan tweeted in support of Charlotte with, “Charlotte Summers just gave an incredible vocal performance and the know-nothing judges trashed her because she didn’t sing a current song for her age. I will vote for her to spite them! #AGT”.
What do you think of Chris's presence on the show, and Charlotte not making it to the next round? Let us know. AGT will return with its results on Wednesday night only on NBC. Check your local listings for more information.