‘America’s Got Talent’ season 14: Four heart-warming auditions that won over the judges and audience
This season of America’s Got Talent auditions had performers coming from far and wide to showcase their talents to the world. The talent ranged from a hauntingly beautiful shadow dance performance to a breathtaking musical performance by a blind and autistic performer.
In this post, we list out the top four heart-warming performances, which moved the audience and the judges to tears, due to the sheer magnitude of the talent of the performer and in some instances, due to the difficult circumstances amidst which their art was born.
Detroit Youth Choir
The youth choir from Detroit perform an unexpected rendition of “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis which not just featured singing, but also rapping and dancing. Julianne, exclaims that she was up on her feet throughout the performance and absolutely loved it. Gabrielle thanked the performers saying that what she witnessed was absolute brilliance.
Simon chimed in saying that if the group comes up with such unexpected performances, they could go on to win the show. In the end, Terry Crews comes onto the stage and gave a moving speech, saying that every performer on the stage represents him, and in a very unexpected move gave out the prized golden buzzer to the group, something the group absolutely deserved for their beautiful performance.
Mackenzie
Performing the iconic Prince song "Nothing Compares 2 U" is a very bold move on a platform like America’s Got Talent. Mackenzie, the young musician from Los Angeles, went ahead and did it. He crooned the Prince number and wowed the audience and judges with his soulful voice and at one point we can see Gabrielle wiping tears off her face. The performance clearly moved Gabrielle. Although the teaser did not show whether Mackenzie made it or not, it wouldn’t shock the audience to see him on the next round.
Kodi Lee
Twenty two-year-old Kodi Lee, accompanied by his mother Tina Lee, played the piano while singing Donny Hathaway’s "A Song for You". The blind, autistic performer left the whole room spellbound with his performance. Julianne and Gabrielle were moved to tears and at the end of the performance, Kodi received a standing ovation. Simon, who is known for being one of the most critical judges, remarked, “I'm going to remember this moment for the rest of my life."
Tina then went on to share how music and singing helped Kodi stay alive and also revealed that Kodi, a self-taught piano player, only started formal training four years ago. To make this moment mushier, Kodi ends his performance by saying, “I’m going to keep performing for everybody. I like to make people happy.”
Verba Shadow Group
Verba Shadow Group has traveled all the way from Ukraine to show the world their hauntingly beautiful shadow dance performance. As part of their performance, they performed a heart-touching story of a young man, whose family is torn apart by war.
This extremely gut-wrenching performance was displayed using only shadows. The movements and visuals were spectacular, to say the least. The act reminded us of the performance by Hungarian shadow theatre group Attraction that performed on Britain’s Got Talent.