EXCLUSIVE | America's Got Talent's Celina Graves recalls her journey, says one mustn't give up 'no matter what'
As 'America’s Got Talent' Season 15 is coming to a close, some dreams are going to get fulfilled and some unfortunately will have to face the disappointment. The American talent show hosted its last episode of the quarter-finals on September 1, and only a handful of contestants got to perform their hearts out before they moved to the next level. The contestants performed from as far as Romania and Germany and it won’t be wrong to define their performances as truly spectacular. The renowned judges of the show marked their performances from the set of Universal Studios in California.
There have been a few contestants in 'AGT' Season 15, who time and again have proved their worth. They stunned the audiences and left the judges gobsmacked with their stellar performances. Celina Graves and Resound (which is a three-member vocal team) are one of those talents in this season who have got love from both the judges and the audiences. Graves performed a heartfelt track called ‘Strong’ from London Grammar to wow all the three judges. After a mesmerizing performance, she safely advanced to the semi-finals. Graves is a 30-year-old singer, who grew up in Southern California in a small town called Mira Mesa. She has been around music since the age of 8 and has been regularly posting videos on YouTube from the age of 16.
Interestingly, the talented singer amassed over six million views in a short span of time. However, Graves has also faced her own ups and downs. Her mother struggled with addiction and was regularly in and out of prison. It was her father, who came to her rescue and dedicated a lot of time to polish her skills. When asked how she feels about coming from a small town and now, performing on a global stage where the entire world is watching her, Celina, in an exclusive interview with MEA World Wide (MEAWW), asserted, “Yes, the journey indeed has been long but it is all worth it when you get so much love from people and the judges. There were, of course, a lot of ups and downs but sheer dedication is all you need in life if you want to achieve something big.”
We also pointed out her massive social media following and asked what importance does it hold for an artiste in current times, to which the talented singer quickly replied, “You know, people think that if you are an artiste and posting a lot of your content on different social media platforms, you are not authentic and people don’t respect you. But it is not a cakewalk to get followers and views on social media, and I must tell you all the artistes are equally authentic but they just have a different journey.”
Celina also spoke about her mother's addiction and concluded, “One must not give up, no matter what the situation in your life is. You have to constantly battle your demons and come out as a stronger individual.” We also spoke to the talented vocal trio Resound who unfortunately got evicted later in the show. The trio which comprises of Jessica, Joseph and Mariah, spoke about tasting a little success after their song charted on the Gospel Billboard list. Speaking exclusively to MEAWW, they said, “Even if our song has been on a Billboard, but that doesn’t make our journey easy. This is just the beginning and we surely have a long way to go.”
Singer/pianist Kenadi Dodds, guitar duo Broken Roots and spoken-word poet Brandon Leake got the most votes in the quarter-finals which immediately made them safe for the next round.