Music is so powerful, it can often transcend language barriers.
You don’t need to understand a language to understand the overall message of the song. When sung correctly, you can just feel the meaning of the song.
On the latest episode of America’s Got Talent, this is exactly what happened.
Angel Garcia, a 12-year-old singer from Los Angeles, performed “El Triste” by José José for his audition.
The tween was inspired by his immigrant father to become a singer and pursue a career in music.
When he first walked on stage, judge Heidi Klum was instantly drawn to him. She loved his smile and that made her love him right away! When he began to sing, a powerful voice came right out of him that absolutely no one could have expected.
Mel B was the first judge to chime in on what she thought and said:
“I was not expecting that at all! That was brilliant. Your voice filled up this whole auditorium. Well done!”
Heidi admitted that she doesn’t understand Spanish but just from Angel’s performance, she knew that it had to be about love. And she was correct! “El Triste” is actually a sad love song about saying goodbye and how sad life isn’t without his love.
While Mel B and Heidi loved the audition, Simon Cowell was a little guarded. He felt that Angel might not have a sense of himself yet as a performer.
When Simon asked what Howie Mandel thought, to see if he agreed or disagreed, Howie shocked the audience and judges.
Apparently, Howie thought the song choice was much too old for Angel! Which is surprising, seeing as many singers audition with Whitney Houston and Elton John songs, so how was Angel’s performance much different?
Mel B and Heidi were very quick to defend Angel and his performance. Howie wound up voting “no” for Angel, but luckily the other three judges voted “yes” and helped send Angel further into the competition.
America’s Got Talent shared the audition on their Facebook page as a “leak” ahead of Tuesday’s episode. Since it was shared, it got 5 million views, 25,000 likes, over 1,000 comments, and over 6,000 shares.
One Facebook commenter wrote:
There is such suave about him. I loved it. I thought he was going to break out in a Ricky Martin song. I loved what he did.
While another Facebook user felt that Angel’s voice transcended language:
Awesome …. I do not mind the language … Music has no language , no boundaries …. You just have to feel it…. Loved it to the bits
This Facebook user defended Angel’s song choice:
Howie was being ignorant. You sang beautifully and you don’t have to sing anything “young” to be yourself. Never question your culture, heritage, background. Solo pregúntale a Luis Miguel
What did you think of this audition? Do you think that Angel has a great voice? Did you like his song choice?
Next week’s episode of America’s Got Talent won’t feature auditions, the competition is officially moving onto the Judges Cuts’ stage!
America’s Got Talent airs on NBC on Tuesdays, directly followed by World of Dance.
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