As America’s Got Talent has proven again and again over the years, there’s definitely no age limit on raw talent.
Though there are plenty of contestants who come on the show as adults between their late 20s and mid-30s, there are just many people who are well into their 70s and 80s that appear as well.
On the other hand, there are even little kids who aren’t even teenagers yet who find a way to stun audiences as well! For the most part, any children who come on the show who don’t necessarily make the cut are given a warm, encouraging reception by the audience.
But sometimes Simon Cowell makes things a little bit harder on them.
That was the case for one performer on the 2019 season.
As the clip begins, a little girl walks out on stage to big applause. Right away, the judges notice how positive and adorable her energy is! Cowell asks her name and she introduces herself as Ansley Burns.
She also tells everyone she’s from Easley, South Carolina—and Cowell says that she has a great accent! After that, she tells the whole crowd that she’s going to be singing a song for everyone.
As it turns out, this isn’t the first time that Burns has shared her talent with the world!
That’s because Burns has her own YouTube channel where she releases videos of her performances—and some of them have gotten a lot of attention.
The most popular of all these performances was a video of Burns singing a Gospel hymn in church called “How Great Thou Art,” which showcases just how strong her voice is—even though she’s only 12 years old!
Between the videos she’s posted online to the local competitions she tried out for, Burns built up enough momentum and buzz to make it to the national stage! As she explains to the judges, her plan is to sing “Think” by Aretha Franklin—and Cowell can’t believe his ears. “You’re going to sing Aretha Franklin? At 12?” She says that she is!
After that, the judges give her the floor so she can perform.
As it starts, the house band starts playing a stomping piano track in the background as accompaniment.
A moment later, Burns is singing her heart out to Franklin’s classic song and strutting around the stage.
Although her voice is definitely strong, Cowell keeps looking around like he’s irritated. After a minute, he asks his fellow judges: “Where did they get this track from?” Apparently, the musical accompaniment just wasn’t doing it for him.
Just a few seconds later, Cowell raises up his hand to stop the performance.
As he explains, he couldn’t even truly judge Burns’ performance because the background music was distracting.
After that, he asks if she would start again but do it a capella this time—and Burns freezes. Cowell offers her a little bit of water himself and encourages her to continue.
She takes a breath and steadies herself and finally starts back into her song. As she starts singing, it’s much easier to hear her voice—and the crowd starts clapping along with her! As the melody picks up and gets higher and higher, her voice soars right along with it!
Although everybody was nervous, Burns still nailed it!
While this was enough to get anybody a panic attack, Burns handled it like a professional.
As we’ve seen time and time again on the show, sometimes it takes more than a good voice to succeed in these auditions. It’s a combination of voice, stage presence and the right song!
Fortunately, Cowell understood that Burns had talent and deserved a second chance. At least now she’ll be ready for any kind of stage fright after what happened!
Congratulations to Ansley Burns on her awesome performance! Watch the full clip below:
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