Part of the thrill of watching reality competition shows is learning the back story of some of the performers.
Though there are no rules saying that people also need to have an incredibly compelling story in addition to their talent in order to make it through, it certainly doesn’t hurt them. Beyond just what the judges think, though, having a difficult life or an obstacle to overcome can sometimes drive these performers to dig deep and find a whole new level of drive and talent that they might not have found otherwise.
That certainly seemed to be the case for Jayna Brown, who performed on America’s Got Talent in 2016.
When she went on the show, Brown was only 14 years old.
Her passionate voice got her through the auditions but to stay on the show, Brown would have to dig deep. As she explains in the behind-the-scenes clips, Brown and her mother were going through a tough time financially.
Because they didn’t have enough money, Brown and her mom had been staying with a friend since they didn’t have their own home. As she says these words, Brown begins to tear up.
As she says, Brown is performing because she wants to pay back the love and support of their friends and her mom.
With all that in mind, Brown is ready to fight and to perform her best.
As she steps out, it’s clear to everyone that she’s incredibly nervous—her hands are even shaking! Part of it may be because there’s a guest judge on the panel from One Direction, namely none other than Louis Tomlinson!
When the crowd hears that she’s only 14, they give her a huge round of applause.
When all is said and done, Brown starts to perform “Rise Up” by Andra Day.
From the very first notes, Brown finds her stride and is already doing justice to Day’s incredible song.
Just like the the theme of the song, Brown rises up to the challenge of performing her absolute best for a packed audience. Even though she’s so young, her voice is soulful and mature beyond her years.
As her mother watches from the audience, she begins to tear up—meanwhile, all the rest of the audience waves their arms in the air. At the very end, Brown hits a particularly challenging vocal run with her voice soaring higher and higher.
Though she’s shaking at the end of the performance, the whole crowd gets on her feet to give her a standing ovation.
As the judges say to her after it’s over, Brown’s talent has effectively turned the competition “upside down.”
Although it’s not easy to impress Simon Cowell, it’s clear that he’s completely blown away by Brown’s abilities. Moving down the line, even Brown’s idol Tomlinson gives her compliment on compliment, making her blush! Still, nobody expects him to smash the Golden Buzzer! As he does, the crowd goes wild!
At least in this case, Brown’s trials and tribulations ended up translating to a moving performance.
Above all, Brown’s performance shows how music and connect us all—and how creativity can carry us out of hard times.
Though we’re not all equally able to sing like Brown does, her belief in herself and her musical abilities helped to carry her and mother through a very hard time. As a result, she got national exposure and got a platform to grow her audience as a singer and songwriter. Though she’s still working hard on her craft, she now has her own YouTube channel and keeps working on music.
Congratulations to Jayna on an amazing performance and an ongoing musical journey! Check out the full video in the clip below:
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