The hardest part about auditioning is making a good first impression.
Though it probably goes without saying, there are so many talented people in the world. Although reality shows have helped expose plenty of people’s gifts who wouldn’t have been able to otherwise, they have also raised the bar for the competition.
On shows like the Got Talent franchise, contestants are allowed to do any talent they wish and compete against other performers of all ages.
For the singers and musicians, that means picking a song that’s sure to connect with a huge audience.
In this performance from the 2016 season of Britain’s Got Talent, the performer was sure to do just that.
Like any other audition, it began with contestant Josh Curnow walking out on stage and introducing himself to the judges. From the beginning, it’s clear that the crowd already likes him—and all the girls think he’s particularly cute.
Before long, he explains that he wants to perform on the show to go to the next level in his musical career. He also explains that because he’s dyslexic, he’d been discouraged from pursuing music at a young age.
Before long, he sits down in front of the piano and starts to play.
At first, he plays he plays a couple of gentle notes.
From the beginning, it’s not totally clear what he’s about to play. Still, as soon as he sings the recognizable first lyrics, it’s clear the song is “Basket Case” by Green Day, a pop-punk song that was a huge hit in the ‘90s.
But where the original song was an upbeat, rock-oriented song with attitude and sarcasm, Curnow has flipped it here into a heartfelt piano ballad. Even so, he sings it with a bit of gruffness as well as lightness in other parts.
And as the song goes on, it only gets better and better.
Although nobody expected this Green Day song to be particularly emotional, Curnow is able to draw some incredible emotion out of it.
While it’s a strange choice to reinvent a song that started off so ironic, his version of it definitely has the judges and the audience on the edge of their seats.
At the very end, Curnow does some impressive vocalizations—all while playing piano behind it. When it’s finally over, he hits a few last big notes.
At the end, he gets a huge round of applause from the audience!
Since the clip was posted on YouTube, it has earned nearly nine million views!
As we said before, it’s one thing for a person to be a good singer or to have some vocal talent. Still, it’s another for them to put that talent to use in a way that’s surprising or unexpected.
As it turns out, Curnow was able to do just that by taking a risk and reinterpreting a famous song that everybody knows so well. Although it’s tricky to take something that everyone knows and make it your own, Curnow definitely managed to pull it off and had the whole crowd feeling emotions they never expected.
Congratulations to Josh Curnow on a truly original audition! Be sure to check out the entire thing in the video below:
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