America’s Got Talent 2025 Auditions 4 Recap Live Blog (Videos)
America’s Got Talent continues with Auditions 4 tonight (June 17) as Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Sofia Vergara and the returning Mel B. take their seats on the panel for the talent show’s 20th season. Terry Crews once again serves as host
The Golden Buzzers are back, of course. All the panelists and Terry can award two buzzers each to acts they feel should advance straight to the live shows. That is 10 buzzers total.
The Funkateer Dancers – Terry’s Golden Buzzer
The group has been together since 1980 when they competed in their high school talent show. Eventually, they had families and got day jobs. The quartet are all about dad bods. Nevertheless, they can shake their thangs. Choreography on point! Back in the day, the group was probably really good.
Simon is very excited, screaming yes over and over again. Sofia says the group is what AGT is all about. Howie says, “It’s better that you did it now at this age. It makes it even better.” Oh. Terry appears at the table. He’s going to make them his Golden Buzzer. Sheesh. They were fun but not THAT great. Simon is mad, because he wanted to do it. “Age ain’t nothing but a number!” Terry declares. The clip ends with a photo of the group back in high school. – Terry Crews Golden Buzzer
Chase Varnes – Kid Singer
Thirteen year old singer is flanked by his stage mom and the rest of his family. Chase lives on a farm. He’s been drumming since he was four and recently picked up the guitar.
Simon stops him mid song. The kid is REALLY nervous. Simon didn’t like the song, he asks for something else. The second song isn’t really better than the first. But then the first song wasn’t bad. The kid is just nervous. He has an interesting tone that is obviously not fully formed. Ugh. I hate parents trotting kids out on stage, especially when they don’t seem ready.
Howie compares Chase to Justin Bieber. Sofia thinks the girls will go crazy for him. Mel B. calls the singer a diamond in the rough. “You’re not quite there yet for me.” She is correct. Howie, Sofia and Simon say yes. The latter gives him the deciding vote. “The audience loved you,” Simon says. – 3 yeses, Mel says no.
Moshow – Cat rapper
Baltimore native introduces himself as a rapper. And the ultimate “cat dad.” Alrighty then. Oh. He’s a joke contestant singing a “meow meow” rap wearing a kitty hat. It’s really silly. It’s probably a thing that went viral on Tik Tok or something. Mel B. x’d them with a quickness.
The song is stuck in Sofia’s head. “I didn’t like the song,” says Mel. Howie believes it wasn’t terrible, but not good enough. Sofia says yes. But Howie and Mel say no. Simon thinks kids will love it.
Loco Pop Familia – Dance group
The next act is a group of dancers dressed as cats, meowing to every question. The group is silly, but they can dance. It’s the kind of thing kids would really love. I mean, cats are popular!
Howie loved it! Sofia thought it was cute and good. The choreographer joins the dancers on stage. She’s also wearing a cat outfit. Mel admits they all can dance, but “You’re so annoying!” Ha ha. She’s the meanie this season. Simon calls them genius and one of his favorite dance acts. I tend to agree with Mel, but I wouldn’t ax an act just because I personally found them annoying. Mel says no, the rest say yes
Duo Soma – Hand Balancers
The two, a male and female from Argentina are NOT a couple! Unusual for an acrobatic duo. UPDATE. They WERE a couple, five years ago.
The act consists of tumbling and hand balancing. The guy rests a pole on his shoulder. Never seen that in an act like this. Then, he balances this VERY long pole on his hand with the gal balancing on top. VERY dangerous. The strength required for that trick–gotta be off the charts. She’s up so high. OH she’s got a thingy in her bun. She’s going to hang by her hair while the dude swings her around with the pole mounted in a harness. This is quite unique! And crazy.
The hair thing freaks Sofia out. “But that was amazing, I really loved it.” Simon loves their showmanship. Mel felt they needed more showmanship. She wanted more drama. Mel says no. The rest say yes. Mel is going to get hammered on social media for turning down perfectly good acts.
Wes-P – Joke guy
He’s a returnee who signed up just to confront Mel B. who buzzed him last time. Oh OK. I remember him. He does weird stunts involving nudity. It’s very VERY dumb. Mel buzzed him immediately. Hate to admit, but he is so dumb with his janky tricks, that I’m laughing. He finally winds up naked at the end, yelling for Mel B. to join him on stage. She removes the sheet covering his body, but his naughty bits remain covered. He trolls Mel all through the act, which is what made it kind of funny.
Simon doesn’t get why Mel doesn’t like it. Sofia didn’t like it, either. Simon and Howie are enthusiastic yeses. Sofia and Mel say no.
Jonglissimo – Jugglers
The group, from Austria and Germany, will try to break a juggling record. One of the members had to be replaced on the fly. He’s still rehearsing.
Howie and Simon declare that they hate juggling, as the act begins. Oh no. They have a tech problem, because it’s partly a light show. The juggling direct the light show in the background. Simon doesn’t look thrilled. It probably looks better in person. However, the pin trails are kind of mesmerising. They spell out AGT at one point.
Mel has been waiting “all bloody day for this!” She finally likes something. Sofia compliments the new guy. Simon calls it smart, unique and different. He also compliments the new guy. And they managed to break the record of most pins juggled on stage at one time. 19 pins. – 4 yeses
Mama Duke – Singer
NBC dropped this audition early. Check it out HERE. Mama Duke is a singer-songwriter and rapper from Austin, Texas. She describes all of her day jobs over the years. Currently she works with kids at the YWCA.
Mama wrote the song “Feels So Good.” It’s kind of old fashioned. But the song has a catchy chorus. She’s a decent rapper, incorporating the panelists into her flow.
Mel calls the song “already a hit.” She loves Mama’s confidence and swagger. Sofia wanted to dance and enjoy her. “I’m so glad you’re here tonight.” Simon likes her writing skill and personality. Plus, he appreciated that she came to the audition prepared. – 4 yeses
Astrid Jorgensen – Virtual choir director
Thirty-four year old Astrid is from Australia. She is a choir director and claims to direct the biggest choir in the world. So the schtick is directing the entire audience to sing “Africa” via a huge screen that contains instructions. There has to be ringers in the seats, because it sounds coherent.
Simon calls her act “smart.” Howie loved it. “The world loves a singalong.” Sofia doesn’t think the act will go anywhere. Mel B doesn’t care for it either. Simon loves it. He thinks it’s like allowing the audience to win the show. Howie and Simon say yes. Mel B says no. Simon convinces Sofia to say yes. Eh. I agree with Sofia. It’s a cute parlor trick, not more than that.
Steve Ray Ladson – Country singer
Steve attended barber school, but it’s not really what he wanted to do. He’s been professional for the past 15 years. He’s a Black guy with a banjo from South Carolina. He plays with a backing band and sings “On the Back of My Truck.” The band is very soulful. Need to look it up, but this dude sounds like he’s been around the scene for awhile. UPDATE: He tours with The Blind Boys of Alabama and the Robert Randolph band. He’s also appeared on a bunch of TV shows.
Sofia calls him her favorite music act of the season. Mel B likes seeing things that she hasn’t seen before. She obviously doesn’t pay attention to country music. Simon thought everything was on point. “This is when I love my job.” Howie thinks it’s a hit song – 4 yeses
Mastermind – Magician
Mastermind introduces himself as an artificial intelligence magician. He performs, in a scary getup with an artificial voice, a bunch of close up tricks. Using an iPhone, he makes objects move independently, etc. Mastermind uses the iPhone AI application next., involving audience members guessing what words appeared on Howie’s screen. I’m not sure how this is “AI” exactly, but the tricks are pretty good.
Howie calls it epic, spectacular and scary. Mel is a big believer in magic. “I thought you were brilliant.” Sofia like that the magic was interactive. Simon swears nobody was in on the trick. He calls it the best magic that’s been on the show. – 4 yeses.
OMG, according to the preview, reality w*ore Tom Sandoval is COMPETING as a singer. Ridiculous. He’s already competed on The Masked Singer, The Traitors and Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. Who cares about this guy (Originally, he was part of the Vanderpump Rules cast, and cheated on his girlfriend, or something. And has been cast as a villain ever since).
