America’s Got Talent 2025: Singer Cole Swensen’s emotional performance with his mom wows the AGT panel
Singer Cole Swensen takes the America’s Got Talent stage with his mother Judy on cello in a preview clip from the AGT auditions 2 episode, airing Tuesday (June 3). Cole states that his mother gave up everything for him and his opportunity to play music. Mom backs up Cole as he performs Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” accompanying himself on acoustic guitar.
Judy underpins Cole’s dreamy, drowsy voice with her expert string playing. As he performs, Judy smiles at Cole bursting with pride. It’s a sweet moment.
But just as the performance seems like it’ll stay in slowcore forever, Cole and Judy kick the tempo up, until the performance ends as gently as it began. Mom cries tears of pride as the audience applauds.
“You have a really distinctive tone in your voice,” Mel B. observed afterward. “And you controlled it and you sailed through that song and you made it your own.”
Howie Mandel stated, “You took a song that I loved and made it your own. So, thank you. I love your rendition as well.” He remarked on the mother/son relationship, “To see love emulated on the stage like that. My heart is just exploding. It was beautiful.”
Sofia Vergara agreed. “It was beautiful. It was amazing to see a family come together and the love you guys have between each other. “I got really emotional.”
Simon Cowell responds to Cole Swenson’s performance with a classic fake out
After Simon Cowell weighed in saying “I think this would have been a really good audition on your own.” The crowd began booing as Mel B. exclaimed, “But what about Judy!”
But fear not. It is, of course, the classic Simon Cowell fake out of the “I didn’t like it….I loved it” variety. He continued, “However, with your mom, it was a great audition. It made everything way more interesting and actually made you…very cool.” Simon explained, “You’re not following the herd. You’re doing what you want to do and that makes you stand out. I really loved it.”
Cole received 4 yeses and a chance to advance to the live shows. The judges noted afterward, that mom turned to her son after Simon praised them and said, “I told you!”
America’s Got Talent airs Tuesdays on NBC at 8 pm ET/PT, streaming on Peacock next day.
