Simon Cowell’s America’s Got Talent Golden Buzzer Sara James Soars in the Semis With “Rocket Man”
Week 3 of the America’s Got Talent Semifinals is here (Read our Recap).
Eleven more acts performed this week. Two will advance tomorrow based on America’s vote. One of those acts is Simon Cowell’s Golden Buzzer, 14-year-old Polish singer, Sara James. Sara is half Nigerian and half-Polish. In her package, she talks about dreaming of singing in America and how supportive her mom is.
Sara wowed with Billie Eilish and Khalid’s “Lovely” in her audition, and Eilish ended up retweeting her performance. This is huge, coming from one of today’s biggest stars. In her audition article, I noted that it was one of, if not the best, Billie Eilish cover I had heard on an American TV show. Sara also got a lot of buzz in Poland after her audition, with several news outlets reacting to the performance. The young singer realizes the difficulty of making it into the final after seeing a golden buzzer singer (Maddie) go home last week.
Sara sings a modernized version of Elton John’s “Rocket Man.” It starts slow and from the outset, Sara’s incredible control is on display. She shines as much on low notes as on those higher notes. Her voice is mature for her age, making this rendition of a classic really successful. It is also record-ready, so AGT should be a launching pad for her in America as she’s already seen a lot of exposure in Poland. Sara’s sound is marketable, and her range plus tone are remarkable. She has what it takes to launch a musical career.
A standing ovation for Sara, and probably a spot in the semifinals
Much like Brooke Simpson last year, Sara kept her song choice fresh and made it her own. Right as it was starting to get a bit redundant and slow, she broke out and went for some big notes with a big climax. Unlike many other singers this season, she was mostly in tune on the high notes. This performance was the best vocal in the semifinals this season so far, and I’m excited to see what she does in the finals if she gets voted through as she should.
The judges give her a standing ovation, in addition to the crowd loving it. Simon calls the song choice, “genius” and thinks Elton John will retweet the song. Heidi Klum notes how Simon knows how to pick the stars, calling it “amazing”. Howie Mandel calls it a “winning performance” from a “superstar.”
There were a few impressive acts tonight, but overall, it felt a bit weak. It was not the deepest show, and when comparing most acts to the top few, they came up short by a large margin. The clear standouts were Sara and ventriloquist Celia Munoz. I’d be surprised if they aren’t the two acts going through. Honorable mention goes to magician Nicolas Ribs who has a slight chance to go through as well. I think Yu Hojin going through last week may have hurt his chances.
