America’s Got Talent judge and executive producer, Simon Cowell has sent a Nigerian 14-year-old singer, Sara James to the next round of the competition after pressing the golden buzzer for the young girl.
James, with her rendition of Billie Eilish’s “Lovely,” wowed the judges’ panel. Not holding down his emotion, Cowell, 62, without delay pushed the coveted button, sending the Nigerian teen straight to the live shows.
James, a Nigerian, resides in Poland.
“We’ve heard a lot of singers over the years, but wow,” Cowell said. “You have a real star glow about you.”
James had told the judges that coming to show afforded her the opportunity to visit the United States for the time. Consequently, Cowell told her that he wanted to make her dreams come true and eventually pushed his Golden Buzzer.
He said: “This is probably where you dreamt of performing. I can remember when I came to America for the first time … that was a moment I’ll never forget. And I want to make this a moment for you to remember forever,” he said.
Shocked by the turn of events, James, in disbelief said the excitement was beyond what she could express.
“To be honest, I’m speechless. When I’m thinking of it, I’m literally shaking. I’m just so happy,” she says.
“It’s something that I’ve dreamed of and it happened. It’s so crazy. In America, dreams come true. It’s so amazing.
“[Simon] made this whole trip to America so lovely — and America’s actually really beautiful, to be honest. I’m in love and I want to live there — but it was such an amazing moment and when I think of it, I just want to cry.”
Explaining why he pressed his golden buzzer, Cowell told People Sara was a total star: “I pushed my golden buzzer for Sara because she is, in my opinion, a total star. She flew across the world to audition on AGT ‘to see if dreams come true — that really resonated with me, as 20 years ago I came to those thoughts as well. I just didn’t have her talent!”
James revealed that she started singing at “about 3 or 4” and has been a longtime fan of the show, though she never thought she’d actually audition.
“When I was little, I was watching all the videos of America’s Got Talent on YouTube, and I was like, ‘Oh my god. Wow, it’s so amazing,’ but I’d never think of it in a serious way,” she said.
Recall that Kechi Okwuchi emerged a finalist in the 2017 edition of America’s Got Talent.
The Sosoliso plane crash survivor’s qualification was confirmed on the official Instagram account of AGT, in a post that read: “Your #DunkinSave votes turned @kechi_agt into a finalist.”
The Nigerian singer was able to make it to the top 10 following the Dunkin Save voting process, which gives viewers the opportunity to send the contestant of their choice into the last stage of the talent competition.