Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel are left stunned after country music trio from Mississippi perform their original song that's inspired by Dolly Parton's hit.
- Jul 20, 2022
AceShowbiz - Something unusual happened in the Tuesday, July 19 episode of "America's Got Talent". As the audition for the NBC talent competition show continued, the judges decided to break the show's rules as they hit Golden Buzzer unanimously for a special contestant.
Season 17 episode 8 featured the seventh batch of initial acts vying for quarter-final placements. The first performer that night was West African acrobatic group Amoukanama. Heidi Klum thought that the performance was "crazy insane," while Sofia Vergara called it "spectacular."
As for Simon Cowell, he rounded the critique out by saying they gave themselves a shot at making the final with their "amazing" audition. Easily the group earned three yes votes, as Howie Mandel wasn't on the panel for some of the performances due to medical issues, to make it to the next round.
Up next was Sam Cieri, the frontman of indie band Nicotine Dolls. After Sam belted out his original song, Heidi described his raspy voice as "if Rod Stewart and John Mayer had a baby." The whole panel of three thought he was special, so they sent him through to the next round unanimously.
Following it up was Maytree, South Korean acapella singers that recreated TV theme songs with their voices. The group earned a roaring round of applause from the audience and adoring comments from Heidi who said there's never been an act like them and Sofia who was surprised that they were clever instead of serious. Simon added that it was a great audition because they love being surprised.
Also joining them in the next round was Ukrainian aerialist Svitlana Rohozhyna, who dedicated her audition to her father who's currently fighting on the front lines of the war. Aside from being impressed by her will to perform despite the stress and pressure of war her family is under, the judges praised Svitlana's physical strength, beauty and level of perfection. Believing her to have "genuine star quality," the judges gave her three yes votes for another performance in the following round.
Howie then returned for the second hour of the night. First up with Howie back on the panel was John Glenn High School Dance Team who were all dressed in bald caps and glasses, just like Howie. They confessed that their mission was to impress noted dance team detractor Howie with their act, and they flawlessly did.
The next performer was The Lazy Generation, who came from London to give an unexpected performance. Just like the name, they stepped onto the stage looking "lazy," wearing shorts and sandals before showing off their athleticism. Sofia couldn't take it and hit her red buzzer, but the other judges seemed to love the insanity. Heidi called it a "hot mess," but said it was so bad it was good. They will perform in the following round as they got three yes votes.
Concluding the night was singing trio Chapel Hart. They sang an original song written as an ode to their musical hero Dolly Parton. It was called "You Can Have Him, Jolene", a follow-up to Dolly's 1974 classic "Jolene".
By the time the song ended, the audience was chanting, "Golden Buzzer." Their stunning performance even put a happy face on Simon, a notoriously tough critic. "Trust me, I needed you today," he said. "That was fantastic. I love you."
Heidi said the trio's joy "is infectious," with Sofia adding that the act "was perfect." Sofia continued gushing, "You guys look like you've been doing this for a long time, and I'm so proud of you guys."
Simon and Heidi then said that if they hadn't used their Golden Buzzers already, the group would have definitely earned it from them. After a brief discussion with host Terry Crews, the judges finally decided to hit the Golden Buzzer together.
