An America’s Got Talent contestant had the audience cheering for him before he even started to sing. Then he further impressed the judges with an original song and walked away with a golden buzzer.
Howie Mandel hit the golden buzzer for Week 2 and sent a Texas singer directly to the live shows portion of the TV talent contest. Joseph Allen wrote an original song, which included singing and rapping, for his audition.
Allen brought a lot of family members to watch him from the audience area, including his mother, father, stepmother, and stepfather, but he also had a lot of people cheering for him in other areas of the audience before he even performed. Many of them seemed to be from his university in Phoenix, Arizona.
He then performed a song that was about exactly what he was doing right at that moment: working hard and making a name for himself.
The audience stood with their hands in the air while Allen sang. At the end of the song he fell to his knees with tears in his eyes from happiness. And then the judges joined the already standing audience in giving Allen a standing ovation.
“You’ve got the best reaction for doing nothing we’ve ever had on this show. You got a standing ovation before you even performed,” said competition judge Simon Cowell. “Look, Joseph, first impressions to me are everything. Watching the reaction before you even started, like I said, was astonishing. That was an amazing audition. I love you.”
“From the moment you walked out your smile is electric. You know? You walked out with such exuberance,” said judge Howie Mandel.
Mandel then dramatically stepped onto the judges table and aimed his foot at the golden buzzer, all the while praising Allen.
“Now you said you want to leave a footprint. Well I’m going to give you the footprint you need to leave.” Mandel said before stepping on the golden buzzer.
As the sparkling confetti flew over the stage, host Terry Crews ran out to lift up Allen, something he promised Allen he would do if he got the golden buzzer.
All four judges headed backstage with Allen, hugging him and continuing to praise him.
America’s Got Talent also posted a video with Allen later watching his performance and giving his recollection of the performance. Allen has one of his arms in a sling.
“I remember backstage Gabrielle comes up to me, she’s hugging me, and then she says, ‘All I know is I better not get some horrible tickets when you perform at Coachella.’ When you hear that from someone like that, dude, it shakes you, man. This whole experience has been an emotional roller coaster ride,” said Allen.
Mandel explained what made him hit the buzzer for Allen.
“This hasn’t happened before. From the moment somebody has walked out on stage, he had this smile, and he had this energy, and he had this electricity,” Mandel said.
“And the excitement and the exuberance of just being here, before anything was done, before he saw a result, that exuberance was electric, not only for me. The audience was cheering louder than they’d cheer for somebody who is just crushing it, without this kid doing anything. So that kind of tells you who he is,” he continued.
Mandel said he was most impressed with Allen’s presentation, his goals, and the kind of person he is, and then by the performance itself.
Next week is Week 3 for Season 14 of America’s Got Talent. In Week 1, singer Kodi Lee got the golden buzzer. In Week 2, Allen, another singer, got the golden buzzer, so it seems to be a winning streak for singers.
