By: Jacob Elyachar, jakes-take.com
After months of competition, America’s Got Talent will crown its fifteenth winner tonight. Hoping to be declared the winner of the $1 million prize and the headlining show in Las Vegas are ten unique acts. They are the America’s Got Talent: Season 15 finalists. Before they got ready for the Season 15 finale, Jake’s Take caught up with them. I want to give a special shoutout to both Fremantle and NBC for giving Jake’s Take this fantastic opportunity. I also want to thank TV Grapevine’s Sammi Turano for being an incredible Zoom friend as she joined me in the virtual Zoom rooms.
Alan Silva, Broken Roots, & Roberta Battaglia
Aerialist Alan Silva, country music duo Broken Roots (Austin Edwards and Joey Kar), and Sofia Vergara’s Golden Buzzer act, singer Roberta Battaglia, were the first group of finalists that we spoke with. All four of them delivered incredible performances last night and shared what lessons they learned during their time on the long-running NBC talent competition.
“This stage has prepared us. It allowed us to take that ride of getting onto that big stage (AGT) and performing in front of millions of people. So now, the next time we do perform on a big stage, we have already been there, done that. It is going to help us be more confident as we move forward,” said Broken Roots’ Joey Kar. “The AGT experience is a huge learning lesson that you get once in a lifetime.”
“The friendships that we have made along this way has allowed us to see what everything is going to be involved with this (next chapter) moving forward.” Said Broken Roots’ Austin Edwards. “ No matter what the results are today, I will share a stage with the other nine acts any day, anywhere, and anytime for the rest of my life.”
“I learned that I needed to let go of perfection,” said Alan Silva. “I am a perfectionist. I have been learning to let go of it and embrace the emotion and keep moving forward. This has been a great experience.”
“I have been having fun on this amazing and outstanding experience that has been an unforgettable one,” said Roberta Battaglia. “I never thought that at an age like this, my dream would come true so fast, and I am very grateful.”
Archie Williams, The Bello Sisters, & Cristina Rae
The next virtual room contained three of this season’s breakout acts: singer Archie Williams, acrobatic trio Loren, Celine, and Joline Bello, and Heidi Klum’s Golden Buzzer act, singer Cristina Rae. All three of them revealed the most important lessons they learned from their time on the NBC talent competition show.
“Being on AGT has taught me discipline and how to stay focused,” said Cristina Rae. “We are technically sequestered alongside being in a pandemic during this opportunity has been very hard with a 3-year-old. I did not know how to necessarily explain to a 3-year-old that there is a virus out there that has taken lives. I am very proud of the discipline that I learned here. Even though it is a very pressured situation, AGT taught me a lot.”
“One of the biggest things that we learned that if you believe in yourself, you can reach amazing things,” said Loren Bello. “Each round, we added an element to our performances that we have never done before and that we did not think we could do. We pushed and believed in ourselves, and that was the greatest lesson that we learned.”
“What I learned from AGT was the ability to reach the world with my testimony,” said Archie Williams. “It is so amazing that I can bring peace to people with my story and teach them the art of peace.”
BAD Salsa & Daneliya Tuleshova
Both BAD Salsa (Sonali Majumdar and Maraju Samanth) and Daneliya Tuleshova traveled thousands of miles to compete on AGT. While Tuleshova performed in America since the show began its live rounds, last night was the first time that the India’s Got Talent winners and the Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions alums performed in person since the Judges’ Auditions. The show previously filmed the duo in their home country of India in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.
“After our audition, we were worried that we were going to miss the show due to coronavirus restrictions in India,” said Maraju Samanth. “It was amazing to perform in front of the judges in person.”
Meanwhile, Daneliya Tuleshova, who charmed the country with her brilliant covers of Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times,” Jessie J’s “Who You Are,” and Sia’s “Alive” stated that she is focused on bringing her career to America once the show finishes.
“After the show, the first thing that I want to do is move here,” said Daneliya Tuleshova. “It would be too hard to be an artist here in America when I live in Kazakhstan. Once I move here, I would like to meet with music producers that I want to work with. Or I could write my songs.”
Brandon Leake & Kenadi Dodds
Howie Mandel’s Golden Buzzer act, spoken word artist Brandon Leake, and fan-favorite Kenadi Dodds were the last two acts to talk with me. Brandon stated that he was happy to help open up opportunities for other spoken word artists to compete on AGT’s future installments.
“The door is now kicked open for other spoken word artists to come on the show and be able to do what they do,” said Brandon Leake.
Meanwhile, Kenadi Dodds had her best showing of the season with her performance of Carrie Underwood’s “Love Wins.” She believed that AGT helped her trust her intuition.
“AGT has taught me to follow my gut and fight for what I believe in,” said Kenadi Dodds. “Whatever comes my way or whatever people try to get me to do if it is not right with me, I can stand up for that.”
Tonight, a plethora of superstars such as Ava Max, Blake Shelton, Deadly Games, Julia Michaels, OneRepublic, and V.Unbeatable are scheduled to appear on the Season 15 finale.
