America's Got Talent: Simon Cowell calls Maya Neelakantan a "Rock Goddess"

America's Got Talent season 19 aired a brand new episode this week on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. During the segment, a 10-year-old guitarist, Maya Neelakatan from India, impressed the judges with her rendition of Last Resort by Papa Roach.

After the performance, the judges gave the junior performer a standing ovation and praised her skills. Simon Cowell even said:

"You know what I love about this audition? You just weren't expecting this. You were so shy, and you're 10! And then you turned into, like, this rock goddess."

He added that the guitar was one of the most difficult instruments to learn and noted that he gave up trying. Simon later clarified that his teacher gave up on him instead.

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Maya Neelakantan's rendition of Last Resort earns her four yeses in America's Got Talent season 19

In America's Got Talent season 19 episode 4, Auditions 4, one of the acts who took the stage was a 10-year-old girl from India. Maya Neelakantan started her performance on a softer, more traditional route but the musician soon turned it up and played the heavy metal song, Last Resort.

The transformation shocked the audience as the camera panned to a man yelling "woah" while another studio audience member screamed. Heidi Klum said "wow" during the act while AGT judge Howie Mandal's mouth stayed open.

The America's Got Talent season 19 contestant's performance was met with constant cheers and several audience members dancing to her tunes. After the performance, the judges and the audience gave her a standing ovation while Terry Crews noted that it was an amazing performance backstage with Maya's family.

Sofia Vergara asked her if she was just 10 years old and praised her energy and confidence. The AGT season 19 judge called her act a "perfect audition." Howie Mandal asked her who her inspiration was and she named Adam Jones, an American musician and songwriter, the lead guitarist of Tool, and Gary Holt for Exodus.

"I think you just picked yourself up a viral moment," Howie added.

Heidi Klum called the America's Got Talent season 19 contestant "absolutely incredible" and "gutsy." The judge added that everyone in the room loved what she did and told her she should be "very very proud" of herself.

Simon Cowell said he was the same age as the America's Got Talent season 19 contestant when he tried learning how to play the guitar.

"It is one of the most difficult instruments in the world so I gave up actually, no, actually my teacher gave up on me," he added.

Simon further said:

"You turned into, like, this, Rock Goddess and you know, that I believe now is the beginning of a career which I always say make noise amongst the noise and you just did that."

The judges voted whether they wanted Maya to move on to the next round and Sofia gave her the first yes. The other three judges also voted in favor of the singer, which meant she made it to the next round in excellent fashion.

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More about the show

The episode also saw Howie Mandel give Australian dance group, Brent Street his Golden Buzzer. Their audition started with 17-year-old Zach representing the group as he spoke to the judges. He then asked for the lights to be turned off as he ran to the center of the stage. He got under a black sheet and the performance started with the spotlight on the dancer.

As he danced to Hope by NF, hands started appearing from within holes in the sheet as the synchronized dancing began. Another dancer appeared behind Zach, followed by a group of people dressed in all white join the group.

The judges and the studio audience was impressed with the performance and Sofia called it the "coolest" thing she saw on the show. Howie Mandal said it was exciting and pressed his Golden Buzzer.

America's Got Talent will return next week with another episode on Tuesday at 8 pm ET on NBC.