Changing of the Guard

I can't help feel there is a changing of the guard going on. Luciano Pavarotti passed away in 2007, the same year that the first Got Talent sensation, Paul Potts, came to prominence singing 'Nessun Dorma,' and selling two million albums worldwide. Potts was followed immediately by a panoply of brilliant, even genius, performers, who have now become too many to name. Many were child prodigies.

I remember seeing the movie Bodyguard in 1992, with Whitney Houston, and thinking she had to be the greatest singer I had ever heard. Whitney sadly died in 2012 -- in hindsight perhaps a meaningful portent of something coming after her. In 2013, the year after Whitney's death, the nine year old Dutch soprano Amira Willighagen blew the world away, winning Holland's Got Talent. The following year, 2014, a seven year old Norwegian girl, Angelina Jordan, auditioned for Norway's Got Talent, singing 'Gloomy Sunday' in the style of Billie Holiday. Like Amira and Potts, she later won and went on to become an international sensation.

The beauty of these new singers, and the old-new style with which they perform, Amira Willighagen, Jonathan Antoine, Angelina Jordan, is wonderful to see. It marks a return to great stage performances -- and a nudging out of the drug concert.

Here is Angelina Jordon, now 14 years old, in 2020's 'America’s Got Talent: The Champions,' performing Elton John's 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' in a way it has never been sung, like a new song. The beauty of this performance and the attention of the audience waving lights is breathtaking. Just a feast for the eyes and ears. Enjoy!



In case you're curious, here is Jordan's original Got Talent audition performed at the age of seven.