Even though she failed to make the finals of “America’s Got Talent: The Champions,” Jackie Evancho still proved that she is indeed a champion. This 18-year-old opera singer returned to the “AGT” stage on Monday’s season finale and performed a breathtaking rendition of “Somewhere” while donning a blue ballgown. Jackie’s performance left judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Mel B and Heidi Klum all speechless as they watched in awe. Check out the powerful video above.
As host Terry Crews reminded us, Jackie is the youngest solo artist in “AGT” history to go platinum. She was only 10 years old when she first appeared back on Season 5 of “America’s Got Talent.” Despite being a front-runner to win that year, Jackie ultimately lost to singer Michael Grimm. However, over the next decade she persevered by releasing seven albums, with three of them debuting in the Billboard 200.
This year Jackie was asked to compete on spinoff series “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” as one of 50 acts from around the world. She was a part of the fifth group and chose to sing “The Music of the Night” from “The Phantom of the Opera,” saying that it was the show that originally inspired her to sing. Alas, Jackie’s performance didn’t impress the Superfan voters (card magician Shin Lim advanced instead) and so she was eliminated.
In her exit interview, Jackie said that performing alongside such legendary acts “meant the world” to her. She added, “I wanted to do ‘Champions’ because at this point in my life as an 18-year-old I wanted to kind of go on this journey of self-discovery, and what better way to start it than to take a look back at where it all began for me.” Jackie’s wish came true because she was “able to be a part of this big celebration of all of these amazing, talented people from around the world.”
Soon after Jackie’s performance of “Somewhere” in the finale, the winner of this first-ever season of “AGT: Champions” was revealed to be Shin Lim. Even though Jackie didn’t claim victory this time around, she can still gain solace in knowing that she’s one of the show’s most successful acts of all time.
