S17.E08: Auditions 7

[Mr. Sparkle]

Seventh round of auditions airs Tuesday, July 19th, 8:00 PM EDT. 

[Tango64]

African dance/gymnastics group: yawn, seen it a thousand times before.

New Jersey singer: surprisingly good. Most singers just bore me.  
 
Saxamaphone guy: stupid

Korean theme songs: intro was better than the act. 

Trauma ballet: God bless them but not very good. 

Chandelier: Of course she’s from Ukraine. Just another of these acts.

NPR whip guy: Very good looking guy, charming, but his act is not much. Stupid faux danger with Simon and his bad acting.

Harlem choir: Lame. But Mama had a nice wig.

Howie dancers: Foolproof way to get votes. But what next? All gimmick.

Amanda: Nice.  Can’t snark.

Lazy Generation: Simon commiserates about the long flight from London. They flew coach, Simon. Stupid act.

Seoul magician: Happy for him, but pretty simple tricks set to music. Nothing complex. Simon was right.

Chapel Heart: I love Dolly and Jolene too. Pretty good. Got a real “big girl who can sing but needs thin girls to make it work” vibe, though. Shouldn’t need that. Or maybe they’re a genuine trio; I hope so. A golden buzzer I can support.

 

[Maverick]

6 minutes ago, Tango64 said:

Lazy Generation: Simon commiserates about the long flight from London. They flew coach, Simon.

 I'd be shocked if he flew commercial.  He definitely seems like the "if it's not private it's steerage" type. 

11 minutes ago, Tango64 said:

Got a real “big girl who can sing but needs thin girls to make it work” vibe, though. Shouldn’t need that. Or maybe they’re a genuine trio;

 So were The Supremes and Destiny's Child.  Which is kind of how it felt with them only praising her and referring to the other two as 'all that stuff going on around you'.   

[ams1001]

Maybe it's just nostalgia speaking but I loved the TV theme song group.

The Gang of Howies was hilarious. And pretty good dancers. At least what I could see of them...

Yu Hojin (magician with the feather and picture frame) was posted on the AGT facebook page four days ago. I know I don't pay as much attention as I used to but when I saw it there I was thinking, "how did I miss this entire performance?" Oh, it's because it hadn't aired yet.

I liked the girl group with their answer to "Jolene." (Not that I caught all the lyrics..)

[Tango64]

1 minute ago, Maverick said:

 I'd be shocked if he flew commercial.  He definitely seems like the "if it's not private it's steerage" type. 

Yes, that was my point. THEY flew commercial and he came over in the most luxe way, but Simon was still trying to say, “Oh, I know, it’s such a terrible journey.”

[rr2911]

I'm going to call this season of AGT for what it is......lame.  There hasn't been any acts that really have jump out at me with the exception of the magician brothers from last week.  There are only a few acts that I want to give my opinion....

.  The African Dance group were good.  Although there has been other similar dance groups.  This group just seemed genuinely happy to be on AGT.  I would not have minded if the "group GB" would've been used on them.

.  The NJ singer looked like he wanted to sneeze!  Not very good.  Oh by the way, Gesundheit!

.  The Harlem choir just wasn't very good.  Simon gave them another chance which I think is unfair.  They looked like a high school musical and the second song, Amazing Grace, they butchered completely!

.  The final performance of the night was Chapel Heart.  I liked them and they were very good.  I knew they were getting the GB because they were the last act and I was good with them getting it because they didn't have a sob story or any sympathy card attached to them....until they mentioned there aren't many country singers that "look like them".  Oh Lord!  I guess they haven't paid any attention to country music lately.  There are numerous country singers that look like them.  In the end, there is always a spin of some kind that is attached to the GB recipient. 

Why was I expecting anything different?

[Vermicious Knid]

I hate country but the Jolene clapback was pretty good. There are more now, but the number of black and brown people in country music is still very, very low and it's entirely valid to say there aren't many who look like them. Not sure if they rate a GB, but they aren't diabetic and the house burned down while Dad is being treated for cancer and they're homeless :/.

Simon said there's an audience for the Lazy Generation type of humor. Yeah, people who like Mr. Bean and some of the broad Monty Python gag sketches and other British slapstick. I don't think it will go over as well in the US.

[Neet]

Amoukanama - These guys were complaining about living in West Africa being a hard life, yet they're all muscular with straight and white teeth. Really says something about the quality of life in the 'greatest country in the world' when they're desperate to be slumped in an office chair eating takeout lunches. It's really pointless to try and make sense of how an act is going to formulate an hour-long Vegas show because nobody involved ever cares about that, but this is one of those acts that begs the question of how this is scale-able. It's also difficult to give praise for a type of routine that has been done to death on here, though it still required talent. It's all just so hard to sit through.

Sam Cieri - Him fronting a band that has a big TikTok following gives me confidence that adult males spending hours a day on there is perfectly well adjusted behavior. During his intro, he said he just had his first month of paying bills from making music. You could wonder why he'd wait years to audition for AGT until realizing this is the show that spawned acts like Forte, so profitability is proven to be an afterthought here. Anyway, his voice sounded like he was throwing it like a ventriloquist because it seemed to be placed so low in his throat. Upon a rewatch, it still looks like his voice isn't coming from his mouth. Yet another singer yelling their heart out while I sit there with a thousand yard stare of indifference.

Maytree - I'm thankful that not every Asian country has a one child policy that favors male births, otherwise I'd have nobody to stare at during this performance. Women are fully independent beings in control of their own life until the routine turns boring, in which case I know a man fucked up somewhere. Seems like interpreters are overused because many of the foreigners on the show can speak some English, but the producers notice that an act speaking unintelligibly before someone else of their race translates makes the audience perk up like a jack in the box popped open. (they find it funny/entertaining, for some reason) Any act that makes these quick nostalgic bits as the focal point is bound to be reduced to fodder in a hurry. Apart from a brief "I remember that", there's not much meat to it. It was also weird that they picked the show Cheers as one that the entire audience is supposed to recall when it's several decades old. An overweight guy with curly hair drinking every day probably wasn't a catchy premise in Korea, much less the phrase "where everybody knows your name" when their names are all 50 characters long.

Ballet After Dark - They were most likely not the 'black and yellow' that Wiz Khalifa referred to many years ago, which I know to be true and yet say it anyway because there's not much else to write for them. For a show that loves to overshare every personal detail about jugglers and their suicidal ideations or what have you, this group revolving around trauma and overcoming it kind of glossed over that. The group was made of women except for just one man, which probably makes the nervous Tupac defenders claim that a man involved with ballet doesn't imply anything else.

Svitlana Rohozhyna - A woman with un-ascertainable facial expressions as a result of Botox wanting to strip in Las Vegas is only noteworthy because she travelled beyond borders to do it. The vast majority of people seem to not know what's going on in Ukraine (nor do I), as the news is always passed down like a parent breaking serious matters to a child. "Things are bad over there", and that's it. This was the thousandth interpretation of the aerial hanging-from-tether routine, so it was too repetitive to care about.

Jack the Whipper - The nerve of this man to crack a whip several seconds before a non-sequential camera cut to Terry, a mere month after Juneteenth made me take a bat to the television. Aside from that, he had the classic douchey news anchor voice that emphasized the act's annoyance which would've existed regardless. Some of these pointless acts get overly praised just because the performer behaves like a showman and draws it out forever. In the obviously rehearsed gimmick, Simon hits the X and is brought on stage to almost get hit in the groin. The average American is proudly circumcised, so the pain factor probably didn't translate very well.

Sing Harlem - The leader of the group introduced them by saying they're from "Harlem, USA", which displays how aware they are that very few Americans are on the show. I really resonated with the lyric of "free your mind, don't be so shallow" while scanning the group for 'the hot one'. The vocals were alright, but the choreography was so bad. I kept thinking some of the members would start doing backflips because the group would clear room on the stage as if something was going to happen.

John Glenn High School Dance Team - A group of bald men who sound like girls is pretty much the average man in 2022, so the Howie costumes could've been more specific. They said they wanted to change his mind about dancing groups, and proceeded to do the same Rockette leg kick that all of these one-dimensional groups do repeatedly. Similar dancing as the 'hooray, it's a clipshow I don't have to watch' celebration from a few weeks ago. It really was not good.

Amanda Mammana - Her last name is presumably a lot shorter than that, as I figure that the speech impediment still translated to writing it out. I wipe a tear away instead of trying to make sense of that statement. This show is already so freaking long that bringing out a contestant who takes 5 minutes to get to the point feels like the ultimate taunt from producers. A fair amount of people on the internet fake disabilities for fame and sympathy on social media, so this 'it goes away when I sing' explanation is a bit dicey and has been used before. Medical research may argue that music is processed in a different part of the brain than speech, which could hold water when I gleefully pirate albums from struggling artists but would never stick up a convenience store. Anyway, her original song wasn't really that special IMO, though most of them usually aren't. At least the girl was cute, until I realized that she would never talk to someone like me. (circumstances notwithstanding)

The Lazy Generation - The Jackass franchise ruined itself by featuring women that don't do any real stunts, so it must need a replacement. The "anti-performance" acts are getting pretty tiresome and seem to be critiqued on a whim when it's always the same. Some fat guy makes a serious face before the silly circus music plays and they act out a forced meme that Simon occasionally praises for no reason. I thought the point of this was to show all of the members doing painful stunts, even though none were that bad, but it's apparently a comedy act. It makes sense that a bunch of Brits who never see the sun are into self-harm because of vitamin D-deficiency causing psychosis, but that didn't make it good.

Yu Hojin - I initially thought that him being a South Korean man above 5'4" was the magic trick, which made everything else feel subpar. Magic isn't real anyway, (sorry to disappoint anyone with a full size witches' cauldron in their living room) but wearing a black shirt looked to be the secret to hiding all of the objects from view. With few exceptions, it feels like magic becomes more boring the closer up it's shown. Every second magician is Asian for some reason, perhaps trying to shirk the stereotypical parental expectations of being a doctor. That would make sense if Yu didn't mention his Dad finding out about his talent and instantly demanding he become the best at it.

Chapel Hart - Dolly Parton is another artist, similar to Elton John, who is totally revered as a pop culture icon, yet receives the collective middle finger when inquiring about playing any of their discography from the past 30 years. Same with Prince; you can only make so much uninspired crap until your legend status is revoked. As expected, they did a retooled version of the only song people are familiar with. It wasn't even bad, which is surprising when nearly every act on AGT comes with a large sigh. Still not Golden Buzzer worthy, which isn't even a valuable thing anyway, though I suppose capitalizing it means I've fallen for the marketing. On another side note; why are the three women all related and look nothing alike? Not like I want the other two to be obese enough to call themselves Density's Child. It was at least refreshing for a Buzzer to be given to an act that didn't have a sob story, and future original songs may prove them to not be a fluke.

Does every season of AGT have 8 audition episodes? This is becoming torturous, though it's a different kind of pain to see the familiar faces in the next rounds and realize we're stuck with a bunch of unchanging tripe for another two months.

Edited July 20, 2022 by Neet

[InternetToughGuy]

I have a hard time believing Howie was out for 2 weeks with you know what since 90% of cases consist of 24 hours of feeling fine - I really hope this Winter I can be forced to foreclose on my business again over it.

///

Amoukanama - I've said this before, but I don't get how supposedly starving men end up having a normal or even good body composition, much like prisoners in jail somehow getting ripped when the food is apparently deprived of nutrition. Anyway, leave it to men of a nationality 7000 miles away to bring back the tradition of speaking English in America, never mind me forgetting half of my own vocabulary due to immersing myself in Japanese porn 23 hours a day. As for the act, I'm pretty sure there are at least 5 of these identical acts in just this season, so I don't know how you are supposed to feel about seeing it again.

Sam Cieri - I really do feel bad for anyone pursuing music these days, since now that everything is online, you need to hope your songs get 100,000 daily streams by the time you get to Starbucks to afford the whipped topping upgrade. Maybe not that bad, but without the modern Lou Pearlmans of the world to push talent based on amount of possible alone time he'll have with you, you really do need to live out of your car and play bars everyday and all that crap that would take away the idea of it being glamorous. Anyways, a rare time I liked his voice and the song was decent.

Wenzl McGowen - Apparently he was born in Spain and lives in New York. Serious question, why does it seem like people can just choose to move to the US whenever they want? The many times I've looked at it, it seems way more complicated than that, despite the innumerable examples of the contrary. I thought it was pretty pointless.

Maytree - The old woman who said she was kicked out of the other group, I don't know if it's because women older than 23 become invisible to me, but I don't think I saw her do anything, though I guess pretending to be included in here is better than rotting away in a nursing home. (edit - I guess she was just the translator, I was somehow confused). I was pretty neutral about the actual act and now that they've used up a good amount of known theme songs and modern entertainment is copying old entertainment, I wonder if they'll have to resort to humming the theme of the all-black Wonder Years reboot, in which the crowd will be obligated to clap along to so they aren't cancelled.

Ballet After Dark - Seeing as how this is a group for survivors of violence in Baltimore, I'm wondering if the other 600,000 members had to work that day. From what was shown, it looked as impressive as Neil Armstrong's supposed accomplishments, though to give this act a leg up, this actually happened. I don't see what the big deal was.

Svitlana Rohozhyna - The intro made me tear up so much, I donated $100 to the relief fund and then immediately traced the money's whereabouts to the bank account of a government official completely unrelated to the cause. A good deed indeed. I was totally off about the apparent story trying to be told by this act, other than naively assuming that her hanging from the ceiling with something around her neck had to be over an online relationship with someone she's never met having ended. Sometimes my patheticness astounds me. It was another copy of the act we've seen 1000 times.

Jack the Whipper - I didn't think this was that great, though Simon made a better stand in than Howie for communicating the fear of having your sack hit, due to most men in North America being totally numb down there from the totally normal procedure of getting part of it cut off when you're a day old. Already hovering in the dangerous 95th bottom percentile of size myself, I can only count my blessings that I was spared.

Sing Harlem - With the U.S. plummeting ever faster into a third world slum, there are probably more Harlems in America than Springfields, which is why the leader probably couldn't specify which one they were from. Supposedly they have performed with a lot of celebrities and for some reason MJ's Big Blog has added that 2020 American Idol loser winner Just Sam to that esteemed list, when in reality they were probably doing a concert in a venue while Sam panhandled outside and referred to it as a duet in an Instagram post the group nor anyone else saw. I honestly think Landau Eugene Murphy is a more household name, even if it's just the more family-friendly term you yell instead of shit when you stub your toe. Anyways, I don't get why people would pay to see a cover.

**Howie returns after likely washing his hands down to the bone and/or discovering he was fine the whole time.

John Glenn High School Dance Team - Seeing as how they are all girls but you couldn't tell, I am not sure if I should still overrate the act to the umpteenth degree. The "Mr. Flat Earth" song was a good fit; I can never tell if Pitbull or his music style is still popular, possibly because the economic prosperity that caused everyone to celebrate with nightly partying has given way to depressed drinking in isolation. It seems dance teams aren't too common anymore, at least the ones that aren't foreigners backflipping over each other, so this could be a mild favorite, whatever that means for a show that feels like waterboarding 95% of the time.

Amanda Mammana - I find it hard to feel much sympathy when even girls born without a head are still sung to and adored by the Troy Boltons of the world (anyone young enough to get the reference?), while even handsome men with so much as an ingrown toenail are forced to spend prom slow dancing with their stuffed animals at home. I don't get why people in the audience were crying unless performances happen in the same order in which they air and they realized there was still a good 30 minutes of crap left.

Alex & Daria - A short clip, though the brief reminder of climate change with them skiing in July makes me excited for when I am forced to surrender my right to drive. We must save the Earth (the one whose shape has yet to be fully confirmed).

The Lazy Generation - They look pretty old to be a part of the actual lazy generation, never mind the fact that none of them audibly cried over being separated from their iPads for 5 minutes. The concept of the act was good, but the stunts were pretty boring. If this group is like the majority of male friend groups these days, the feeling of the violence towards each other being real would be increased if the overweight single mother they were all vying for were allowed to be on stage. Seems promising.

Professor Murat’s Flea Circus - This is an act that could be on TickTok, not just for the stupid pun, but the entertainment value is probably about 15 seconds maximum. I don't even know if it was supposed to be real.

Sergio and Lucy - A likely gay guy pretending to be a man and a woman at the same time is somehow seen as entertainment instead of concern for where society is headed. I pretend to wag my finger, but this collective behavior helps drive down the price of estrogen on the black market, which I buy in bulk after being filled with nonsensical ideas of my true self after repeat viewings of the new Sailor Moon movie.

Yu Hojin - South Korea is a country of magicians due to them not being at war yet pulling reasons to continue conflict out of thin air. Since every man there is required to serve in the military, it'd be the worst country for me to engage in stolen valor, since I would feel disrespected that my falsified stories of heroism wouldn't be thought of as special. Anyways, I thought it was pretty boring, since it had that usual pretentious touch to it and was way too slow. The multiple uses of feathers made me remember that chicken is made from birds and not peapods mashed up into a nutrient-less paste - of all the conspiracies I spot (and straight up invent) how could I not see?

Chapel Hart - They reminded me a lot of Destiny's Child, a group where the most attractive member had all the talent and your only exposure to the other 2 members was when their music videos occasionally had a half second cut away of them doing a "tsk tsk" gesture to the camera. As far as this act goes, I will merely say the main girl is no Beyonce Knowles, though you'd more likely make association with the other BK abbreviation. The other 2 members seemed to contribute nothing, despite one of them being pretty good looking and still getting near zero camera time. Even though country doesn't emphasize being a bikini model, I can't think of any genre where looks don't matter at all other than indigenous music in Arctic Canada where no one knows what anyone looks like due to even a millimetre of exposed skin being potentially fatal, all album covers are just an ambiguous figure wearing a dozen coats of caribou, with the thickness of pelt being continued on the back of the CD case. Having talked about absolutely nothing this whole time, I actually liked the song.

///

The show was pretty bad. Can auditions end so we can see the people we already decided we hated perform again to confirm what we already knew?

Edited July 20, 2022 by InternetToughGuy

[Mr. Sparkle]

I actually thought this one was better than last week's, which was remarkably dreary, even for this show. Still, I think everyone is tired of auditions. 

• African Dance Group - likeable bunch, but we've seen this a million times. 
• Scratchy voice singer - good voice, but uninteresting. He's not going much further. 
• Maytree - maybe it's because I'm in the targeted age group, but I enjoyed this. It was different, anyway. 
• Sax player - dumb
• Ballet After Dark - sorry, but just awful. I wish them the best, but that doesn't make them good. 
• Ukrainian dancer - again, we've seen a million times, and we've seen it better.  
• Whipping Guy - a circus act. Moderately entertaining. 
• Sing Harlem - high school level of talent. Again, I wish them well. 
• Dancing Howies - so dumb, but a few of them were kind of hot. I feel weird typing that. 
• Amanda Mammana - I'll admit, I was kind of moved. Not a great voice, but the song wasn't that bad. 
• Lazy Generation - so dumb, but entertaining. 
• Flea Circus - obvious set up to give Xs. 
• Puppet dancer - I see a similar act in the subway all the time. It's funny when you're walking by, but it's not an act that goes anywhere. 
• South Korean magician - kind of cool to watch, but we've seen quite a few in the wake of Shin Lim, and this was subdued. Shin Lim had showmanship and charisma, which is what most of his imitators are lacking. 
• Chapel Hart - they were very good and professional. Of course they have 2 albums out already, so the "I hope we get discovered" BS is just that.

[InternetToughGuy]

6 hours ago, Superclam said:

Dancing Howies - so dumb, but a few of them were kind of hot. I feel weird typing that. 

The things you can admit when you have no fear of getting banned 😂

[Mr. Sparkle]

Having funny feelings for Howie Mandel look-alikes is not a bannable offense. It is an offense against a lot of other things, though. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

I can't believe I am typing this...that was one of the greatest audition round AGTs evah.  This is coming off one of the worst evah last week.

I think it's because the floor was not as low as it typically is.  Who was truly turrible this week?  It's also because the solo singers weren't as annoying to me.  

I about fell out when Simon dared express doubts about the Harlem group.  That has got to be a first for a group that ticks off so many cultural boxes.  It sure got my attention.  He was right, too.  On merit, they do not belong.  

The Forrest Gump magician did well.  I'm betting he has some more standard stuff to come.

But, ridiculously, the act that absolutely captured me was Maytree.  Part of it is that I was loving that an Asian group could take on seriously American music and not have a hint of Asian influence.  They are remarkable in this sense.  What utterly shocked me was the emotional reaction I had to their version of the Cheers open.  The universality of that song, presented by folks from as far away as imaginable from here, struck a very deep chord within me.  I never saw it coming.  I still can't believe I reacted so strongly.  Anyway, they are a classic exemplar of an AGT act.  They executed perfectly, too.

Why did the show go to the expense of setting up the stage for a GB, given that they had all been handed out?  Well, Lonesome, it's because they knew dang well they were gonna whip out the inaugural GGB.  Normally, I would be offended and otherwise not happy with such manipulation.  But, here again, I was completely taken by the spirit of the act.  Perfect song, perfect interview/set-up, perfect execution.  I know darn well they are professionals.  Their backing track was excellent.  I bet it cost them a pretty penny.  Yet, the moment made it all worth it.  I do wish they had not got a GB, though.  I want to see if this was a one-off, or if they really are all that.  We'll get one less performance to find out.

Is this really me typing this?  Have I been zombified?

Kudos to all concerned for hitting the mark on what the show could be.  Now back to regular, and disappointing, SYCO programming.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Lonesome Rhodes

[Chit Chat]

10 hours ago, Superclam said:

Chapel Hart - they were very good and professional. Of course they have 2 albums out already, so the "I hope we get discovered" BS is just that.

I really liked them!  Maybe their albums aren't getting the kind of attention they want.  I usually cringe when a singer says they're performing an original song, but so far this season, I've enjoyed several performers who have done their own material.  

I thought that their twist on Dolly's song 'Joleen' was pretty clever.  Here's hoping that Dolly will see the performance and make a positive comment about it.  

[Vermicious Knid]

Quote

Well, Lonesome, it's because they knew dang well they were gonna whip out the inaugural GGB. 

I'm pretty sure they've done a group buzzer at least once before.

Forgot about the flea circus, but watching it reminded me a few classic Warner Bros(?) cartoons with fleas.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

It would be no shock if Simon lied when he said it was the first time ever.

[ams1001]

1 hour ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

It would be no shock if Simon lied when he said it was the first time ever.

Are you suggesting this show engages in shenanigans?!?!

[Vermicious Knid]

Quote

Here's hoping that Dolly will see the performance and make a positive comment about it.  

She has, and she did. They also got an invite to the Grand Ole Opry. And are on Darius Rucker's next album, so yeah not exactly an unknown group.

[PBnJay]

On 7/20/2022 at 1:17 AM, rr2911 said:

Oh Lord!  I guess they haven't paid any attention to country music lately.  There are numerous country singers that look like them.  In the end, there is always a spin of some kind that is attached to the GB recipient. 

My current favorite country song is by Jelly Roll. Talk about a country singer who looks like no one else, and I mean no one else. His "Son of a Sinner" is No. 17 right now, and he's already been invited to and played The Opry. So yeah, I totally did not buy that bogus sob story about "No one looks like us."

I did like them though, a lot. And sorry they got the GB so I'll miss a performance that I could have enjoyed.

[PBnJay]

TMZ did a segment last night about the women country singers. Just as @Vermicious Knid posted, they've been seen/heard and given thumbs up by Dolly and Darius. The clip kept showing Simon looking all smug, and one of the TMZ people said, "And there's Simon thinking 'I've just made another million dollars.'" Which made me think AGT acts are under some kind of contract so Simon gets cash for any who "make it." True?

Edited July 23, 2022 by PBnJay

[Chit Chat]

5 hours ago, PBnJay said:

Which made me think AGT acts are under some kind of contract so Simon gets cash for any who "make it." True?

I don't know the answer to that, but I'm sure that Simon loves to be proven right if a person or group suddenly hits the big time after he's given them his stamp of approval!  However, I do think that Simon has mellowed over the years and is genuinely happy for those acts that go on to bigger and better things.  

[Mr. Sparkle]

7 hours ago, PBnJay said:

"And there's Simon thinking 'I've just made another million dollars.'" Which made me think AGT acts are under some kind of contract so Simon gets cash for any who "make it." True?

I'm not 100% sure, but if I'm not mistaken, Simon has first right to sign the act to his record label if he's interested. I know that's how it worked with American Idol. It's actually not a great deal for the artist if I recall. 

[InternetToughGuy]

On 7/23/2022 at 9:27 AM, PBnJay said:

TMZ did a segment last night about the women country singers. Just as @Vermicious Knid posted, they've been seen/heard and given thumbs up by Dolly and Darius. The clip kept showing Simon looking all smug, and one of the TMZ people said, "And there's Simon thinking 'I've just made another million dollars.'" Which made me think AGT acts are under some kind of contract so Simon gets cash for any who "make it." True?

If there's any validity to that, it would make sense how music acts seem to make up an unusually (and unbearably) large amount of the final round, though I can't think of anyone from this show who has succeeded at all, so unless Simon accidentally got botox injected into the rational thinking part of his brain, it doesn't seem like he'd concern himself with that. It's crazy to think that 15 years ago, the popular American Idol acts would take 6-12 months to release an album and it would sell 6 figures or more. Compare that to most people forgetting the AGT winner's name the next day; investing in that would be such a waste of money.

[Josh371982]

On 7/21/2022 at 1:53 AM, Vermicious Knid said:

I'm pretty sure they've done a group buzzer at least once before.

Forgot about the flea circus, but watching it reminded me a few classic Warner Bros(?) cartoons with fleas.

They have. They hit a group golden Buzzer for a little girl singer last season, can't remember her name currently

[Frisky Wig]

On 7/20/2022 at 1:00 AM, Neet said:

Amanda Mammana - Her last name is presumably a lot shorter than that, as I figure that the speech impediment still translated to writing it out. I wipe a tear away instead of trying to make sense of that statement. This show is already so freaking long that bringing out a contestant who takes 5 minutes to get to the point feels like the ultimate taunt from producers. A fair amount of people on the internet fake disabilities for fame and sympathy on social media, so this 'it goes away when I sing' explanation is a bit dicey and has been used before. Medical research may argue that music is processed in a different part of the brain than speech, which could hold water when I gleefully pirate albums from struggling artists but would never stick up a convenience store. Anyway, her original song wasn't really that special IMO, though most of them usually aren't. At least the girl was cute, until I realized that she would never talk to someone like me. (circumstances notwithstanding)

Internet a$$holes faking disabilities is indeed a thing, but stuttering does go away when someone is singing. I’m 38, have stuttered my entire life and I don’t stutter when I sing, my speech is fluent. A speech pathologist in high school told me it had something to do with the rhythm of music improving the flow of speech. 
 

I felt for Amanda and can’t conceive of getting up on stage in front of who know how many people and talking. It was nice to see a female stutterer like myself, since 3 out of 4 of us are male. Her song was ok, kind of generic, IMO.