Singing opera is already a coveted skill, and not an easy one to boot. But singing opera as a ventriloquist? We didn’t even know it was physically possible to do such a thing—but America’s Got Talent participant Darci Lynne has proven us wrong.
The 15-year-old Oklahoma resident is no stranger to the show. If you’ve kept up with the show, you’ll know her as the first place winner of the twelfth season of America’s Got Talent in 2017.
That’s where we became familiar with Petunia, Darci’s sassy rabbit puppet that she uses to speak through. When she was first trying out, her first performance was “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess, and it’s been love every since. In fact, her first performance was so amazing that one of the judges Mel B. pressed the golden buzzer, which allowed her to advance to the next round without hearing from the other judges.
Since then, each and every performance Darci made, involving a whole crew of comedic puppets, was exceptional, allowing her to receive that first-place prize of $1 million and a headline gig at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.
However, the next time she was invited back, she performed “Nutbush City Limits” and “Proud Mary” with her new puppet, Oscar, but did not receive enough votes to continue on.
Since Darci is still such a talented young lady, she was invited back once again as a “wild card” to perform once again—this time on “Americans Got Talent: The Champions.” And you better believe that she didn’t let her loss interfere. She took her performance to a whole new level.
When Darci stepped out onto stage with Petunia for her audition, she exclaimed through the puppet to the judges, “I want to sing Italian opera!”
Sing opera through a puppet? Even the judges looked a bit skeptical, even with knowing Darci’s talents. She’s never sung an opera song on stage before—which we all know is not an easy feat.
Well, any doubt that crept into the judges minds at first were quickly vanished. Suddenly, Darci had Petunia burst into one outstanding rendition of “O Mio Babbino Caro” (“Oh My Dear Daddy,” in Italian). And it was beyond exceptional.
It didn’t take the entire audience very long to start cheering and clapping, and remained doing so throughout pretty much the entire performance. After the song was over, Darci received a standing ovation.
“Wow, wow, wow, Darci!” an obvious blown-away Simon Cowell told Darci. “I actually believe this, for so many reasons, is your best ever performance.”
“It’s hard enough at your age to sing opera, but you’re doing it through a rabbit!” he added.
Uh, seriously!
He couldn’t hold back: “I think you’re going to win tonight,” he told her.
Yeah, her performance was THAT good. All of the other judges were just as stunned. To hear Darci Lynne sing through her rabbit, and to hear all the judges reactions to it, check out the video below.
The winner will be revealed during the “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” results finale airing at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 on NBC.
What do you think of Darci’s performance and ventriloquist skills? Do you think she deserves to win?