At just 13 years old, Chase Varnes hit the America’s Got Talent stage to audition during the Tuesday, June 17, episode. The teenager told the judges, “I’ve been drumming since I was 4. Recently, about two years ago, I taught myself how to play guitar.”
Before he even sang a note, Simon Cowell noted to Sofia Vergara, “He looks like a pop star. Look at him!” However, the longtime judge wasn’t impressed by Chase’s first song choice, and asked him to stop after just a few lines.
Cowell’s response received boos from the audience, but he wasn’t willing to give up on the rising star just yet. He asked Chase to sing another song, and the teen went with “Life Goes On” by Ed Sheeran. Immediately, the room lit up with applause.
“You know, you remind me of a young Justin Bieber,” Howie Mandel noted, while Vergara added, “I know it’s nerve-wracking to be on this stage, but I thought it was better the second song. Simon always knows how to stop it and make it better. I think the girls are gonna go crazy.”
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Mel B. wasn’t quite on the same page. “You were great. You’re a diamond in the rough, you have so much potential,” she began. “But I can see your nervousness and you’re not quite there yet for me.”
Mandel and Vergara both gave Chase yeses, but Mel said, “Give yourself another year, then come back when you’re more confident. I have to say no. I’m sorry.”
So, it all came down to Cowell. Did he like the second song choice better? “Sometimes we have people who are your age and I’ll be sort of nicer because you’re young,” he started. “You, I actually do believe that you have something. I can tell how much you love music. You got everything going for you and the audience loved you. That’s why you’re going to get three yeses.”
Viewers fell in love with Chase, too. The comments section of the video of his AGT performance blew up. “Anytime a singer gets stopped by Simon, they always get better and he did an amazing job,” someone wrote. “Definitely think this kid could be going places in a few years time and will definitely be rooting for him,” someone else said. Another commenter added, “Great kid man, he has a great voice and to be willing to put himself up for criticism in front of the whole world at that age is just so insane and it takes so much courage to do that and I’m so proud of him. It worked out for him!”
The praise continued to pile in as someone else wrote, “I loved this young man. He’s very talented and I honestly think that going on, on AGT will help open him up to crowds and even help make him more determined,” and another person said, “He was just nervous, I think he’s got so much confidence and super talented, he’s going to go far as a musician.”
America’s Got Talent, Season 20, Tuesdays, 8/7c, NBC