Nene Royal, 16-year-old rock star, wins America’s Got Talent AGT. Thailand’s first-ever winner has stunned the U.S. and bagged a cool $1 million. The teen from Phuket beat nine other finalists in a public vote to win the Season 21 title.
TV host Terry Crews announced the results on Wednesday, September 23, in the weekly NBC special, which aired late in the evening. It was already Thursday morning in Thailand, where Nene Royal – whose real name is Rattikarn Amloy – fainted on the stage when her name was read out. Magician Geno Ploeger was the runner-up, while the illusionists Hundred Fingers from South Korea took third. In addition to the money prize, the victor will perform a headline show in Las Vegas.
Nene Royal
Rattikarn’s talent scouts saw her busking on the street in the Naka Weekend Market in Phuket, where an American tourist, Sean, was so captivated by her music that he helped her with the English application forms and persuaded her to reapply after she was rejected several times. He even paid for the travel costs for Nene and her father, Narong, to Los Angeles for the auditions. She learned to play the guitar via online tutorials when she was 7. Nene Royal
Her extraordinary audition certainly sounds loud enough to have attracted a large audience. She sang The Cranberries’ “Zombie” while simultaneously playing a two-handed solo on the electric guitar and amazed the judges with the song midway through. All four judges have said yes to her participation. The clip has received more than 20 million views on the AGT YouTube channel.
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Nene played Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” during the live quarter-finals on August 25 and triggered Mel B’s Golden Buzzer. It pushed her to the final, where she did not need to win a single public vote. The teen played The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” and added a solo of her own during the first night of the final on September 22. Simon Cowell, who underwent spine surgery, missed the competition but YouTuber KSI took his seat in the judges’ box. Howie Mandel told the viewers to give Nene a million dollars on the night of the results.
Nene performed “The Emptiness Machine” with Linkin Park later in the evening. Her band’s co-founder Mike Shinoda told AFP that her performance was incredible. Thailand’s school friends and teachers have thrown her a viewing party. The principal, Gareth Eynon, told AFP that the moment she was crowned champion was electric. Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who starred with her in July, sent his congratulations from New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly meetings. Nene Royal
Meanwhile; Davido Lebanese family Dubai story goes viral — a $36K-per-night room, $50K dinner, AP watch for him, Rolex watches for all 15 staff. Full story inside. Nene Royal
So Davido met a family in Dubai. Lebanese family, random encounter — the kind you don’t think twice about. But these people apparently took a liking to him and did something that nobody, not even Davido himself, could have seen coming.
They invited him and every single person on his team — all 15 of them — to Lebanon, and covered absolutely everything. Flights, accommodation, the works. Nene Royal
That is already a lot. But wait.
The Numbers Don’t Make Sense — In the Best Way Possible.
The room they booked for Davido and one staff member? $36,000 a night. Not a typo. Then they took everybody to dinner and spent $50,000 at that one table. One evening, one meal, $50,000 gone — and from the way Davido tells it, nobody at that table seemed fazed in the slightest. Continue reading here
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