12-year-old Shaheen Jafargholi walked onto the stage with confidence, excited to cover his favorite artist, Amy Winehouse. “I’m singing Valerie today by Amy Winehouse. I’m just singing it cause its one of my favorite songs to sing!” Shaheen tells the camera before his audition. “And my granddad really loves the song, so whenever I sing it, it makes him really happy.”
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From the very first note, Shaheen was met with applause and screaming from the crowd. But he got a very different reaction from Simon Cowell. Despite all the excitement from the rest of the room, Simon stopped Shaheen 25 seconds into his audition and said “You’ve got this really wrong. What do you sing apart from that?”
It seems that Shaheen did have a secret weapon stashed away. After the shock of Simon’s shut-down, Shaheen bravely composed himself and tried again, this time with Michael Jackson’s “Who’s Lovin’ You.” By the time he got the very first word of the song out of his mouth, everyone– Simon included– was on team Shaheen.
As Shaheen sings, the audience screams, Simon nods his head, and Shaheen totally slays. It’s a mind-blowing audition. When he finishes, he gets a standing ovation from the crowd and judges, plus a huge “yes” from all three judges.
Share if you too were blown away by Shaheen’s persistence and talent!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jedoArOy0pE
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