Just a few weeks after Poland’s 2021 Junior Eurovision singer Sara James made an appearance on the show, another JESC artist took the America’s Got Talent All-Stars stage, Daneliya Tuleshova. Daneliya was Kazakhstan’s very first contestant in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, being selected through a national final show. At the contest Daneliya’s song “Òzińe sen” finished in 6th place out of 20 entries.
Two years later Daneliya appeared on the fifteenth season of the competition show America’s Got Talent, being the first contestant from JESC to appear on the American version of the show. She is not the first JESC contestant to be on the franchise however, that distinction goes to JESC 2015 winner Destiny, who appeared on Britain’s Got Talent three years prior.
Also appearing on the 15th season was Australia’s eventual Eurovision 2022 artist Sheldon Riley who failed to make it to the semi-finals. Daneliya would place in the top ten of the season, losing to spoken word poet Brandon Leake – who also appeared on her episode of AGT All-Stars last week.
Now at 16 years old and living in the United States on her own, Daneliya returned to America’s Got Talent: All-Stars for another chance at impressing the judges and the American audience. For audition she chose to cover Duncan Laurence’s Eurovision 2019 winning song “Arcade”, staying true to the original composition of the entry. Following her performance, the judges and audience gave a standing ovation.
Judge Heidi Klum called her performance “stunning all the way around”, while Simon Cowell was amazed by her young age and courage to move to the US on her own. Howie Mendel said that “what you delivered was absolutely phenomenal”. He would go on to say behind the scenes that there are many singers in the competition, but few who are so unique and original that “even if it’s a song you know, it always sounds like her.”
However, despite this praise from the judges – the decision of who moved to the final was in the hands of the superfans, and they did not move her forward. Instead they voted to advance the winner of AGT Season 14 Kodi Lee, a blind and autistic singer and piano player who performed “Biblical” by Calum Scott during his audition.
The final of America’s Got Talent will feature acts from the United Kingdom, United States, Ukraine, Romania, Ireland, and the Philippines. It will premiere on Monday February 20th on NBC, with the winner being chosen once again by the show’s superfans on February 27th.
What did #YOU think of Daneliya’s performance on America’s Got Talent: All-Stars? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!
