In this moving performance, Brandon Leake earns the golden buzzer for America’s Got Talent’s first spoken word poetry audition.
This 27-year-old from California just left his job teaching high school English and is now a counselor at a community college. Before his audition, Brandon shared a little about his life and how he grew up in a neighborhood where drugs and gang violence were rampant. His mother had to work multiple jobs in order to make sure that he was provided for.
During his teen years, Brandon let out his frustrations through creativity. “Writing was most certainly an escape for me,” he shares. Now, he volunteers by running poetry workshops to help the youth in his city.
“I do like my job. But in terms of my passion, what I would love to do is being able to turn my art into my full-time work,” Brandon explains.
After Brandon tells the judges that he will be the first spoken word artist to appear on AGT, Simon Cowell seems a little apprehensive about judging his first poetry audition. Brandon says, “I’m a great intro for you. I bring more about life experience, things that every-day people go through.”
Brandon goes on to share a spoken word poem about his sister, Danielle. As you listen to his words, you find out that his little sister died when she was young.
“Her smile is as wide as the universe. Her eyes they glimmer like the stars. She is my world and my sister,” he says. “And that’s the cost of love. Caring for someone so much that you can’t imagine living life without them. Staring at a grave like ‘How bout I trade my six feet for yours,’ but that’s not real.”
As Brandon ends his poem, the judges reflect on what they just watched.
“My brother passed away the same year that your sister passed away,” Sophia Vergara says. “I can feel your pain. I know what this is. I know what it is to have somebody taken from you without you knowing. But it was very beautiful for me.”
“What an amazing tribute,” says Simon Cowell. “There’s something very, very special about you. This is a very difficult thing for me to judge. I shouldn’t be judging it. I just want to compliment you on what you just did because it was extraordinary.”
Howie Mandel is the last judge to speak. “It’s amazing to me that on season 15, it’s the first time that we’re hearing somebody’s spoken word,” he says. “There was something more raw in the way it’s like singing and talking and just being a human acapella. No music, no nothing, just a raw heart beating in front of us. We feel your pain, we feel your love, and you moved me to do this.” Then he presses the golden buzzer!
Brandon is in total disbelief. What an amazing moment! We can’t wait to see him and more of his spoken word at the AGT live show!
Loren Allred performs a stunning rendition of ‘Never Enough’ with David Foster.
This popular tune was featured in the movie, The Greatest Showman. The film was released in 2017 and starred Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams. It told the story behind P.T. Barnum and how this showman created the Barnum & Bailey Circus.
The music featured in the film because an instant classic. One of the most popular tunes is ‘Never Enough.’
“All the shine of a thousand spotlights
All the stars we steal from the nightsky
Will never be enough
Never be enough
Towers of gold are still too little
These hands could hold the world but it'll
Never be enough
Never be enough
For me”
Loren Allred is actually the singing voice behind Rebecca Ferguson's character of Jenny Lind in the film. Loren’s rendition of ‘Never Enough’ became a worldwide phenomenon and capitulated Loren to international recognition. But many remember this incredible performer as a contestant on season three of The Voice.
Loren was eliminated during the live shows, but her appearance led to career opportunities that eventually landed her the part in The Greatest Showman.
Today, Loren is performing the iconic tune as part of the PBS event “An Intimate Evening with David Foster.” With famed composer David Foster in piano, Loren belts out these words so many of us have connected with.
There is no doubt that this song will go down in history as one of the greatest musical numbers and this performance is just as flawless.
This is a cool trimmed clip from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVt81..., where Vic Mignogna, an anime voice actor who is a Christian, tells a bunch of protesting street preachers saying that God loves anime fans as much as He loves them.
This is actually true, for according to John 3:16, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
I used Kapwing to trim and edit the original video. :)
It is not ok to take a video or picture of your acts of kindness. Doing that shows insensitivity and the works of EGO. Be sensitive to the person you're kind to by offering them the courtesy of privacy.
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