'AGT': Sophie Pecora, 15, wins Golden Buzzer from Brad Paisley with personal bullying song
A 15-year-old musician wishes she wasn't so quiet, but guest judge Brad Paisley heard her loud and clear.
Tuesday’s episode of "America's Got Talent" kicked off the first round of Judge Cuts, where 18 acts competed for only seven spots advancing to the lives shows in August.
Paisley joined the panel of judges for the night in hopes of seeing a "person who has a gift to give to humanity."
That is exactly what the Grammy award winning artist found in Sophie Pecora, and her original song about social media and bullying that included the lyrics: "Misfits have some powers that are really pretty rad."
"This song is probably the most personal out of all of them," she said about the ballad.
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Paisley was moved.
"I don’t think there’s maybe a more important issue now that social media is this thing that’s pervasive everywhere we look," he said. "Young people (are) not understanding that it isn’t that big of a deal when you look back at life. You have schooled so many people in this moment."
During the Judge Cuts, each guest judge is given a Golden Buzzer to advance one act straight to the live shows. Paisley bestowed that honor upon an unsuspecting Pecora.
"I never expected this to happen in my entire life," she said as golden confetti showered down on her.
Simon Cowell also chimed in, to give her some paternal advice.
"I say this as a father: Bullying is always going to happen but if you don’t care or even think about them, it means you win. You continue talking about them, they win," Cowell said. "And I don’t want you talking about these people ever again because they aren’t worth talking about."
The six acts joining Pecora in the live shows are the drill dance team Emerald Belles,
acrobat group Messoudi Brothers, beatboxing group Berywam, dog act Lukas & Falco, Ndlovu Youth Choir and singer and guitarist Chris Kläfford.
"America’s Got Talent" will return on July 23 for the second round of Judge's Cuts.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'AGT': Sophie Pecora wins Golden Buzzer from Brad Paisley
