Simon's 'AGT' Golden Buzzer Sara James Thinks She Has What It Takes to Be the Next Beyoncé
There are a lot of 14-year-old girls whose dream it is to grow up and become the next Beyoncé, but Simon Cowell’s America’s Got Talent Golden Buzzer Sara James, who won her first singing competition near her hometown in Poland when she was six years old, may actually have a shot at it.
Sara got a standing ovation for her June AGT audition of the emotional Billie Eilish song “Lovely,” and a slew of compliments from Simon, who said, “Sara, Sara, Sara, we’ve heard a lot of singers over the years, but wow! This wasn’t perfect, but you have a real star glow about you,” and so saying, he pushed the Golden Buzzer for her, making it a moment for Sara to remember forever.
Getting a Golden Buzzer from any of the judges is special, but for a singer to get it from Simon, who has famously helped launch the careers of artists such as One Direction (Harry Styles), Fifth Harmony (Camila Cabello), Leona Lewis, Il Divo, and Susan Boyle, to name a few, it has to be especially memorable.
“When Simon punched the Golden Buzzer, I was like, ‘What? No. No, that’s not true,’” Sara told Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “Obviously to get the Golden Buzzer from Simon Cowell is something unexpected, something literally I cannot believe. I’m grateful for that all the time. Simon also loves wonderful artists, and he’s such an amazing person. I love him. I was literally crying like a baby when I got the Golden Buzzer. You can clearly see on the video. I never cry, I’m not a crier, to be honest, and then I was crying like a baby, like, “Oh, my God. People are going to see me crying.”
As a result, Sara plans to do everything in her power tonight to get America to vote for her so that she is one of the two acts that will go through, but her ultimate goal is to win. She doesn’t want to let Simon down and she wants to demonstrate to America that she deserves to be there.
“I’m definitely going to put my whole heart in the song,” she says of her plans for tonight. “I cannot say much, but the thing I can say is that the song I’m going to sing is by a wonderful, colorful artist, a man. That’s the only thing I can say. He’s a wonderful artist and I am in love with this person for real. It’s going to be a wonderful, beautiful version of the song. I’m just definitely going to put into the song my whole heart and I hope that’s how I’m going to get America’s vote.”
Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC
During our conversation, Sara also talked about how it was Grace VanderWaal’s win that encouraged her to audition, how she came to music so young, and how she learned to speak English.
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How did your audition with America’s Got Talent come about?
From when I was a little girl, I was always so obsessed with AGT, I was like, “Oh, my gosh.” The person I was really, really obsessed with was Grace VanderWaal, the girl who won the 11th season of AGT. I was super obsessed by her. I was like, “Maybe I should try,” so I sent it and we weren’t really sure. We didn’t believe it would happen. I was like, “We can send it. We just have to follow the dream.” They said that they liked my video. I was like, “What?” It was just so, so crazy. I couldn’t believe it. When I heard it, I was like, “No, there’s no way that’s true.” We flew the whole way from Poland here and I’m here.
What are your plans if you do win and you do get the $1 million? Do you have an idea how you want to spend it?
To be honest, I am just 14 and I’ve never seen this much money in my life. I don’t even know how it looks. Obviously, the prize is amazing but for me it’s more about the journey that you have to make to get to that point.
What is the dream? Do you want to be a professional singer? Is there somebody whose career that you hope to emulate?
I’ve always [looked up to] Beyoncé, for example, the way she presents herself to the world and how wonderful she is. She is amazing. I’ve always wanted to perform, that’s my thing. I’ve always wanted to be on a stage and to show people who Sara James is, to write lyrics one day that people are going to love, and people are going to scream the lyrics at my concert.
I can heal people with my music, especially at this time. It’s not easy for everyone. I’m a teenage girl, I look on TV and there’s a lot of weird stuff going on right now. A lot of people are depressed and sad and lonely, so I just really want to create some beautiful music so I can heal people and so people really love my music.
You’re only 14 years old, so you have to have a parent with you. I saw your mom, Arleta Dancewicz, was with you at your audition. How supportive is she because you’ve been able to do so much, like winning The Voice Kids in Poland and you were the runner-up in Junior Eurovision.
She’s always been supportive. She’s my No. 1 supporter and she’s just so amazing. Obviously, we fight sometimes, like every mother and daughter. I know I’m not the best daughter sometimes, but I think she’s proud of me. Are you proud, mom? Yeah, I think she is. I think she said yes. She’s my No. 1 supporter, she’s always been. When I was a little girl, she was always driving me to music school. She was always the person who always believed in me. Always. I love her so much.
How did you come to music so young? Is your family a musical family?
Yeah, my dad, my mom, obviously, my grandma, my grandpa, my uncle, they’re all musicians. Everyone can play instruments and sing. That’s amazing. That’s why if I didn’t sing that would be really weird.
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Did you have any training? Or are you self-taught?
When I was little, my mom was like, “You sing really well.” A bunch of moms say that. I played my first concert when I was 6 years old. You know what I did? I was playing for my teddy bears in my room on a plastic piano, singing a Polish song. It was so funny. I even have a video of that. Then my mom was like, “You sing so beautifully,” and we went to the first small, small, small competition near our town. I won in the small competition; I won first place. I was just so happy about it, and I hugged my mom and all the judges. I was six at this time. That was the moment I realized that’s the thing I really want to do in my life, just sing.
How did you learn to speak English so well?
Thank you for that. To be honest, I’m really trying because I remember one year ago I was super scared to talk in English to people, especially people who, obviously, it’s their first language. I’m literally all the time so scared to speak English because, for example, you can see on my performance that I was repeating the words all the time. I watched it and was like, “Oh, my gosh, Sara.” I was all the time repeating the same words. I’m trying, I’m trying. I also learned because my dad is Nigerian [Note: English is the official language of Nigeria] and I talk to him in English … well, he understands a lot of things in Polish. Also, because I was always obsessed about movies and everything, I was watching in English, so that’s how I learned. It’s not perfect, but I’m trying to be perfect one day.
America’s Got Talent airs Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
