Aidan Bryant says it was pop star P!nk who inspired him to conquer a fear of heights and become an aerialist.
The 16-year-old from Prince George, Virginia showed off his high-flying skills on the season premiere of America’s Got Talent, which aired on Tuesday.
“I’m completely self-taught,” he told the judges, including Canada’s Howie Mandel. “Everything has come from YouTube.”
Two years ago, Bryant saw a video of P!nk performing her signature aerial routine at one of her concerts. “She was awesome,” he said on AGT. (So far, P!nk has not commented on her protégé.)
“The first time I wanted to try it, I actually went to my grandma’s closet and got a bedsheet out and hung it up in a tree … and I started training on it.”
Realizing his potential, Bryant’s family started buying him the equipment he needed to hone his skills.
Bryant said he never felt comfortable with the hunting and fishing his peers enjoyed. “Ever since I was younger, I’ve always felt different,” explained the teen, who preferred to do crafts.
“There was a missing piece in my life. That’s how I ended up in a tree and I started seeing what I could do and what I couldn’t do.”
Bryant submitted a video to AGT and then auditioned for Season 16 via Zoom. In April, he taped his performance in front of the judges and a few other people inside the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in California. (Producers said the live audience viewers at home saw were added in digitally along with “shots from past seasons.”)
Bryant wowed the judges with a whirling performance set to the Zayde Wølf cover of the 1994 Tears For Fears hit “Shout.”
Although AGT hypes a million-dollar prize, it’s actually paid out over 40 years so most winners choose to take the lump sum option, which is typically in the low six-figures after taxes.
Watch Aidan Bryant on AGT below: