An 11-year-old singer from Toronto will be competing in the Season 15 finals of America’s Got Talent.
Roberta Battaglia found out on Wednesday’s episode that she earned enough votes from viewers to advance to next week’s finale.
“I’m feeling so grateful,” she said.
On Tuesday’s episode, Battaglia performed a rendition of P!nk’s 2017 hit “What About Us.”
At her audition, which was taped in February and aired in June, Battaglia got a “golden buzzer” from judge Sofia Vergara after singing “Shallow” from the 2018 remake of A Star Is Born, enabling her to go directly to the live shows.
Last month, she performed Lauren Daigle’s “You Say” and earned praise from all four judges. (Daigle tweeted: "WOW girl you crushed it!!)
Battaglia started singing with her father Alessandro Battaglia when she was just three and has performed in English and Italian at events in Toronto for several years. Her YouTube channel has videos of Battaglia singing hits by pop stars like Miley Cyrus, Adele and Katy Perry.
AGT discovered Battaglia after her cover of “Shallow” on a Toronto morning TV show last year went viral.
Only one Canadian has ever won AGT – Vancouver-born magician Shin Lim in Season 13.
Despite the show’s popularity, singers who have won AGT have typically not gone on to fame and fortune.
Grace VanderWaal parlayed her Season 11 victory into modest success but previous winners Bianca Ryan, Kevin Skinner, Michael Grimm and Landau Eugene Murphy fizzled out. Neal E. Boyd died in 2018. Last season’s winner, singer Kodi Lee, has not followed up with any notable projects.
AGT boasts that its winner receives $1 million (all figures U.S.) but, in fact, the grand prize is about $25,000 a year paid out over 40 years. (The winner can choose to take a lump sum instead, estimated to be a little less than $200,000 after taxes.)
The much-hyped “headline show in Las Vegas” that is part of the grand prize is, in fact, simply the closing slot in a two-night show featuring AGT finalists.