u/Personal-Finger-9148

Not sure if there has been a thread on this as I don't really want to go through the last 10 days or so of posts, but I thought I would rank (and have others rank) her best performances of the five (which includes the results show) from her winning season.

For the record, this is about what I feel like were his BEST performances, not necessarily my favorites, as I still think the audition was probably my favorite but not necessarily her best.

1. "Hysteria": The Callback: I know a lot are going to say Zombie here, but I thought this was where her vocals were the best. She actually made me like this song because of how good she sounded and performed it. I would much rather hear her version than Muse's. Her voice was on point, and she showed a lot more confidence here. She also killed it on the guitar, particularly the middle portion. But her high notes were 100% on point.

2. "Blackhole Sun: Quarterfinals: While the callbacks were about her voice, this was about her stage presence. She absolutely dominated the stage, and got the crowd going insane. Had a friend who went to this show who said it was the loudest he ever heard it in all his years of going to lives. The performance itself was really good, but what made it was just how good of a job she did putting on a show. She proved here she knows how to work a stage and get an auidience revved up.

3. "Zombie:" The Audition: As I said, it's probably my favorite one because I love the song and enjoyed watching Simon's reaction here. It was that look of "Okay...we may have something special here." But I ranked it third because she didn't show as much confidence as she did in the two I have ranked above and didn't use the stage as well as those other two. But she still nailed it with the guitar and her voice.

4. "Seven Nation Army": The Finale: I will say this...while I wasn't thrilled with this performance, it wasn't necessarily her fault. I think the acoustics weren't good, and she shouldn't have played with a band. That hurt the acoustics. If she did this solo like the other 3, this would have been an absolute rock show and sounded much better. I also thought it was too short. It left me wanting more. After she finished, I found myself saying, "That's it?" Still, despite the acoustics, her voice was on point and she dominated the stage.

5. Performance with Linkin Park: Results Show: She did a great job playing with this band. But her voice sounded like someone who had just put on a concert the night before (which she did) and had been practicing for two weeks. She was clearly exhausted. Her voice was a bit off. But I still enjoyed it.

It's been very diverse. So far, the eight acts to advance are a dog act, magic act, guitar/singer, rapper, aerialist, dance group, light show, and dance/magic. Last year, I think we had like 7 solo singers/rappers in the finals. I'd expect the diversity to continue, with a couple comedy acts like Cesar Diaz and Young/Strange possibly moving on. You also have Ruben, an impressionist, a swallow swordsmen, and a poet all who have good chances of making it to the next round.

Now let me get to the obvious topic....Nene. Yeah, I'm tired of hearing about her, but I'm not tired of watching her performances. She's so good. I've seen acts go viral, but she's exploding at a rapid pace right now...and it's in America, too. I mean, her poster was plastered in Times Square. It's been a locomotive train that just keeps picking up steam. Why? She's a 16-year-old girl that can rock out and sing. You can search the entire country and you'd be lucky to find five female teenagers who even do this at an amateur level. This is like going to be a baseball game and watching a female play with the men and hit them out like Babe Ruth. It's different...and America loves different. And she's really good at what she does. Like Nikki Glaser said, I'd go to a concert to watch her just for the guitar or singing alone...and she can do both. I had a friend in the audience at the live shows (he goes every year) and he said of all the years he's been going to them, he's never heard that place louder than it was that night.

If the finals were held next week...she'd destroy the field. But it's not...and with the finals in three weeks, she could cool down a bit. I do think she's a heavy favorite. Someone's going to have to be like Chris Turner and be another fan favorite to beat her. That's why I think Geno Ploegger may have the best chance. The people really like him...they were chanting his name in the results show. He has a really engaging personality and feels like an underdog in this competition. And magic acts can overperform. Who would have predicted Anna De Guzman runner-up?

All that said, I want more comedy. I am really hoping Cesar Diaz, Young & Strange, and Cameron Longsdon do really well. Sorry Daniel Alvarez, I don't have high hopes for him. It's crazy to think we really don't have a solo singer advance yet, but that will change with Lara D and Lai Noelle. But they may be the only two solo singers that make it to the finals.

I don't buy it. I mean Nene Royal in callbacks? Seriously? Bety? Vahtang? Simon getting five picks but Mel 3?

I'm not saying I know this for a fact, but I firmly believe they know well ahead of time who is going through. I think some of them are actually told so and have to put on an acting face. I'm sure some were acts who were on the fence, but they also chose a few acts that were the best and wanted to give them extra air time for ratings so people will watch. I mean Nene performing is going to draw people to watch. It was one of the most viral acts in AGT history. So, of course, they want the ratings. If you watch her audition, Howie was in love with her. Why would he bring her back for a callback? It doesn't make sense.

So I think they know. It's all for TV and ratings.