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On the seventh night of the America's Got Talent Season 21 auditions, 10 more acts took the stage to perform for Simon Cowell, Mel B, Sofia Vergara, and Howie Mandel knowing that there were no more Golden Buzzers to be handed out. The acts vying to advance included a Howie impersonator, a German contortionist, a mariachi band of police officers, a construction worker that turns himself into a skate ramp, and a 19-year old magician.
This season, each of the judges and Terry Crews had two Golden Buzzers to hand out. The 10 acts chosen in that way earned a ticket straight to the live shows. Acts not originally chosen to advance, but who earned yes votes from three or more judges, could become part of the all-new Judges' Callbacks round hoping to get one of the 44 available spots in the live shows.
Over the course of the first six audition episodes, Howie used his Golden Buzzers on South Korean magic act Hundred Fingers and Cuban rapper Luke Taleno. Simon's went to singer Lai Noelle and one-legged parkour athlete Rubén Roldán Bustos. Mel went all-in for two singers: Isaac Atkins and Mackenzie Sol. Terry's two went to the dance crew-dog act Acro Crew and to Royal Lasers from Las Vegas. Sofia was the last to give out her second, handing her first to Australian vocalist Lara D. and her second to Ukrainian aerial pole artist Veronika Goroshkova.
Read on for our "Auditions 7" recap of the performances on America's Got Talent Season 21, Episode 7, which aired July 21 on NBC.
Howie Blandel
Talent: Impersonation
Votes Yes/No: Mel, Sofia, Simon
Buzzers: X - Simon, Sofia, Mel, Howie (Mel)
Mel's comments: "That was not funny. Did anybody laugh?"
Sofia's comments: "We had so many amazing contestants this season..."
Simon's comments: "Where this goes, I have no idea."
Howie's comments: "I love this guy."
The Sound
Talent: Family band
Hometown: Romeo, Mich.
Votes Yes/No: Yes - Mel, Sofia, Simon, Howie
Buzzers: None
Mel's comments: "I'm not really that big of a fan of country music, but this made me so happy and your harmonies were just perfection."
Howie's comments: "I loved it, thank you."
Sofia's comments: "That was amazing. I love country music... the voices. Everything was perfect."
Simon's comments: "Everyone's gonna like you, I mean how can you not? That was obviously a very safe, nice audition. That's the riskiest thing you can do... I think you should a song that you make into a country song. Going forward we have to go beyond the safe."
Cat Williams
Talent: Stand-up comedy
Hometown: New York City alley
Votes Yes/No: No - Mel, Sofia, Simon
Buzzers: X - Mel, Sofia
Simon's comments: "I genuinely have nothing to say."
Mel's comments: "Wait, I think you're the same guy that came on as Howie... I can tell you have the same shape face and you're exactly the same height."
Los Servidores
Talent: Musical group
Hometown: Southern Calif.
Votes Yes/No: Yes - Howie, Mel, Sofia, Simon
Buzzers: None
Simon's comments: "I don't think we were expecting that. I thought first of all it was just gonna be a choir, but then you started to play and I thought this is very happy music... the audience loved this audition I could tell."
Mel's comments: "What I like is you've taken a song and made it mariachi. I like that a lot."
Sofia's comments: "I loved it. It was amazing for me, I mean, I rarely get to hear mariachi here on the show so it got me really excited."
Manramp
Talent: Skateboard tricks
Hometown: Los Angeles
Votes Yes/No: Yes - Howie, Mel, Sofia, Simon
Buzzers: None
Simon's comments: "So what is this?... I thought it was a good audition."
Sofia's comments: "I've never seen a man ramp. You're very good."
Mel's comments: "At first I thought it was comical, but actually it's very practical."
Howie's comments: "It's like Tony Hawk without any bells or whistles."
Sarah Hardwig
Talent: Singer
Hometown: Nashville
Votes Yes/No: Yes - Howie, Mel, Sofia, Simon
Buzzers: None
Howie's comments: "That was beautiful and heartwarming and you are the epitome of resilience to show up here and sing your heart out... I love your message and I love your energy."
Mel's comments: "You've got a really good voice... your trills and the way that you control your voice is on point, but I feel like you could have given us so much more. I think you can go with an even bigger song because you can do it."
Sofia's comments: "Everything you did was amazing. I wouldn't change a thing. Your voice, the song, I think we all fell in love with you."
Simon's comments: "I understand where Mel was going. Auditions are our first introduction, however that was a really, really good audition. I really hope this boosts your confidence because you really, really have a natural gift."
Aidan Corcoran
Talent: Magic
Votes Yes/No: Yes - Howie, Mel, Sofia, Simon
Buzzers: None
Mel's comments: "What just happened? We had a lot of incredible magicians this season, but that's crazy. That's magic and mentalism and it was incredible."
Sofia's comments: "This is just the beginning for you because if you're 19 and you can do all this on a stage like this even though you were a little bit nervous... that was amazing."
Simon's comments: "As soon as you walked out, there's an air of mystery about you. People watching this are gonna go crazy in a good way."
Lou
Talent: Devil comic
Votes Yes/No: Yes - Howie, Mel, Sofia; No - Simon
Buzzers: X - Simon
Mel's comments: "Maybe I'm just tired, but I actually quite liked the devil."
Maria
Talent: Contortionist
Hometown: Germany
Votes Yes/No: Yes - Howie, Mel, Sofia, Simon
Buzzers: None
Mel's comments: "I was not expecting that. You look like such a really sweet girl next door and then you do that."
Howie's comments: "We've seen contortionists before but you seem to go beyond the point of where most people have been... that was amazing."
Sofia's comments: "It was so crazy to see you like right here doing all that. You make it seem so easy, so effortless, you're smiling and standing really cute like it's nothing. Meanwhile it looks like you're about to break in six pieces."
Simon's comments: "That was actually brilliant. Your story, your confidence."
Pynk Beard
Talent: Band
Hometown: Birmingham, Ala.
Votes Yes/No: Yes - Sofia, Mel, Howie, Simon
Buzzers: None
Mel's comments: "Wowza, wowza. This is not my normal go-to music, but you made me fall in love with this genre of music... you made me feel really happy."
Sofia's comments: "Loved it, loved it, loved it. That was a perfect audition... the energy, the joy that you bring the people."
Howie's comments: "I believe that not only was that a good audition, I believe that we just heard a hit."
Simon's comments: "That was really, really fantastic. I'm with you, Howie. I think that's a hit song. Such an amazing feeling when everything goes right... I just love you. If I had [a Golden Buzzer], you'd be getting it."
Judges' Deliberation
After the conclusion of all the first round auditions, the judges met back up with the task of narrowing down about 100 acts that received yes votes to only 34 that could advance to the live shows. The other 10 spots to make the 44 total were already claimed by the Golden Buzzer acts.
Right away they named "a number of acts that are no-brainers" like Pynk Beard, dance group Come Here, choir The Community ATL, robot dance crew Unitree, and singer poet Guy Kelton Jones. They also called out a number of magic acts, including Young & Strange, Darrell Moten, Kameron Marshall, and Geno Ploeger. Singer Jesse Joe, comedian Cris Sosa, variety performer Cesar Dias, comic Lachlan Patterson, the Jesse White Tumblers, and aerial duo Holland & Sienna all got mentions as well.
Because he wasn't fully satisfied with what they've seen of a number of the acts so far, Simon suggested that instead of making a decision now that they invite some to return for a second chance performance in the all-new Judges' Callbacks round. Instead of showcasing their talent to all of the judges, Simon asked that each judge welcome about five or six acts to perform for them alone for one last chance to make a strong impression. Simon said that it would be "really interesting and fun and good for the contestants."
