12-year-old Ansley Burns from Eastley, South Carolina, is a young girl with big dreams. Her energy as she enters the stage is infectious, and you can’t help but immediately love her before she even opens her mouth to sing! The song she picks is not necessarily what you might expect from someone so young. ‘You’re going to sing Aretha Franklin? At 12? Are you sure?’ A shocked Simon Cowell asks.
Think’ is an iconic song from an iconic vocalist, and even the most seasoned professional singers would be worried about tackling it, but Ansley doesn’t seem worried. Her audition, however, doesn’t get off to the best start as Simon quickly brings it to a premature end. He invites her to sing the song acapella to avoid the backing track drowning out her vocals. Ansley’s confidence doesn’t waver and the audition that follows is nothing short of mesmerising.
It is incredible that a girl so young can have a voice that sounds beyond her years, especially when singing a song by the legendary Aretha Franklin. Not only does Ansley have an incredible voice, but she also has fantastic stage presence. She struts up and down the America’s Got Talent stage like she owns it, and quickly has the audience on their feet and clapping along to her performance. And it’s not surprise that the judges are so impressed by her!
Judge Gabrielle Union gushes, ‘Your level of professionalism at 12…I mean, I work with people 3, 4, 5 times your age who don’t have the talent that you have in your little finger. You are really something special.’ Simon was just as complimentary telling her, ‘You just proved the point to me that personality is just as important as technical ability. It’s the person I remember.’ America’s Got Talent is not the first time Ansley has wowed with her vocals.
A year before her audition, Ansley went viral for singing ‘Cry Pretty’ by Carrie Underwood, another notoriously difficult song to sing. The viral video, uploaded by her mum to Facebook, racked up an impressive 14 million views and even attracted the attention of Carrie Underwood herself who was as equally impressed by Ansley’s voice as everyone else is! And with a ringing endorsement from a powerhouse in the music industry, there’s no doubt that Ansley is destined for greatness!
Since leaving the show, Ansley has continued to pursue her passion of music. In 2017, she won the Best Singer in the State of South Carolina in the Youth Division, as well as a host of other awards. Now, she is performing original songs and is poised to become an iconic vocalist in her own right. If you would like to see more from Ansley Burns, you can subscribe to her YouTube channel or follow her or Instagram. You can also visit her official website for more information.