When Cole Swensen, age 23, appeared on America’s Got Talent with his guitar at the ready, no one knew what to expect from this young musician. However, he managed to charm the audience quickly with his humble attitude, as he expressed how grateful he was for the opportunity to audition. Then, he charmed them even more when he shared that his mum, Judy, would be playing with him onstage, giving her credit for his musical abilities. What followed was a performance that was undeniably heartwarming.
With Cole on guitar and vocals, and Judy accompanying him on the cello, the duo performed a rendition of Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’ which is sure to have many of our Music Man readers moved to tears. They made it completely their own and won the audience with their rendition, with some viewers online leaving comments like “I liked this version much better than the original.” The video of Cole’s audition has now received almost 3M views in just over a week.
While it’s always special to see a young performer with such talent take the stage, one of the things that was most moving for me when I watched the performance was the connection between mother and son onstage. It was clear from the way Judy didn’t take her eyes off Cole for the entire performance, just how proud she was of him. Not only was their performance of the song a truly touching rendition, but to see two generations of talent join together onstage made for a truly special moment.
Cole shared that before he decided to audition for AGT, he had been playing at small venues around LA. He had also posted a few videos of his music on his YouTube channel. Overall, there is not much for fans of Cole to dig into just yet, although all that is bound to change since his appearance on the show. Since the success of his ‘Viva La Vida’ cover, he has now released a professionally produced official music video of his and Judy’s rendition, which has received 6k views in just 2 days.
Beyond talent, one of the things that many of our Music Man fans appreciate in an artist is authenticity, and it seems that Cole has that in spades. As Simon Cowell said after his audition, Cole’s success is in that he doesn’t seem to “follow the herd” and does things his own way. From reinterpreting a song in his very own style to collaborating with someone who clearly means a lot to him, to being visibly humbled and moved to tears by his audition success, Cole has charmed viewers by being himself and wearing his heart on his sleeve. No matter how far Cole goes in the competition, he is sure to have won himself a new fan base from this performance alone.