12-year-old James Miller was shaking off his nerves when he hit the Britain’s Got Talent 2026 stage, but what the young lad did with “Defying Gravity” had the judges in goosebumps and the stunned crowd with their jaws on the floor. The Wicked hit is infamous for its sky-high, technical vocal runs, but James is not your average schoolboy, to say the least! Check out the young talent’s a cappella take on that iconic key change at 2:44, and you’ll see why this is the most viral junior BGT audition of the year!
The Music Man has to say James already won the crowd over from the first note, but when he brought it home with that closing hook, he got the whole room on its feet. You could tell he’d delivered a slam dunk audition without the judges having to say a word. Once the crowd finally quieted down, KSI told James, “I felt like I was watching a Disney kids’ show. You just absolutely blew everyone away.”
Britain’s Got Talent uploaded James’s audition on March 21, 2026, where it hit 740,000 views in a little over a week. This made it the most popular audition of the year for James’s age group. Viewers at home were big fans of the youngster and added comments such as “Rarely does a kid have this level of vocal maturity. It moved me to tears. Should have gotten the golden buzzer!” and “Normally with kids you can hear some undeveloped voice and technique, but my, this boy’s control and technique was mind-blowing!”
Britain’s Got Talent has seen some truly epic kids’ auditions on “Defying Gravity”. One of The Music Man’s favourite auditions on the show is 12-year-old Beau Dermott’s take on the Wicked crossover hit. Her level of control over her tone, pitch, and dynamics was a total masterclass. Needless to say, the big key change outro was truly epic. 31 million viewers tuned in to the golden buzzer audition, making it one of the most popular junior auditions in the history of Britain’s Got Talent.
James got rave reviews from all four judges after he knocked his audition for six. Amanda Holden gave some quirky feedback, saying, “I cannot believe that a little sausage like you has the pipes for something so huge. Congratulations.” Guest judge for the episode, Stacey Solomon, kept the praise coming by saying, “Your parents must be absolutely buzzing. My favourite part of your voice is your falsetto. That was absolutely phenomenal.” All four judges said yes to James, getting him a well-deserved clean sweep audition on his Britain’s Got Talent debut.