‘America’s Got Talent’s Terry Crews on What Makes 4 of the Contestants Special

Emily Aslanian August 12, 2019, 3:30 pm

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Terry Crews - Today - Season 68 — Nathan Congleton/NBC

The judges have made their cuts. Now it’s your turn to vote for your favorite America’s Got Talent acts: The talent competition’s live shows begin on Tuesday.

Currently, nine Golden Buzzers — acts who were picked in the first rounds to go directly to the live shows — have been named by the AGT judges, celebrity guest judges, and host Terry Crews.

Crews’ pick, the Detroit Youth Choir, is especially close to his heart: “They’ve come from horrendous obstacles,” he says. The group blew viewers away with a unique take on Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “Can’t Hold Us.” Now Crews hopes to hear them do “something even farther out — like a Radiohead jam!”

While he crosses his fingers for all the contestants, Crews shares what makes three more singers so special.

'America's Got Talent' Judge Cuts: Watch the Guest Judges' Golden Buzzers (VIDEO)

Sophie Pecora

“She has a delivery and a style you’ve never seen before,” Crews says of the 15-year-old singer-songwriter (guest judge Brad Paisley’s Golden Buzzer). She mixes her own catchy guitar-strumming ballads with powerful poetry and spoken-word/rap about topics such as bullying.

“[Since joining AGT,] I was really looking forward to someone’s career being born on the show,” Crews says. “And now it’s happened with her.”

(Justin Lubin/NBC)

Luke Islam

The 12-year-old with Broadway dreams wowed judge Julianne Hough when he sang “She Used to Be Mine” from the musical Waitress. “I went to see Waitress after [Islam’s audition], and I was thinking, ‘Wait a minute — he could be in the show right now,'” Crews says. “He sang that probably better than anyone could.”

(Trae Patton/NBC)

Kodi Lee

“My knees buckled a little bit,” Crews admits of hearing the blind and autistic Lee, 23 (judge Gabrielle Union’s pick), begin his rendition of Donny Hathaway’s “A Song for You.” Says Crews, “It was hauntingly beautiful. And we haven’t seen nothing yet!”