Courtney Hadwin, 13, appeared incredibly shy when she first appeared on the America’s Got Talent stage. Avoiding eye contact, she whispered softly to the judges that she was a scared teenager from a little English village. Nobody in the room had any idea what would come next.
Courtney shifted as soon as the band began performing “Hard to Handle,” by Otis Redding. A full-fledged rock vocalist with a rough, raspy voice that sounded like it belonged in the late 1960s took the place of the timid teenager, stomping across the stage with frenetic, jerky dancing moves. The audience went from polite curiosity to boisterous applause in a couple of seconds.
The judges were also removed. Simon Cowell described her singing “like a lion,” while Howie Mandel compared her to the youthful Janis Joplin who was first seen. Courtney was sent straight to the live performances after Howie shattered the Golden Buzzer, causing gold confetti to fall and the audience to go berserk in amazement of her performance’s tremendous intensity and uniqueness.
Her audition went on to acquire tens of millions of views online and is now regarded as one of the most explosive Golden Buzzer moments in AGT history, proving that sometimes the quietest kid in the room is actually the loudest rock star waiting to be released.
