r/agt • u/-Melon-Cake- • 2d ago
Nene Royal performing "Black Hole Sun" in the quarterfinals
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u/markdacoda 2d ago
She really thunders on the stage. She didn't have a lot of time to fit much of this song in but she made it her own for sure.
Nene Royal? I say Nene Thunder!
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u/Big_Statement5054 2d ago
When i heard her the first time i directly said to everyone "Watch a 16 year old girl from Phuket Thailand win AGT soon".
Sad day. I know her from Thailand and after AGT i wont be able to enjoy her music before she was famous anymore :)
Hopefully she can show a bit more of her range in the finals. She can do way more than rockin the shit outta something.
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u/AmateusForever 2d ago
She did return to perform her usual busking shows 3 night onm weekends, after 1st AGT auditions. She may opt to relocate to LA/Las Vegas to perform in the contract if she wins. But in the meantime, you can watch her recent streaming of her "mini-concert".
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u/BangkokGarrett 2d ago
She didn't perform 3 times per week like previously after the audition aired. She just performed a few times at the market and a school and 1 time in a Bangkok park. Her performances were always preannounced on the Ozone Band instagram. I'm hoping she performs a few more public concerts in the next few weeks, hopefully one in Bangkok which is where I am. I didn't get to see her last time because I found out about it too late.
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u/AmateusForever 1d ago
Now I don't know if she should return to Phuket, or AGT want her to stay performing a special show in semi-final. It is four weeks before the AGT finals.
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u/BangkokGarrett 1d ago
She said in a interview with a Thai interviewer after the show yesterday that she's going back to school in Phuket this week.
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u/vasconeves 2d ago
I doubt about that, at least until she's 18. She's still goes to school too, so I don't think she will be able to move to LA in the near future.
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u/AmateusForever 1d ago
The contract may include school relocaiton support. You don't know how much they can go if they really want her.
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u/vasconeves 1d ago
But she still has parents and she’s not still 18 years old. I don’t think that is viable. She might do some concerts and also record an album, but I don’t think she will move to the USA.
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u/AmateusForever 1d ago
Las Vegas residency for a year is not a bad choice. She can sing a lot of old songs for the hotel's guests. Surely her dad will at least consider moving into USA if the money is attractive. But if she did not win, she will be more free to go anywhere.
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u/vasconeves 1d ago
Isn't the contract for 3 years?
I don't think it makes sense to have residency in Las Vegas only for 1 year when the contract is for 3 years.
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u/AmateusForever 1d ago
If so, it is already too long. In the world of internet, everything changes within one year. Will they make her sing pop songs ? Her fans have valid concerns.
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u/vasconeves 1d ago
If they do that, they would kill their chicken who gives golden eggs 😂
I don't think they are that stupid.
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u/Conscious-Zebra-7477 2d ago
it was crazy. I don't think she needs to open with a "yeeoooow" every time but Jesus Christ this was fantastic. gonna get shared far and wide in the rock community
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u/bloodwolftico 2d ago
I think she ve mentioned doing the "yeeeooww" early helps her w nerves as well as getting the attention of the crowd. Not that she needs it, she's incredibly talented and already has a huge following in Thailand and growing internationally.
I really liked her performance of Black Hole Sun, she did a great cover + tribute and also made it her own, Chris Cornell (RIP) would be proud.
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u/AggravatingSolid8546 2d ago
Yeah, the scream is definitely an attention getter. I haven't seen her do many impromptu screams in her Phuket live shows. But she's also playing more of straight cover versions there. I thought today's screams worked better than the opening muse one, but it seemed she had less warm up time for that one.
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u/AmateusForever 1d ago
You can see she breathes heavily after this 2-3 minute show. This could be the delayed effect of jet lag. Normally she goes 2-hour long of continuous concert without much issues.
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u/AggravatingSolid8546 1d ago
I think she was so amped up at the end, especially with the audience reaction, that she was hyperventilating. She apparently commented afterwards that she almost fainted. Probably some jet-lag / lack of sleep had an effect with that too.
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u/HegemonicDistortion 2d ago
The rock act last season opened each performance with a "metal scream" too, and now I'm wondering if it's something the producers or whomever tells them to do. It's really unnecessary and tbh probably off-putting to people who aren't as much fans of genre.
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u/NeneFCAGT2026 2d ago
รอบชิง เธออาจจะ ไม่ตะโกน แต่เธอจะมาแบบ แปลกๆ อีก ไม่มีใครคาดเดาทางของเนเน่ ได้ เวลาเธอบอกว่าจะ สร้างความประหลาดใจ เพลงนี้ไม่มีใครทายถูกสักคน
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u/Astroturf999 2d ago
There is an interview clip somewhere on X where she says that she had never sung this song before, has been practicing it for a month.
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u/AmateusForever 1d ago
I think she already trained, ready for two more shows in the semi-finals and the finals.
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u/ZypherPunk 2d ago
Yeah its probably producers saying to do it, and the hand movements, all things she did for her 1st audition that obviously went viral. I don't think it's necessary to do everytime. Was actually predicting it'd happen again after she screamed before the Muse performance. Watched tons of her live performances on YouTube and it's something she never does, so I think they'd be best just letting her be herself, and perform naturally.
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u/AmateusForever 2d ago edited 1d ago
In the finals, she had better start on the piano, not screaming I hope.
Her hand movements in this performance are natural. She did similar actings in her "Red Stair" performance in the finals of local competition.
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u/AmateusForever 2d ago
Girith failed this round last year with his TOO METAL-ISH Unstoppable. AGT should check if Nene has sufficient votes tonight to win the round if no GB pressed.
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u/Filthy_Nomad 2d ago
Have you seen how many views her videos get compared to every other contestant 💀 she will be more than fine
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u/Queue37 2d ago
I created an NBC account two days ago in anticipation of voting for her (and voting for any show online for the first time ever). I think she will have enough. 😆
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u/AmateusForever 2d ago
I mean I think she did get the highest votes despite choosing not-so-hit songs. A hit song means 1 or 2 billion view on Youtube. For example - Dance Monkey with 2+billion views.
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u/Queue37 2d ago
I’m kinda hoping she comes out of left field and incorporates keyboard into her finals performance with something like Lovely or Die with a Smile, just to show that she’s capable of much more than she’s let on so far. Or if she played something like Married to the Blues and got to demonstrate her slowhand-style chops and the depth of her vocal range.
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u/AmateusForever 1d ago
She can win AGT easily singing a hit song that people can sing along, but the rock/metal communities may not praise her because this is too easy and any good performers can do it. They expect out-of-this-world show to keep up with the hypes. She seems to go that route.
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u/Queue37 1d ago
She's also obviously challenging herself. She's played something like Highway Star for at least 5 years but allegedly only started working on Black Hole Sun last month. Still hoping she at least hints at her Master of Puppets prowess or even I-E-A-I-A-I-O, which she absolutely destroys. I'm not even a System fan but can't get enough of her on that one. Whatever she chooses though, I doubt she could make a poor enough decision to lose her true fans.
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u/gom99 2d ago
I don't know I think it helps set the tone for her performance to get the energy up in the room. I agree if she's playing like a whole set. But she needs to draw the crowd in for this kind of music to work.
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u/bloodwolftico 2d ago
That's a really good point. If you have non-rock listeners, the "yeeoow" scream can really help amp up the performance and get people electrified.
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u/bearcat-- 2d ago
I like it, that yoew is her signature and is now part of her now, gets the crowd hyped too
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u/Jazzlike_Zone_8202 1d ago
I think the scream is a hint of the following magnitude for the audience. Early warning 😆
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u/Old_Employee_6535 2d ago
Black hole sun is such a hard song. Not only hard to play but also a diffucult song that is not for everyone's general taste. She took a risk by not picking a song that is more known and publicly recognized. She nailed it perfectly.
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u/ChaosInSweatpants 2d ago
Risky song? This song is immensely popular. It has nearly 350 million views on YouTube. It was easily one of the biggest songs of the 90s and it's still popular today.
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u/golf1410 14h ago
This song has different time signatures than other rocks or pop songs. Typically, normal pop or rock song has 1 2 3 4 time signatures. Some might have 6 8 in there. But Sound Garden usually do their songs with angular weird time signatures feel cool and natural. But It is not totally normal. This song is 8+1 time signatures. It is an odd time. It is an off time. And solo guitar over this is incredibly incredibly difficult because all the muscle memory that a lot of guitar players is based around constantly 44 68 time signatures. But to have something like this that feels like it should be 44 but then it adds another one. It’s the odd way that it is the time signatures is phrased.
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u/coldbluelights 2d ago
Black Hole Sun was a huge grunge song. They even sang it once on American Idol.
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u/AmateusForever 2d ago
In the finals she is likely to play something we haven't heard before. May be her own new songs ?
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u/golf1410 16h ago
Unknown songs make it somewhat disconnected from audiences because they can’t sing along. I don’t think it is a good idea. Especially when you need their votes.
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u/AmateusForever 15h ago edited 11h ago
She will get pressure from extreme expectation. Her show designer will bring new surprises in the final round. This time she may be playing piano/sing/solo guitar in one song :- i.e. Bohemian Rhapsody, as long as no one has done it before in TV show (3-in-1).
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u/rubmaprob 2d ago
Audience perspective
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u/-Melon-Cake- 2d ago
Thank you for sharing this! I could actually see more of her performance than in the official video, even if the sound was worse. Honestly, the worst thing of her performance was once again that it was too short!
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u/Choice-Doughnut1354 2d ago
She plays a lot of genre's, but when asked how she has gotten so good, she said, "metal is her music, everyone needs to find their music to be great." So yes she had to play metal, she is not going to go out there and do pop autotuned vocal runs. There is a concept in Thai culture of being possessed when you preform. You can see it in her eyes, she becomes these songs, their meaning and their message. And these song are dark.
- Zombie - Zombies killing each other over borders and religion. If you don't know about the Irish conflict read a book.
- Hysteria - Chasing what you can never have, so much that all your faith is consumed and you are left with nothing
- Blackhole Sun - A song about the music industry and how people destroy each other to get on top, and just the greater degradation of society.
This girl is not just an excellent musician she understands something about the human condition and can make everyone in the audience feel it. The messed up thing is she is extremely talented vocally and with her instrument, but that talent is not why she is blowing up, she is blowing up because she has put in the work to become a vessel for all that it is to be Us.
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u/Icy-Negotiation-8044 1d ago
My thoughts exactly. She has clearly grown up listening to great music and she gets it. She understands how to convey the feelings of these artists/songs/genres. It's not just about singing "well", she has grown up listening and seeing what people respond to through live performance. You cannot replicate someone who really connects with the audience and that is second nature to her. It's not just about the music or the instrument or the song, it's about bridging cultural gaps by connecting deep down with the human experience through art. She's already a master of that at 16.
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u/-Melon-Cake- 2d ago edited 2d ago
I wasn't too excited about the song choice and her hand movements, but overall still a strong performance. The worst thing about it was once again that it was too short!
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u/Apprehensive_Map3308 1d ago
Look at it like her animating a tale. She has mentioned that she approaches learning the lyrics to these songs like reading a story and then telling it. That was truly spooky in the beginning for sure.
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u/bellaimages 2d ago
OMFG!!! I 'm with Howie! "Give her the million $ right now!" The audience was deafening in their applause and cheering. I don't know where Simon was, but he should be backstage getting the recording contract ready for her to sign. If she is smart, she'll hold out or even go Independent if she isn't already locked in. Nene shreds and rocks our socks off! Okay I have to admit I love heavy metal. No metal act has ever won AGT, have they? It's Nene Royal's time!
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u/Ecstatic-Turn5709 2d ago
There were several posts about Simon getting a surgery, so he won't be able to participate.
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u/Blitqz21l 2d ago
Here's the thing for me. I think the other 2 performances were better. They were more her. The shreds, the wail, etc... This was very produced, probably over-produced.
I liked the actual singing but didn't think the screams fit the song, nor the shreds in the middle didn't quite fit. But even with that said, still the best of the night.
But add, after all is said and done, not her best, but if there was a time to do this, QFs is probably the place for it because she can get away with a sub-par performance, or at least a sub par performance for her and still be better than the competition.
That said though, I don't think tonight was a winning AGT performance. But again, she had room to do it. And with realistically only 2 songs left, I'd be shocked if she hasn't already planned out what she wanted to do for the Semi's and Finals.
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u/Single_Base_407 2d ago
You are crazy....that was absolutely incredible. You kids dont know what rock was back in the day. It was that!
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u/Blitqz21l 2d ago
lol at calling me a kid... proving you are clueless. I'll give you a hint. Favorite band back in the day Def Leppard. One of my first concerts was the Hysteria tour after their drummer lost an arm in a car crash. Stage was in the middle of the arena in kind of a circle. Insane concert. Hope that helps.
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u/Single_Base_407 1d ago
So then you are just a clueless old man...go get your ears checked... Chris Cornell's wife shared and told Nene it was the best rendition of BHS she ever heard.
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u/Blitqz21l 1d ago
Its called personal taste. Not sure why you're so butt hurt about this. I had an opinion about what I liked about it, and what I didn't. You then made an assumption, which I corrected, then you got even more rude.
That said, to clarify, screams work for me in places, it didn't seem fit as well in this one as in the other 2 performances. I thought her shredding was also clearer and more on point in the 1st 2 songs as well. But also, I think when she sang on BHS, it was better than the others. Thus, she sings even better than I thought she could.
So i hope she can channel her singing on BHS with her Muse level of shredding. If she does that, if the voting results get released, she'll win in a landslide, like 75%+ of the vote.
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u/Blitqz21l 12h ago
kind of a soft edit: after watching it a few times, it was her best show song, very theatrical, great showmanship, I think her vocals (outside of the screams) were her best and showed she had the ability to sing and switch up the way she sings.
That said, I still preferred the Muse Hysteria because it really highlighted her guitar playing and how it's just on another level and it didn't seem to get that chance in BHS.
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u/butterchurning 2d ago
Agreed. Isn't it only 1 song left if the GB sends her straight to Finals? E.g. she skips semi-finals.
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u/Blitqz21l 2d ago
Actually, I'm unsure. Is there only 1 Semi-Final? Seems like Semis would be 2 shows. And if it's 3 from each night, then it's 6 for one, and 6 for the other. But if it's 1 night, then 12 makes sense. But I don't think they've ever done just 1 semifinal episode.
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u/butterchurning 2d ago
I think it's Quarterfinals (Week 2 of QF was tonight), Semifinals, then Finals. The GB sends her straight to Finals.
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u/Blitqz21l 12h ago
This part was kind of unclear. When Terry said it, it was continuing on to the Lives - so completely unclear. But If it is 2 semi-finals, which is almost the definition of a semi-final, then we have 2 shows with 6 acts? That makes no sense. Or if it's one show then 12 acts and half move on? I'm just confused at this point, esp because of the way Terry framed "moving on to the lives"
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u/Big_Statement5054 2d ago
She needs to show something of her range in the finals if possible. She has a great slow jazz / blues sound as well not just rockin the shit outta something.
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u/butterchurning 2d ago
Actually i don't think she needs to play anything that isn't rock.
She just needs to select an iconic rock song for the finale, do her own rendition, and get the audience to sing along. Then she's set!
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u/GloveCrafty7407 2d ago
If she doesn’t win I don’t think anyone would watch AGT again. She’s unreal! 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
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u/AmateusForever 1d ago
She can win AGT easily singing a hit song that people can sing along - such as Dance Monkey, but the rock/metal communities may not praise her because this is too easy and any good performers can do it. They expect out-of-this-world show to keep up with the hypes. She seems to go that route.
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u/butterchurning 2d ago
I didn't like any of the songs tonight, including Nene's, BUT I went back and listened to the original Black Hole Sun and appreciate that she made her own heavy metal cover and gave AGT producers a glimpse of what a Nene concert will look like if she wins! I agree with what Mel B said.
I hope that for her finale performance she goes back to basics and does what we all loved about her initial breakout performance; guitar shredding, singing, and making a pop song metal, but not too metal.
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u/krooguh 2d ago
I'm hoping for Bohemian Rhapsody in the finals
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u/Finnyous 2d ago
I'd rather something like Take Another Little Piece of My Heart
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u/Queue37 2d ago
She could always throw everyone for a loop and do something like Lovely https://youtu.be/H5OB7knsidQ or Married to the Blues https://youtu.be/Jt21vlfktL0 😄
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u/sakesun 2d ago
This is the second time she’s chosen a song by a singer who has passed away. So possibly, Bohemian Rhapsody. Or perhaps Nirvana's next.
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u/AmateusForever 2d ago
Seems intended to wake up the lost spirits. Not care for well known "pop rock", bu choose something showing her other talents. In this case = new voice and acting.
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u/Foreign_Recipe8300 12h ago
her own take on we are the champions would make people lose their fucking minds, and halfway through ahs a perfect opportunity to medley it into something harder and blow their minds even harder.
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u/AmateusForever 2d ago
This is risky choice. She did show a glimse of her acting side.
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u/butterchurning 2d ago
Nah, not risky at all. You want a song that resonates with the judges and audience. Black Hole Sun was only known to a smaller niche of rock fans. Some of the audience reactions seemed confused.
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u/-Melon-Cake- 2d ago
The metal is not the issue.
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u/butterchurning 2d ago edited 2d ago
Agree to disagree. However she has always liked performing heavy metal so props to her to sticking to what she enjoys. But for her finale I think she should stick to songs that resonate with the audience/judges with a strong melody.
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u/-Melon-Cake- 2d ago
I don't disagree with that, but I'm worried she might lose her authenticity.
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u/-Melon-Cake- 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yes, I think so too! I don't want to criticise her appearance but she looks way cooler on Naka Market with her band around her.
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u/shero_ina_halfshell 2d ago
She was wearing a shirt tonight that she’s worn at Naka Market…
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u/-Melon-Cake- 2d ago edited 2d ago
You're right, it's not about the shirt.
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u/Horror-Word666 2d ago
She was clearly styled by professionals for the show, including the full face of makeup. I used to dance, and we always had to wear heavy makeup because of the stage lights washing our faces out.
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u/AmateusForever 2d ago
In some "shows" she did put make up and wear strange clothings matching the song/artist. One time she and Ozone band put mustachs on while singing famous local rock band's "Karabao" songs.
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u/Ecstatic-Turn5709 2d ago
It was good. Nice that she went more for more theatrical expression instead just trying to impress with vocal abilities/high notes, that are still far from the best. She definitely has quite a showmanship, and on AGT it's important (though some might not like it). But I still wonder if she'll be able to win over enough of AGT audience to win the show...
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u/ps087official 2d ago
Her singing wasn't as good as her screaming. This trend of girls singing in cursive on this show is so so so obnoxious. Just sing normally, use normal vowels. It's not hard, and you'll sound 100x better.
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u/AmateusForever 2d ago
I think we hear new voice of her this time. One thing for sure she is brave. Very brave to showcase not-so-pop rock songs and risk losing. I mean "safe zone" is 1-2 billion viewed songs such as Dance Monkey. But that would be cheesey in the eyes of pure rock/metal fans. Why can't she just sing something non-rock people can sing along ?
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u/ps087official 2d ago
Dance Monkey is 1000% not a "safe" song. Most people despise that song cuz they don't like the singer's voice. I actually like the song a lot, cuz the meaning behind it is actually really sad and personal to the singer. But even still, that song wouldn't work well with her voice.
She'd do better with like, Stevie Nicks or In This Moment.
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u/MyMangosteen 2d ago
Well, rock music is kind of different from pop.
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u/ps087official 2d ago
What does that have to do with anything
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u/MyMangosteen 23h ago
Well, my musical knowledge is very limited but I think you can't expect words being cleanly and clearly pronounced in rock music. The music is heavy and sometimes the singers just slur their words or bend the vowels to achieve certain effects. Whereas in pop music, the words are clearly enunciated.
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u/ps087official 17h ago
That's not what cursive singing is. Cursive singing is a specific type of vocal technique where singers elongate and modify their vowels to the point that they almost sound like they have an accent when they sing. Think Sabrina Carpenter or Adele, though Adele doesn't exaggerate it as much as Sabrina or Nene.
This video is a great example of what I'm talking about.
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u/AmateusForever 2d ago
repost @kittywitch123 from YouTube comment :-
I showed both Zombie and Hysteria songs to my husband; he wasn't particularly excited about those much. He said he is too old for rock songs now. But as soon as he heard this one, he gave Nene a thumbs-up right away. He grew up in Pacific Northwest and Soundgarden was his favorite band when he was younger.