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Spoilers ahead for the August 23rd episode America is looking for talent Season 17.
America is looking for talent entered the third week of qualifying with eleven more contestants (including Simon Cowell’s golden buzzer winner) to be whittled down to two once the voting closed. This episode brought back the XOMG POP! a girl group of singers and dancers that is made up of So you think you can dance judge JoJo Siwa and her mother. Although they brought energy and excitement, judge Howie Mandel’s comments were not 100% favorable to them. Speaking to CinemaBlend, Mandel explained why he wanted to make a point with his comments.
XOMG POP! consists of seven girls between the ages of 10 and 15: Leigha, Kinley, Bella, Tiny T, Dallas, Kia and Brooklyn. After their original song “Candy Hearts” took them through the qualifiers in May, “Merry Go Round” at the August 23 live show wasn’t such an instant hit. Simon Cowell said he “personally” disliked the song (although he thought they were “unstoppable” with the right material). For his part, Howie Mandel said the tone “hurts” him, but admitted that the music on XOMG POP! it’s not for him.
When Mandel (who recently weighed in on live in-person or home viewing) spoke to CinemaBlend and other outlets after the live qualifying episode, I mentioned that he indicated that he wasn’t the target audience for the XOMG POP! immediately after their performance and he replied:
Which I guess is a good thing, right? For example, if you heard that I bought tickets – just me and my friend Dave bought tickets to XOMG POP! concert, I think that would be a bit confusing.
Considering Howie Mandel wasn’t the only one on the judging panel who didn’t like the song because it wasn’t directed at him, that would be a bit confusing indeed! While Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara and Terry Crews raved, Mandel dished out her praise, citing her granddaughter, who is a fan of the girl group of AGT. When asked if such a specific demographic appeal (which apparently doesn’t include either Mandel or Simon Cowell) would affect the girls’ chances at the big prize, Mandel weighed in, saying:
No, because I think there’s a big audience of that age and stuff that’s watching that and calling in and voting. That’s why I wanted to emphasize. I want to be authentic on the show and say “Wow, that was amazing! I love this song too! I love that too!’ It’s not directed at me. But I wanted to point out – and this is true, I didn’t make this up – my granddaughter Abby, who is seven years old, does not sit down to watch the series. She has no interest. The only act she sat the whole way through and kept asking me about was XOMG. From everyone and I say “Don’t you want to watch Grandpa? Do not you want to see me?’ She has no interest. So to tell you how it plays out for the audience, I thought that was a positive, honest assessment.
Howie Mandel’s comments were not intended to discourage voters from supporting XOMG POP! or to say that the girl group didn’t live up to their energetic performance, even though they weren’t as praiseworthy as some of his fellow judges said. (My personal favorite was Heidi Klum saying, “It’s like a piñata exploded and seven little Spice Girls fell out.” If only Mel B. was around to hear it like the old days!)
He’s not the biggest XOMG POP! fan in the world, but it looks like they’re going to have all of his granddaughter’s voices. Even if the majority of the voting public may not fall into the target demographic for this group of young girls, there may be enough of an audience to propel them to the finals. Check out their performance of “Merry Go Round,” which will decide if they still have a shot at $1 million and a stage show in Las Vegas, or if they go home:
Will this girl group continue to chase their own AGT dream, or will their season 17 journey end early? Their fate is in the hands of the fans, who can vote with the official America is looking for talent app and voting page on NBC.com by 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday, August 24. The results episode will begin airing at 8:00 PM ET, so there’s not much time to vote and then count for prime time!
It’s hard to speculate for sure who will move on, though I may have to re-evaluate my rankings of America is looking for talent golden bell winners will most likely win after watching Sarah James bring down the house with her rendition of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” as the final act of the night. Ventriloquist Celia Munoz was a judges’ favorite with her tribute to Grease and the late Olivia Newton-John, and Howie Mandel predicted magician Nicolas Reebs could win the entire season after watching his final performance.
Both spots are up for grabs at this point, so be sure to watch the results episode on Wednesday, August 24 at 8:00 PM ET to see whose AGT dreams will survive. New qualifying episodes will continue to air Tuesdays at 8:00 PM ET on NBC. You can also re-watch past episodes streamed with a Peacock subscription.
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