12-year-old Ansley Burns from Eastley, South Carolina, is a young girl with big dreams. Her energy as she enters the stage is infectious, and you can’t help but immediately love her before she even opens her mouth to sing! The song she picks is not necessarily what you might expect from someone so young. ‘You’re going to sing Aretha Franklin? At 12? Are you sure?’ A shocked Simon Cowell asks.
Think’ is an iconic song from an iconic vocalist, and even the most seasoned professional singers would be worried about tackling it, but Ansley doesn’t seem worried. Her audition, however, doesn’t get off to the best start as Simon quickly brings it to a premature end. He invites her to sing the song acapella to avoid the backing track drowning out her vocals. Ansley’s confidence doesn’t waver and the audition that follows is nothing short of mesmerising.