Spoiler alert! This story discusses the America’s Got Talent Season 21 finals performances, which aired September 22. Episodes can be streamed the next day with a Peacock subscription.
The hard part is over for all of the talented performers on America’s Got Talent’s 21st season, and now it’s up to America to vote for the winner. There was a lot that went right and a lot that went wrong during Monday’s live finals, but when Terry Crews announces the winner during a live episode airing Wednesday on the 2026 TV schedule, I think I know which name he’ll be reading.
Based on what I’ve seen this season, the 10 finalists’ last performances, and the reactions of the AGT judges and fans online, I just don’t see how anybody could keep Nene Royal from winning the Season 21 crown. The viral rocker absolutely stunned the judges with her audition and then applied what she learned from Howie Mandel during the callback round to earn Mel B’s Golden Buzzer in the quarterfinals.
I didn’t think it was even possible, but the 16-year-old from Thailand rocked out even harder in the finals with her rendition of “Seven Nation Army”:
This was the first performance boxer/YouTube star KSI — the guest judge serving in place of Simon Cowell, who is still out due to his recent back surgery — had seen of Nene Royal, and he was nearly speechless, telling the teen:
This is the first time I’ve ever seen and heard you, and I am a fan. That was out of this world. You should be so proud. That was insane.
Howie Mandel, meanwhile, repeated his sentiment from the quarterfinals, when he told NBC to just give Nene Royal the million-dollar prize. Following her finals performance he said:
The biggest, most talented, most viral talent to be on that stage. I was standing with your father. This is unbelievable. You should win. Give her the million, America! Give her the million!
The judges were undoubtedly impressed, but as Howie Mandel indicated, it’s not up to them. Fans on X (Twitter) who were watching the America’s Got Talent finals were really high on Nene Royal, too, which makes me believe she might just be the audience’s favorite. Reactions to her performance included:
- Wow. Nene really rocked us into next week here with that performance! – Dueler312
- Nene Royal will be one of the biggest household names to come out of this show! She is going to dominate world stages! That performance of "Seven Nation Army" was outstanding! – JacobElyachar
- Nene is the best singer that has ever been on this show. I will die on this hill. – QueenofSpapes
- Wow, That was an awesome performance by nene royal, She is definitely going to win this whole thing, Because it was one of the best performances of the whole entire season this year – NicholasSye1
There were multiple impressive and deserving performances on AGT’s Season 21 performance finale, so we’ll just have to see where all the votes fall. Thankfully we don’t have to wait too long. Voting is open until 7 a.m. ET Wednesday, September 23, with the results being announced live at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night.
