Jessica Sanchez wins 'America's Got Talent' Season 20
Jessica Sanchez finally did it! Glowing, and with her baby girl “due any day now,” the Filipino American singer is the winner of America’s Got Talent Season 20.
Besting nine other finalists, Sanchez won by live audience voting. Aside from major exposure to millions of viewers worldwide throughout the season, she brings home $1 million (~P58 million) in prize money.
Cream of the crop
In the finale, Sanchez was up against Mama Duke, Micah Palace, Steve Ray Ladson, Team Recycled, Chris Turner, LightWire, aerialists Sirca Marea, Jourdan Blue, and the Leo High School Choir.
Now married and expecting a baby girl, Sanchez powered through this season.
At her audition, she belted out a soulful rendition of Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things and earned not just a standing ovation from all four judges—Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Mel B, and Howie Mandel—but also the famed Golden Buzzer from Vergara. With the Golden Buzzer, Sanchez bypassed the standard voting process for auditions and went straight through to the live shows.
On Sept. 24, Sanchez, resplendent in all white, stunned with Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ duet Die with a Smile, drawing another standing ovation from the judges.
“It was so important for our 20th anniversary that you came back,” Cowell said after Sanchez’s performance. “You sound amazing. I think it was the best performance we’ve heard so far.”
The two-hour finale, the night of Sept. 24 (morning of Sept. 25, Manila time), filmed at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in California, saw finalists sharing the stage to showcase each other’s talents.
An hour into the show, Sanchez performed JVKE’s Golden Hour, the same one she stunned with in the semi-finals, as aerialist duo Sirca Marea soared over her.
Born to be a star
The Filipino-American belter first appeared on America’s Got Talent Season 1 in 2006 at 11 years old. She made it through to the semi-finals before getting eliminated.
Looking back at that experience, Sanchez recalls being devastated. But it also opened up a whole new world for her, making her realize that she wanted to sing.
“AGT was the beginning of that fire…inside of me,” she said during her audition for AGT Season 20.
Along her AGT journey, she made a brief detour to another American reality competition, American Idol Season 11 in 2012. She was 16, but gave iconic performances, including Celine Dion’s The Prayer and Jennifer Holliday’s And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.
Sanchez finished as runner-up on American Idol Season 11; American singer Phillip Phillips took home the crown.
Since then, Sanchez has kept busy pursuing her solo career.
In 2013, under Interscope, she released her first studio album Me, You & The Music, debuting at #8 on the Billboard Pop Charts. The lead track, Tonight featuring Ne-Yo has had over 14 million views on YouTube.
She has had several concerts in Manila. On February 14, 2013, she headlined her own concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with Colton Dixon, a fellow American Idol contestant, opening the show. Sanchez returned to perform again in 2015, 2018, and 2019, where she was a guest performer during the finale of Idol Philippines at Newport Theater.
Outside of live performances, Sanchez kept up with the industry by releasing hit singles. Her 2015 release This Love has over 1 million views on YouTube. In the Philippines alone, her debut album and two of its singles earned top spots in the charts.
