{"id":783718,"date":"2026-09-26T23:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T23:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/783718\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T23:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T23:20:09","slug":"americas-got-talent-winner-nene-royal-music-plans-future-collabs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/783718\/","title":{"rendered":"‘America’s Got Talent’ Winner Nene Royal: Music Plans, Future Collabs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFrom the second Nene Royal<\/a> stepped onstage for her America\u2019s Got Talent <\/a>audition, it was clear she was going to be totally different from most contestants. She stood shyly, explaining she was a 16-year-old girl from Thailand, while her electric guitar rested at her hips. Then, she picked it up and began shredding as she launched into a thrashing, face-melting version of \u201cZombie\u201d by the Cranberries<\/a>. Within minutes, she had a standing ovation and a wildly viral moment on her hands: The audition clip currently has a whopping 21 million views and quickly made Royal a fan favorite on the show.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was really, really nervous,\u201d Royal tells Rolling Stone, remembering that first audition. \u201cIt was my first time in America; it was also my first AGT performance and I had no idea how people were going to react. But once I started playing, I just stopped thinking about everything else, just focusing on myself and enjoying that moment. And seeing the audience stand up and sing along was something that I\u2019ll never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was just the beginning. Royal went on a bold journey throughout the season, constantly wowing the AGT judges with performances of rock songs like \u201cBlack Hole Sun\u201d by Soundgarden, \u201cHysteria\u201d by Muse, and \u201cSeven Nation Army\u201d by the White Stripes. She wowed the artists themselves, too: The Cranberries responded to a clip of her \u201cZombie\u201d performance with a bunch of hearts, Muse reposted her take on \u201cHysteria,\u201d and Royal says she heard from Chris Cornell\u2019s wife Vicky Cornell after covering Soundgarden. (\u201cI don\u2019t know about \u2018Seven Nation Army\u2019 yet!,\u201d Royal jokes, signaling we need Jack and Meg White to weigh in.) For the finale, she sang \u201cEmptiness Machine\u201d with Linkin Park<\/a>, trading vocals with lead singer Emily Armstrong. All of it was enough to secure a massive win: On Wednesday, she was crowned this season\u2019s victor and clinched the million-dollar prize, becoming the first Thai winner on the competition series.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen Terry Crews announced my name, I\u2019m shocked. I just faint. I\u2019m gonna fall down. I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing,\u201d Royal says, still a little breathless from the win. She\u2019s gotten so many messages\u2014from artists, from fans, even from the Thai government, which called her \u201can inspiration to anyone who dares to dream big\u201d\u2014that she hasn\u2019t even had time to go through everything. \u201cMy school is watching America\u2019s Got Talent and my friends, they\u2019re all happy and they keep texting me and I can\u2019t read all of it because I\u2019m busy!\u201d she says through giggles.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Royal, the moment is especially huge because of what a massive rock and music fan she\u2019s been. She started playing guitar in Phuket when she was just seven years old and would blast bands like Avenged Sevenfold<\/a> when she was just in elementary school. \u201cMy taste is pretty wide,\u201d she shares. \u201cI\u2019ve always been drawn to music that has wonderful guitar and strong vocals and a lot of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe began performing live when she was about 12, playing with her bands OZONE Band and Miniheart in Thailand. Her family was supportive when she decided to try out for AGT; her father can be seen rocking out during her \u201cZombie\u201d audition. \u201cMy dad doesn\u2019t know how to play music at all,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cBut he\u2019s supported me since I was so young, taking me to performances, competitions, rehearsals, and stuff and always encouraged me to keep going. Seeing him rocking out during my audition made me really happy because I knew how proud he was. Having my family supporting me throughout this whole experience has meant so much to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHer favorite moment from her AGT run, she says, was getting to do \u201cSeven Nation Army\u201d for the world. \u201cI knew it was such an iconic song, so I wanted to respect the original, but also make it sound very, very me,\u201d she explains. \u201cI wanted to make it heavier, and bring more guitar into it, and I wanted to add my own energy and style to the performance. I didn\u2019t want it to feel like I was just covering the songs. I wanted people to hear it and think, \u2018Okay you know this is a Nene Royal version.’\u201d She also got to jam out with the Mexican band the Warning, who she was a fan of before the show. \u201cI really admire them as musicians and as a rock band, so actually getting the chance to connect with them was kind of surreal. I especially love seeing that three women from Mexico absolutely killing it in rock music,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019d definitely love to play with them someday.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tAnd though she just won, her two big goals are to release music and go on tour. She has a pretty clear idea of what her album would sound like: \u201cRock!\u201d she roars. The list of people she wants to collaborate with is lengthy, too. \u201cSystem of a Down, Metallica, Limp Bizkit, AC\/DC, Linkin Park, Slipknot,\u201d she rattles off. Avenged Sevenfold remains one of her biggest inspirations; she actually has plans to open for them at a show in Singapore on Oct. 13.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut first, there are more immediate plans in store. She\u2019s planning on a huge trip to Disneyland or Universal Studios with the OZONE Band, made up of three teenagers from Phuket. After a whirlwind 24 hours, she can\u2019t decide what she wants to do first. \u201cMaybe the theme park,\u201d she says. \u201cOr sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From the second Nene Royal stepped onstage for her America\u2019s Got Talent audition, it was clear she was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[29142,96,258257,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-783718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-americas-got-talent","tag-entertainment","tag-nene-royal","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}