Benicio Bryant

Benicio "Beni" Bryant (born 2003/2004 (age 15–16) years old)[1] is an American teenage singer-songwriter from Maple Valley, Washington who came to national attention in 2019 as a finalist on the reality talent show America's Got Talent (AGT).[2][3] In 2017, he placed second in the German singing competition The Voice Kids.[4] In June 2018 he performed a duet with Brandi Carlile on Late Night with Seth Meyers.[5][6] In 2019, he competed in the fourteenth season of the reality competition and talent show AGT, advancing to the finals.[7]

Benicio Bryant
Born2003/2004 (age 15–16) years old[1]
Maple Valley, Washington, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationSinger-songwriter
Years active2017–present
Known forSinging • songwriting
Home townMaple Valley, Washington
WebsiteInstagram.com/BenicioBryant

As of June 2020, Bryant’s Instagram account has risen to 147,000 followers.[8]

Early life

Bryant was born in Maple Valley, Washington in September 2004 to Jeremy, Seattle Mariners’ Head Chef, and Marlo.[1][9] The couple grew up in Rainier Beach, Seattle and met at Ingraham High School.[9] Besides Bryant, they also have a daughter, Riley.[9] Bryant has been singing since he was two, and "performing at every family function" since.[2] His father bought him a drum kit when he was four as Bryant had been drumming the furniture leaving marks.[10] When he was eight, Bryant asked to be in the amateur Maple Valley Idol (MVI) competition.[10] The other contestants were all older kids, but he did place second, and also realized that singing was his life's ambition.[10] He competed in MVI the next three years finishing second each time.[11] He started busking with his guitar wherever his parents would allow.[10] His dad is known as Big Jay, the then-Seattle Mariners’ team chef, and often had Bryant sing for the Major League Baseball team's celebrations and send-offs.[9][10] Bryant graduated from Summit Trail Middle School.[9]

Early career, The Voice Kids

In May 2017 Bryant performed as part of the inaugural Upstream Music Fest + Summit,[12] an annual festival fashioned after South by Southwest,[13] held in Pioneer Square.[14] On June 1, 2017, Bryant joined Maya Rudolph for a duet of "Purple Rain", when her female-fronted tribute band to Prince, called Princess, played Seattle's Neptune Theatre.[10][15] Around the same time fellow-Washington native, Brandi Carlile, had Bryant duet on her song "The Joke", for a benefit concert at her alma mater Tahoma High School raising funds for the music arts program.[5][16] Carlile had recruited youth singers to be a part of the performance, when one dropped out she tapped Bryant to take their place.[17] Carlile also grew up in Maple Valley.[18] Bryant would go on to perform the song twice on national television.[19]

In late 2017 Germany's The Voice Kids saw his YouTube Channel videos and asked him to audition online via Skype.[2] In November 2017, within a few weeks, the family of four, including his younger sister, was on an all-expenses paid trip to Germany.[2] He was the only American competing on the show for its $20,000 (USD) prize.[4][9] For the "blind auditions", where the judges only hear the singing of the contestants, Bryant sang Sia’s "Bird Set Free" (2015).[2] All four judges turned their chairs in an effort to claim him for their team.[2] Bryant chose singer-songwriter Max Giesinger from Waldbronn, Germany as his coach.[2] The family flew back home and waited until it was time to return for the "Battle Round" in January 2018.[2] He next sang James Bay's song "Let It Go" (2014). For his final song he chose Calum Scott's song "You Are the Reason" (2017).[20] He came in second.[10] Bryant later said that he found the experiences of making friends with fellow contestants, then eliminating them in head-to-head battles stressful.[10]

Post-The Voice Kids

Back home, Bryant performed on KING 5's Take 5, and toured the Pacific Northwest.[11] May 14, 2018 was declared "Benicio ‘Beni’ Bryant Day" by the city of Maple Valley to honor his competing.[21] In June 2018, Bryant and Brandi Carlile performed a live duet of "The Joke" on Late Night with Seth Meyers; she flew the family to New York City for the filming.[6][5] Producers from America's Got Talent saw the performance and invited him to audition for the show.[17] In November 2018 he released his debut single "My Love" on iTunes.[6]

America's Got Talent

In February 2019, America's Got Talent (AGT) invited Bryant to audition for the show in New York City with his family.[22] The AGT producers had seen his performance on Late Night with Seth Meyers and decided to recruit him.[10]

Audition round

Bryant's audition for the fourteenth season of the reality competition aired in June 2019.[7][23] He sang Brandi Carlile's 2017 Grammy Award-winning song "The Joke" with his "sky-high" range and "powerful" vibrato.[7] The judges, Simon Cowell, Gabrielle Union, Julianne Hough, and Howie Mandel, unanimously put him through to the next round.[24][7] The episode was seen by 9.81 million viewers.[25] Cowell said the audition reminded him of Harry Styles' 2010 audition on the similar singing competition The X Factor because "[Bryant] had a presence".[lower-alpha 1][28] Bryant's performance was included in the July 2, 2019, "Best of Auditions" recap episode, which seen by 6.82 million viewers.[29][30][31] Bryant's fan base on Instagram, which had risen to 18,000 from his time on 2017's The Voice Kids, tripled to 55,000 followers after his first audition on AGT.[22] As of June 2020, he has 147,000 Instagram followers.[32][8]

Judges Cuts and Quarterfinals

The rest of the competition was held in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theater.[33] With the change in cities, Bryant also got treated to a professional singer's life working with the show's staff to develop the performance, and instead of starting first year at Tahoma High School, was tutored on set.[34] Bryant's Judges Cuts performance on August 6, 2019 was singing an original song, "Here Goes Nothing," while playing a guitar.[35] His "youth pop R&B style" got another standing ovation,[36] and the judges sent him through to the quarterfinals.[37][38] This episode was seen by 9.65 million viewers.[39]

Bryant next performed in the last Quarterfinals round—where twelve of the thirty six finalists perform with only seven advancing to the next round. He sang another original composition, "Who I Am",[40] this time with higher production values.[23][41] Judge Howie Mandel noted he liked Bryant's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" shown in the introduction video,[41] but said "he didn't respond to the song ["Who I Am"] and question[ed] whether it was the right choice."[34] Series creator Simon Cowell felt the production values could be toned down as Bryant's voice "was more than enough."[42] Mandel's comments angered fans who made their displeasure known online, but Bryant respected the opinion and said it "reinforced his resolve" to keep his career goals in sight.[34] Bryant states,

"The reason why I sing my original songs is I’m showing who I am and what I have to offer," he said. "It's just really important, I feel, that I want to be myself and I want to show people that. So I’m singing my own songs."

— Benicio Bryant The Seattle Times[34]

That episode was seen by 8.98 million viewers.[43] The next night, for the results show, he was among the top five acts by public vote to automatically advance to the Semi-finals being held in September 2019.[44]

Semi-finals and The Finals

Bryant sang in the first of two Semi-finals, competing against ten other acts.[45] He sang a ballad, "Fall Apart," another original.[45] Blasting News stated, "The pure tone of his voice and the truthful place from which the teenager writes work together."[46] Judge Howie Mandel, who had previously derided Bryant's use of an original song said, "I take back everything I said. ... I truly believe that you’re the biggest star that can come out of this season. ... You’re someplace between Troye Sivan and Harry Styles."[47] That show was seen by 9.06 million viewers.[48] From the two nights of the round, the top three acts with the most votes each night, plus two acts from the next three acts with the most votes each night—one selected by new votes cast during each results show telecast; and one selected by the judges—advance to The Finals.[49] The Seattle Times noted, "He became one of the show’s favorites to win based on judge and audience reaction, and viewers backed that up when he reached the fan-voted portion of the show."[50] Bryant was one of the top three vote getters on his night so immediately advanced.[49]

All ten acts perform in The Finals.[51] Five of the ten acts are solo musicians, another three are vocal groups.[52] TV Line noted Bryant wowed the judges during his audition but his follow-up performances of original songs helped him "stand out from the pack."[52] His song was another original, "Six Strings (Because Of You)."[53] The performance, with a "simple" stage layout, and "with nothing but his guitar" got a standing ovation from the judges.[1][53] The Seattle Times stated, "Bryant was mostly flawless on ‘AGT’. His performances were strong and note perfect. His style was unique and his outlook upbeat throughout. He sang in some of the most stressful circumstances and emerged smiling each time."[54] The finals were seen by 9.88 million viewers.[55]

For the results show the following night, each finalist performs again—often with an established star in their field. Bryant was paired with the reggaeton singer Ozuna, who Bryant cited as an idol of his, for a cover, in Spanish, of DJ Snake's "Taki Taki".[50] The results show was viewed by 10.21 million people.[56] Bryant did not place among the top five; the winner was singer-pianist Kodi Lee.[50]

2019–present

Bryant performed "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem, before a 2019 Seattle Mariners’ game; his father is head chef for the Major League Baseball team.[57] In November 2019 Bryant donated a performance to Snoqualmie Valley Community Network's ‘Give a Night Save a Life’ fundraiser to prevent youth drug abuse and suicide.[58] In December 2019, he performed for a Renton Chamber of Commerce gala benefiting Renton Schools Foundation.[59] Bryant performed in Seattle at the televised New Year's at the Space Needle event.[60]

From his time on America's Got Talent, Bryant was given a music deal by Simon Cowell's Syco Records.[17] Then they contacted him to say Arista Records was also interested so they are doing a joint deal.[17] As of May 2020, Bryant is quarantining, home-schooling, and doing Zoom meetings with his record label representatives because of the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.[17] Cowell stated of the recording contract, “He's doing it the right way -- Giving him time to find his sound, the right writers.”[61]

Notes
  1. Styles and four other young men tried out as soloists on The X Factor but were eliminated; however Nicole Scherzinger had the idea to form them into a young men's boy band as being "irresistible" to the girl fans and they were brought back as a group to compete as One Direction.[26] They went on to win dozens of awards, sell millions of songs and albums, and set touring records before they disbanded to solo careers.[27]
gollark: Oh no. This is literally WORSE than the knapsack problem.
gollark: Does Macron have dynamic traiting?
gollark: At last, I have devised an elegant way to generate lines in N-dimensional tic-tac-toe.
gollark: Oh, I could actually use that for a thing.
gollark: You should also consider fearing this "PC".

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