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Music savant Kodi Lee gives a completely new version of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on 'AGT'

Lee gave "America's Got Talent" audiences chills with his haunting cover.

America's Got Talent/Youtube

Kodi Lee has become an "AGT" fan favorite with his next level skills

Since 2019, Kodi Lee has wowed “America’s Got Talent” audiences with his next-level musical skills. That goes for whether he’s performing touching original works or putting his own personal touch on well-known songs. For “America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League,” the music savant was guided by his mentor Howie Mandel to cover “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.

It’s hard to imagine a version of this fan-favorite tune you haven’t already heard before, since the song has been covered quite a few times. But once again Lee delivered something epic and completely unique.

Even though judges Mel B and Heidi Klum still prefer Lee’s original songs, all applauded his haunting and emotional piano rendition of the rock-n-roll anthem.

Simon Cowell even said “You use these words ‘Star Quality’ a lot, but you genuinely, Kodi, over the years we’ve got to know you, you’ve just got better as an artist. You’ve never given up, and the Finals just wouldn’t be the same without you in it this year.”

Other viewers applauded Lee for one-of-a-kind performance, agreeing that he did freddie Mercury proud.

One wrote, “‘You can do whatever you want to do in my music, just don't make it boring’ -Freddie. What a magical performance.”

Another added, “Kodi has an amazingly rare talent to be able to sing across different musical genres. He owns them all!!!”

Last but not least, I think this comment sums up the general consensus pretty well: "This version is unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. It’s truly a masterpiece. Kodi is an amazing gift to our world. He continues to change the world just by being himself."

Watch below. And enjoy.

This article originally appeared last year.

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Freddie Mercury impersonator entertains his neighbors and us all with epic 'I Want to Break Free'

Break free? Yes, we all want to right about now.

via Freddie Mercury / Twitter

Carlos Díaz Ballesta dressed up like Queen front man Freddie Mercury and put on a show for his neighbors from his balcony in Spain. He threw on Mercury's iconic jeans, undershirt, and mustache and lip-synced to Queen's 1984 song, "I Want to Break Free."

In the video, Ballesta dances with a vacuum cleaner, an homage to the song's video. In the "I Want to Break Free" video, members of Queen dressed in drag as characters from the British soap opera "Coronation Street."




Freddie Mercury balcony (auténtico autor del baile)- OFICIAL 🇪🇸 (del auténtico autor del baile)youtu.be


While the video was a hit across the world it was a dud in America where no one knew what the band was lampooning.

"All around the world people laughed and they got the joke and they sort of understood it," Queen guitarist Brian May told NPR Radio. "I remember being on the promo tour in the Midwest of America and peoples' faces turning ashen and they would say, 'No, we can't play this. We can't possibly play this. You know, it looks homosexual'."


- YouTubewww.youtube.com



This article originally appeared on 5.8.20

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Thousands of concertgoers in Poland randomly decided to sing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and it was flawless

The music of Queen is a universal language.

Sandra Maria/Youtube, Official Lives & Music Videos/Youtube

You can't not sing this song.

The music of Queen has a profound visceral effect on everyone. Few pieces of art can cause complete strangers to put aside their differences and come together in song, but by golly, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is one of them. It would be cheesy if it weren’t so absolutely beautiful.

This pertains even to non-English-speaking countries, it appears. Recently, thousands of Harry Styles concertgoers in Warsaw, Poland, began cheering as those iconic beginning piano notes penetrated the air.

It wasn’t long before the entire stadium was singing along to that beloved tune and acing every single lyric. As one person commented on YouTube, even though most people in Warsaw don’t speak English, “they sing Queen.”

The passionate impromptu performance serves as a reminder of how special both Queen and the late Freddie Mercury remain today.

“No other band will ever come close to Queen. They were lightning in a bottle and Freddie was a whale in a teardrop. Once people keep singing his words, FM will live on forever,” another YouTube viewer wrote.

Indeed, seeing an entire stadium come alive with “Bohemian Rhapsody,” you can’t help but feel Mercury’s soul return to the mortal plane, as if we’ve all been transported back to that historic Live Aid concert in 1985 when he had the entirety of Wembley Stadium wrapped around his finger for 21 glorious minutes.

Watch below, and try not to sing along. Scratch that—sing your heart out.

This article originally appeared on 7.14.23

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'Fat Bottomed Girls' dropped from Queen's Greatest Hits album for kids, prompting debate

Was it the subject matter of the song or some specific lyrics?

Christopher Hopper/Public Domain

Queen in 1977, the year before their "Jazz" album featuring "Fat Bottomed Girls" was released

A new version of Queen's Greatest Hits has been released on Yoto, an audio streaming platform for children. The album includes favorites like "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Another One Bites the Dust," "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You," but this release is missing one notable tune—"Fat Bottomed Girls."

The exclusion prompted a wave of speculation about why it wouldn't be included, which in turn prompted debate over whether the song is offensive and outdated or an inspiring ode to larger body types. One of the most common guesses for why they may have decided not to include it on a platform aimed at young children is this line:

“But I knew life before I left the nursery/ Left alone with big fat Fanny/ She was such a naughty nanny/ Hey, big woman, you made a bad boy out of me.”

A celebration of larger-bodied women? Sure. A reference that could be interpreted as a young boy being molested by his nanny? Maybe not so appropriate for a young audience.

(It's worth noting here that the lyrics of some songs that were not cut from the album include, "I'm a sex machine ready to reload" and Yoto does include the following disclaimer, which only mentions references to violence and drugs, not sex:

NOTE: Please note that the lyrics in some of these songs contain adult themes, including occasional references to violence and drugs. These are the original and unedited recordings. Whilst no swear words are used parental discretion is advised when playing this content to or around younger children.)

It appears the primary reaction to the song's exclusion spawned from complaints over political correctness—"woke cancel culture" as a writer for the U.K.'s Daily Mail referred to it—which has triggered a weird situation where online culture warriors can't seem to figure out what side they're arguing for.

Oddly, the same people who keep referring to LGBTQ people as "groomers" and "pedos" seem to be defending a song sung by a famous LGBTQ icon with lyrics that point to a sexualized relationship between a child and his nanny, simply because someone called the song's removal a "woke" move. And on the flip side, the same people who decry removing sexual material from the children's section of libraries seem to be defending the removal of this song from a child's audio platform for its adult-oriented theme and lyrics simply because the anti-woke crowd is complaining about it.

It's all just a little silly, really.

Popular music has long been a battleground for debates over what's appropriate or not for kids to be exposed to, and there are countless songs we could point to for lyrics that would be disturbing coming out of a child's mouth. I imagine few people would argue that nothing is off limits for children to hear or sing along to, but where does the line get drawn?

My parents were big Queen fans and I recall having "Fat Bottomed Girls" blaring on the stereo when I was a child. Musically, it's a great song—very catchy. And as a girl whose body did not align with the flat-bottomed models of the 1980s, I appreciated what felt like a personal shout-out. My fat bottom actually made the rockin' world go 'round? Sweet. (This was over a decade before "Baby Got Back" and the only time I recall a large butt being portrayed in a positive light in popular culture.)

On the other hand, some of the lyrics are definitely questionable for a child to be belting out, so I can see why it might not be included on an album specifically released for kids. However, the same could be said for some other song lyrics on the album, so why remove this one and not those?

To be fair, the reason why "Fat Bottomed Girls" wasn't included on Yoto's release of the Greatest Hits album is just speculation at this point. But it did get people talking about what's appropriate for kids and highlights the challenge of determining what should be included or excluded from platforms specifically aimed at children, and that's always a worthy discussion to have.

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