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13-year-old boy soprano stunned Britain's Got Talent with his angelic 'Pie Jesu' audition

Simon Cowell said, "It was like being in heaven."

Britain's Got Talent/YouTube

Malakai Boyah has the voice of an angel.

Sometimes a person opens their mouth to sing and what comes out is not at all what one would expect. We’ve seen it countless times on various “Got Talent” shows, but one unexpected young singer not only surprised the judges and audience of Britain’s Got Talent with his voice but even brought many of them to tears.

Malakai Bayoh is a 14-year-old from London. For his BGT audition earlier in 2023, when he was 13, he sang “Pie Jesu,” the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic in Latin that helped launch Charlotte Church’s career. "Pie Jesu" is a beautiful hymn that requires a soprano voice and includes some challenging vocal high jumps. When it’s done well, it has a mesmerizing, otherworldly quality to it.

Malakai did it well.

With the voice of an angel, he stunned everyone in the BGT studios as well as the folks watching at home. People in the live audience wiped away tears. The famously hard-to-impress Simon Cowell couldn’t stop smiling as Malakai sang, and at one point, it looked as if judge Bruno Tonioli (who is delightfully prone to dramatics, to be fair) might actually faint.

Watch:

People on YouTube haven't been able to stop raving about Malakai's performance.

"I would say this performance automatically entered into the top ten golden buzzers of all time," wrote one commenter.

"As a trained singer, watching agt and bgt usually distresses me, but my husband loves it. I was in the bedroom when i heard Malachi's voice pouring out if the living room like an angel. I"ve heard Pie Jesu performed many times, but this was not a performance, this was sound straight from the Creator to touch our souls. A message of love," shared another."

"I'm a trained singer, and a music teacher by profession, and sang this song as a young performer myself. I can say with absolute certainty this is the most beautifully I've ever heard this song sung. Not only is he a TRULY gifted singer, he sings with poise. With proper technique, proper breathing, proper everything. His vowels are PERFECTION, the smoothness with which he sings is truly impeccable. The amount of control it takes to sing slowly, that high.... this boy is truly a gift from God. Thank you for gracing our ears with your voice little one," shared another.

"I have seen it 10 times in a row and I have cried all 10 times…definitely a voice that comes from heaven," shared another.

As Simon Cowell said, "It was like being in heaven." It seems that everyone is in agreement.

Since his initial BGT audition, Boyah has continued to wow BGT judges and fans with his classical singing. You can watch his performance of "Caruso" here and enjoy his tuxedoed performance of "O Mio Babbino Caro" here. This kid in definitely going places.

In fact, Malakai has recorded his debut album, appropriately called "Golden." Watch out world, here comes Malakai.

This article originally appeared on 12.3.23

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Education

'Don't follow your passion': Self-made millionaire says you should do this instead

There's something more profound than passion.

via Vice and Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

A woman painting and Scott Galloway.

“Follow your passion” is a cliche you will hear in almost every graduation commencement speech. But we all accept it as a golden rule for life because we hear it so often and it feels right.

We tell ourselves that if we are passionate about something, we will be good at it and it will sustain us throughout our lives. However, Scott Galloway, a self-made millionaire and marketing professor at New York University Stern School of Business, thinks that telling people to follow their passions is bad advice.

In 2005, Galloway founded the digital intelligence firm L2 Inc., a venture that would go on to be acquired by Gartner for a staggering $155 million in March 2017.

″[Return on investment] and sex appeal are inversely correlated. What do we mean about that? Simply put: Don’t follow your passion,” Galloway told CNBC Make It. Instead, Galloway proposes a more practical approach. “Find out what you’re good at and then invest 10,000 hours in it — and become great at it,” Galloway says.

Im Not Giving It Away Malcolm Gladwell GIFfrom Im Not Giving It Away GIFs

The 10,000-hour theory Malcolm Gladwell explains in his book “Outliers,” states that to become exceptionally good at something, you need about 10,000 hours of practice. In his book, he emphasizes that it's not just talent that matters; putting in the time and effort is key to mastering any skill or profession.

In “Outliers,” Gladwell notes that highly successful people, including Bill Gates, The Beatles, and Robert Oppenheimer, all put 10,000 hours into their particular skill sets before reaching incredible heights of success.

“People often come to NYU and say, ‘Follow your passion’ — which is total bulls***, especially because the individual telling you to follow your passion usually became magnificently wealthy selling software as a service for the scheduling of health care maintenance workers. And I refuse to believe that that was his or her passion,” Calloway continues.

Calloway adds that one of the benefits of focusing on our natural gifts is that it will eventually inspire passion. “What they were passionate about was being great at something, and then the accouterments of being great at something — the recognition from colleagues, the money, the status will make you passionate about whatever it is,” Galloway said.

make action GIFs like this at MakeaGif

A 2018 report by Stanford researchers came to a similar conclusion. The researchers believe that following one’s passions isn’t a clear road to success for numerous reasons. The maxim assumes that we have only one passion in life and that it will not change over time. It also gives the impression that when we follow our passions, we’ll always magically fall into our dream jobs and become successful.

Finally, just because one is passionate about something doesn’t necessarily mean they are good at it.

While some may think Calloway’s advice is cynical and heartless, there's something extraordinary about nurturing our natural gifts and using them to achieve success in life. In a world where our talents and passions may not always align, embracing what makes you unique and sharing it with the world in your own special way is a beautiful gift that you can offer.

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Family

Ever told your artistic friend they're 'wasting' their talent? Here's why that can hurt, not help.

I need good live music only a little less intensely than a caffeine aficionado needs their next shot of espresso.

And woe to the mortal who gets between me and my fix.

In fact, when I go to events with my friends, I usually have to remind myself that they’re also there to socialize, and it isn’t polite to hiss at them when they try to start a conversation with me. I haunt open mic nights semi-professionally, and I played as part of a duo in Florence, Italy, for more than a year while I lived there.

So it often surprises people when I say that I don’t want to pursue a life as a professional musician.

Although singing is one of the great joys of my life, I would never want to make a career out of it. I would get burned out in a matter of weeks, and performing would lose most of its magic for me.

So although performing live music has become an integral part of my life that I can’t imagine giving up, I’m perfectly content to jam out with a band once or twice a week and sing to myself while I do the dishes (or cook, or clean, or walk down the street, or wait in line at the Chinese place).

Creative expression doesn’t have to be serious to be fulfilling; it only has to bring you satisfaction.

Since we’re talking about musicians, my friend Derek is another good example. He went to one of the best art colleges for illustration in the US, but he’s chosen to pursue a career in music instead. At some point he realized that paid illustration work wasn’t satisfying because of the limitations that clients placed on him, but he found the gratification he was looking for in casual expression.

I often forget about his artistic background until I see him sketching, and I’m always blown away by his talent. And the thought always creeps up in the back of my mind: It’s such a shame he’s not using that talent more.

And I always have to remind myself that he is using it, just in the way that he wants to.

My judgmental, hypocritical ass just needs to take a chill pill and stay in my lane.

The musician that I know best, however, is my guitarist, Francesco. When I watch him work, it confirms everything I’ve come to believe about dedication. He lives and breathes music, not just for school or his various projects (like me), but for the sheer joy of it.

It drives him, the way that stories drive me. I have entire folders full of words that burned me up until I wrote them down. Does it bother me that almost no one is looking at them right now? Sure.

But that hasn’t stopped me, because that’s not why I do it. I write to quiet the ghosts in my head, and whether or not I publish another word won’t change that.

So what do you do when you find yourself with a talent that you don’t want to pursue?

Just let it make you happy. It never needs to be more complicated than that.

This story originally appeared on The Feed and is reprinted here with permission.

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Antique store owner stunned by mystery piano player found him and gave him the instrument - Upworthy ›

They say it takes practice to play Carnegie Hall. This 13-year-old has done it 3 times.

True

Some people spend their entire lives dreaming of the chance to perform at the famous Carnegie Hall.

The lights. The sights. The history. The audience roaring with applause. If you get the chance to play there, you know you're doing it right.

Pianist Sriram Narayanan might as well receive a frequent performer card for his time spent on stage there.

All images via Sunanda Narayanan, used with permission.

Sriram has dazzled audiences at Carnegie Hall not once, not twice, but THREE times. Did I mention he's only 13 years old?

That's quite an accomplishment for anyone, let alone someone who's barely considered a teenager. But Sriram thrives under the pressure. For a child with other challenges, music has been an incredible outlet for him.

"He doesn't get nervous," said his piano teacher, Tatyana Dudochkin of the New England Conservatory. "He enjoys performing so much for an audience and sharing his joy. He absolutely loves when people clap and cheer for him."

And cheer for him they do.

He's always practicing!

Sriram's success is a testament to the power of patience and encouragement — especially with kids.

Learning is not a one-size-fits-all type of deal for many children, including Sriram. As a toddler, Sriram was diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder (APD) — a condition an estimated 5-7% of children live with today. APD can make it difficult to recognize sounds in words, understand the messages of others, remember information presented verbally, and localize sounds, among other things.

That means for people living with APD, it can take a little bit more time to figure out directions, complete a homework assignment, or memorize a new song on the piano. But just as we all learn differently, those with APD do too, and patience and understanding from others helps to play a big role in their development.

It's what helped Sriram find his own path.

"I just started to work with him and it was difficult," said his teacher Tatyana, "but he loved learning the music I played for him and he was very passionate about it. When I pushed him to do even more, he did it, and it helped to build a lot of confidence."

Sriram and his teacher, Tatyana Dudochkin.

Sriram found an area where he shines — and that has helped him in every aspect of his life.

When Sriram was encouraged to start doing competitions, it took him to a whole new level. In addition to the competitions that have landed him at Carnegie Hall, he has won many others, including receiving honorable mention as the youngest contestant of the 2016 "Newton Has Talent."

Between his family, his music mentors, his school Learning Prep, and others, he knows he has a community of support behind him in his journey.

Sriram at "Newton Has Talent"/YouTube.

It's important for children to be able to explore various hobbies and interests while they're young. Every kid is different — living with APD or not — and you never know what will stick.

When Sriram was 4, his mom, Sunanda gave him a keyboard that was destined for the trash. She thought it would keep him occupied for a while. What she didn't realize was the path it would lead him on.

"All of a sudden he was teaching himself songs from 'The Sound of Music' by ear," she said.

Fast forward nine years later, he's showing us all what he can do from the big bright stage.

As Sunanda says, "It is amazing to see him be social and to show off his talent. Music is going to be a very integrated part of his life."

talent

13-year-old boy soprano stunned Britain's Got Talent with his angelic 'Pie Jesu' audition

Simon Cowell said, "It was like being in heaven."

'Don't follow your passion': Self-made millionaire says you should do this instead

There's something more profound than passion.

Ever told your artistic friend they're 'wasting' their talent? Here's why that can hurt, not help.

I need good live music only a little less intensely than a caffeine aficionado needs their next shot of espresso.

So it often surprises people when I say that I don’t want to pursue a life as a professional musician.

Creative expression doesn’t have to be serious to be fulfilling; it only has to bring you satisfaction.

And I always have to remind myself that he is using it, just in the way that he wants to.

So what do you do when you find yourself with a talent that you don’t want to pursue?

They say it takes practice to play Carnegie Hall. This 13-year-old has done it 3 times.

Some people spend their entire lives dreaming of the chance to perform at the famous Carnegie Hall.

Sriram has dazzled audiences at Carnegie Hall not once, not twice, but THREE times. Did I mention he's only 13 years old?

Sriram's success is a testament to the power of patience and encouragement — especially with kids.

Sriram found an area where he shines — and that has helped him in every aspect of his life.

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