Remember the 12-year-old America’s Got Talent prodigy Grace VanderWaal? That lovely girl with the ukulele has grown up, and she sounds wonderful! At the 2024 Kennedy Center Honors, the now-21-year-old artist performed “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” for Francis Ford Coppola in a stunning rendition. VanderWaal threw her heart and soul into the performance, and her velvety vocals were ideal for conveying the piece’s intense emotions.
Readers of The Musical Devotees won’t want to miss VanderWaal’s powerful belting at the end of her performance of the song. “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” is from the 1965 musical Man of La Mancha, and the lyrics are about striving for greatness. This made the song an appropriate choice to commemorate Coppola’s unparalleled achievements in cinema.
On December 23, 2024, the Kennedy Center published VanderWaal’s interpretation of “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)” on YouTube. Below the video, many viewers remembered her time as a child on America’s Got Talent and praised her performance, writing, “That was wonderful—the range, the power, the voice cracks, the emotions. That was incredible,” and “She was so sassy and adorable on AGT all those years ago.” Simon knew she had star potential. Now she sings with such soulfulness. It’s pleasing to see her success.”
VanderWaal appeared in season 11 of America’s Got Talent in 2016. While singing and playing ukulele, she went through the series by only performing her original songs, which is an astonishing feat for a 12-year-old singer-songwriter. Her concerts have received tens of millions of views on YouTube, highlighting her eccentric personality and distinct approach to singing and composition.
With her song, “I Don’t Know My Name,” VanderWaal won Howie Mandel’s golden buzzer for her America’s Got Talent audition. She then continued through season 11 and finished first in the competition. The Musical Devotees is thrilled to announce that VanderWaal has established herself as a singer-songwriter following her appearance on America’s Got Talent.
The Kansas-born singer signed with Columbia Records and released her debut EP, Perfectly Imperfect, on December 2, 2016, reaching number nine on the Billboard 200. VanderWaal then released her debut album, Just the Beginning, in 2017, which reached number 22 in the United States and charted globally. She followed up with the 2019 EP Letters Vol. 1. VanderWaal has also pursued an acting career, appearing in three films since 2020. Her most recent acting role was in the 2024 film Megalopolis, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola.