15-Year-Old Reid Wilson Sounds Beyond His Years Crooning a Louis Armstrong Staple
The teenager, who competed in Season 29 of America's Got Talent, took the iconic song to a new level.
One of America's Got Talent Season 19's brightest stars is back with another epic performance — this time, on social media.
In an April 11 Instagram video, 15-year-old Reid Wilson showed off the vocal skills that catapulted him to the AGT Semifinals last year with an unbelievable rendition of the Louis Armstrong classic, "What a Wonderful World." For fans unfamiliar with Reid's utterly unique and dreamlike singing style, you're in for such a treat.
"Feels like spring, sounds like spring 🐝🌷🪻#whatawonderfulworld," Wilson wrote in a caption.
Wilson possesses such an angelic voice, and the masterful command of his tone and breath is, quite simply, something that a 14-year-old should not be able to do at this point in their career.
Listen to the stunning cover of "What a Wonderful World" here.
His sweet, subtle run at the end of the song's iconic refrain tells fans everything they need to know about Wilson: His singing style is simply beautiful. His versatility wowed everyone in Season 19 of AGT. (We still think about his epic Ariana Grande cover during last year's Quarterfinals, for example.) It was such a soulful and innovative performance.
Thanks to the mark he made on the competition in Season 19, Wilson — unsurprisingly — is on board for a return to the franchise in the future if the call ever came, as he revealed to the Montgomery Advertiser in 2024.
"100%, if I was asked to do it, I would quit everything I was doing, fly out to LA and do it," he confessed. "I would love to be back so much."
Here's what to know about "What a Wonderful World"
Despite being one of Armstrong's most well-known songs today, "What a Wonderful World" did not originally chart in the U.S. upon its 1967 release, due to minimal promotion. It wasn't until it was featured in the 1988 film Good Morning Vietnam that the track attained its much-deserved popularity, reaching the #32 position on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2015, it was honored with the Songwriter Hall of Fame's Towering Song Award.
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"'What a Wonderful World,'" like so many songs that resonate in perpetuity with the masses, expresses simple ideas in a simply constructed piece," American Songwriter wrote in 2020.
The track has been covered by many prominent artists over the years, such as Willie Nelson, Roy Clark, Susan Boyle, Joey Ramone, Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, and countless others.
