Gabriella Laberge, a French-Canadian singer and violinist from Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Quebec, took the America’s Got Talent stage brimming with both excitement and nerves. Though already admired in Canada and Europe, this was her first moment under a global spotlight, and she greeted the judges with a gentle confidence that barely hid her anxious smile.

She began by singing James Blunt’s “Goodbye My Lover,” her soft, ethereal voice initially met with polite curiosity rather than rapt attention. As Simon Cowell poised his dreaded buzzer, Gabriella seized the moment: she paused her vocals, lifted her violin, and delivered an intricate solo that wove haunting melodies into the song’s emotional core.

That pivot transformed the room. Judges leaned forward, enraptured by the fusion of her vulnerable singing and expressive strings. Heidi Klum clutched her heart, Sofia and Howie exchanged awed glances, and even Simon’s skepticism melted into genuine praise as Gabriella turned a familiar ballad into her own, deeply personal story.