Mission singer Eshan Sobti is moving on to the next round of Canada’s Got Talent.
On the stage for the Million Dollar season on Citytv on Tuesday night (April 30), Sobti told judges Lilly Singh, Howie Mandel, Kardinal Offishall and Trish Stratus that he was nervous. It was the biggest stage he ever performed on.
Sobti spoke about struggles with confidence growing up due to bullying and others judging his appearance.
“If I won Canada’s Got Talent, it would mean that everything people said about me in the past — they were wrong. I proved them wrong. And it would show me that it doesn’t matter where you come from, what culture you come from, you can still do what you love at the end of the day and if you have passion, you’re gonna rise,” Sobti said when asked by judges what he would do if he won.
Sobti performed a rendition of Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” and earned several “wows” from judges. His parents, brother and aunt were also in the audience after flying to Ontario from B.C.
He says singing that song was a big risk due to the degree of difficulty.
“I really wanted to do something that was well-known and iconic, but I wanted to put my own spin on it. So I did a ballad version of ‘How Will I Know’ because I wanted to show that I can sing one of the hardest songs,” he said.
Sobti wasn’t sure he could measure up but was able to make it his own.
“They seemed to really like it,” he said.
Eshan Sobti is out here blessing our ears 😍🎶
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The song earned Sobti raucous applause from the audience and unanimous approval from judges.
“Just listen to this room. We love you. Canada loves you. Your family loves you. That was a million dollar performance,” Mandel said
Singh said she hopes Sobti goes all the way and believes he could win Canada’s Got Talent.
“It brings me so much joy to say hanji. Yes, ” Singh told Sobti.
Offishall also praised Sobti’s ability.
“People don’t touch Whitney Houston’s songs because they are so difficult to sing but you owned it,” he said.
Sobti says he was crying throughout the process of judges providing comments.
“It was really overwhelming. I had no idea what was going on. I was just in awe and shock the whole time that this is actually happening to me because I’ve been watching the show for so long. I’ve been envisioning myself on the stage through other acts but now that it was me, it was like damn, this isn’t real,” Sobti said.
The audition round is over and Sobti is one of 14 acts moving on to the next round of competition with a chance to win $1 million.
Sobti says it’s possible he could need the public’s votes to move on to the final round.
The next episode airs on May 7 on Citytv at 8 PT for viewers on the west coast and 5 PT for those on the east coast.