+
upworthy

singer

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.

Sheena Melwani is a media artist and singer who has made a name for herself not only with her musical talent, but because her "Indian dad" is freaking hilarious.

Melwani shares videos on TikTok of her playing piano and singing popular songs, only to be interrupted by "dad" making commentary on what she's singing. Melwani can never make it through a whole song without busting up laughing over her father's interjections, and who can blame her? He's like a sitcom character come to life.


Anyone who has a snarky parent will delight in the playful roasts this dad foists upon his daughter. He's even coined some classic dad hashtags like #closethewindows. Just watch:





Melwani told Upworthy that she's been overwhelmed by the positive responses to her dad roast videos, and that she gets messages daily from people—COVID patients, people with depression and more—who tell her how much the videos have helped lift their spirits. "They're holding it like light and laughter and love, and this is what people have been looking for," she says. "It just promotes so much happiness."

She says she's really not a huge social media person at all outside of her work, and she only joined TikTok because her brother encouraged her to. When she started sharing the dad videos on TikTok, she had just 14 followers, then it just exploded. She posts a video every day now to her nearly 700,000 followers, in addition to posting dad videos and other content on Instagram. She's planning on releasing an album of her music (sans dad commentary) this fall, but has no plans to stop making people laugh with her "Indian dad" videos.

In her TikTok videos, the dad is off camera, and his true identity remains a mystery. But you can follow him on TikTok here as well. Melwani says that he adlibs all of the commentary in the videos and she has no idea what's coming, so that infectious laughter is real.

Thanks for bringing us all some much-needed joy, Sheena and Indian dad!

Instagram / Cheryl

Madame Tussauds in London houses a veritable zoo of lifelike waxworks of the influential and famous. Being enshrined in wax at Madame Tussauds is a sign that you made it. Being removed from the museum… not so much.

The waxy likeness of former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole (who now just goes by Cheryl) was taken out of the famed museum. One of the metrics Madame Tussauds uses to determine the fate of a statue is if people are taking selfies with it. Unfortunately, people weren't posing with Cheryl as much as they used to, and the museum decided to axe the wax. This is the 21st century where much of our fate is determined by Instagram.

When wax mannequin Cheryl first went on display in 2010, she was a popular attraction. The figure was even updated a few times to reflect the changes in the singer's appearance. In 2014, her tiara and glittery red gown was swapped out for a glittery gold top and black pants. Her loose waves were styled into an updo, and they added replicas of the rings Cheryl's ex-husband Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini gave her.


RELATED: Michelle Branch posted a breastfeeding photo from her wedding day, because brides multitask

Cheryl is still relatively obscure in the states, but she was a huge star in Britain in the 2000s. She was part of the popular girl group Girls Aloud, and she became the first British female solo artist to have five number-one singles. Up until 2018, she also held the record for the British female solo artist with the most number-one singles in the U.K. She was even a judge on the "X Factor." So, yeah. She was a big deal.

Recently, her singles haven't been doing well on the charts, and L'Oreal ended their nine-year contract with Cheryl. Then, Madam Tussauds decided to stop displaying her waxwork.

"Our Cheryl figure is currently being stored in the London archives," a representative of Madam Tussauds told the Sun. "This isn't uncommon for our figures, as from time to time we do change who we have in the attraction. We are constantly reviewing our collection of figures to best represent what our visitors want to see."

RELATED: The viral homeless opera singer just made her debut stage performance and it's incredible

To add insult on injury, replicas of her former fellow "X Factor" judges are still on display in the museum. Likenesses of Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, and Louis Walsh reside in the halls of Madam Tussauds. A likeness of her ex-boyfriend, One Direction singer Liam Payne, lives there as well.

It's hard not to feel like this is one big metaphor for the 21st century. You can be a record holding powerhouse, but if you're not getting social media attention, it's time to pack you up and put you in storage.

Country music legend Willie Nelson has a 700 acre ranch in Texas called Luck, and the name is no misnomer, especially for the 70 horses who live there.

They get hand-fed twice a day and have a wide expanse of farm land to roam around on. But most importantly, almost all of them were rescued from slaughterhouses.

Nelson's horse rescue mission has been ongoing over the last several years, and is actually a large part of why he named his property Luck Ranch in the first place.  


"When you’re here, you're in Luck, and when you're not, you're out of Luck,"  Nelson told ABC KSAT 12.

[rebelmouse-image 19534854 dam="1" original_size="700x284" caption="Photo via KSAT/YouTube." expand=1]Photo via KSAT/YouTube.

Horses are much more than a staple of his farm life — they're featured in his music as well. Nelson recently wrote a song about his beautiful rescue horses called "Ride Me Back Home" which will appear on his album that drops this summer. The 87-year-old singer-songwriter spends roughly 200 day stretches on the road touring, so it makes sense he'd be longing for the more laid back life on the ranch with his beloved equines.

Rescuing horses isn't the only sort of on-the-ground philanthropy Nelson's dedicated to though. He also supports struggling American farmers via a nonprofit he co-founded called Farm Aid.

For over 30 years, Farm Aid has been dedicated to building "a system of agriculture that values family farmers, good food, soil and water, and strong communities," as the website states.

Farm Aid also holds annual food and music festivals where some of the biggest names in country music come together to raise money for farmers, and show appreciation for all that they do for this country.

[rebelmouse-image 19534855 dam="1" original_size="700x467" caption="Photo by Scott Streble/Farm Aid." expand=1]Photo by Scott Streble/Farm Aid.

Celebrities and public figures often give money to support causes they care about, but when they get out there and actually make giving back a part of their lives, it's particularly inspiring.

If you're interested in helping Nelson help promote family farmers and the good food movement, there are many ways to get involved. If offering aid to horses that need to be rescued and rehabilitated speaks to you more, Habitat for Horses is a great place to start.

You don't have to be famous or have a lot of money to make an impact. All that's needed is a little effort and drive to make the world a better, more humane, and healthier place to be.

Watch Nelson's whole interview with KSAT here: