NBC's reality television series "America's Got Talent" Season 11 ended on September. Just few weeks after its finale aired, a lot has already changed in the lives of the winners. The season's grand winner, 12-year-old Grace Vanderwaal, has already started to make her entry to the music industry and on her way to becoming a star.
Vanderwaal has been included in Billboard's annual list of promising artists under 21 this year. She was already a star when she stepped foot of the "America's Got Talent" stage. But Billboard said the musician deserves to be in the list for the impact she made when she was just a contestant.
Vanderwaal auditioned on the reality television show, with her original song "I Don't Know My Name" and got a golden buzzer by one of the show's judges, Howie Mandel. She was even dubbed as "the next Taylor Swift" by Simon Cowell. Vanderwaal's next acts on the show have been performances of only her original songs.
Among the songs she performed was entitled "Beautiful Thing", which she wrote for her sister, and "Clay", which she wrote for the victims of bullying.
According to Billboard, the 12-year-old musician made it to their annual list because of her immediate fame after being announced as the grand winner of the show. She captured the attention of all the judges when she sang her originally-composed song at the audition. She instantly landed on Simon Cowell's entertainment company, Syco, after winning the show.
Meanwhile, in a report from IBT, Vanderwaal was joined with other artists from Cowell's music company, on the Billboard 2016 list. Fifth Harmony, an all-girl group who also started in America's Got Talent, also made it to the list, as well as Latin American pop boyband, CNCO, who won the first season of La Banda, a reality show which was also founded by Simon Cowell.
