Lily Meola, gifted singer-songwriter, Willie Nelson protégé, sister of aerial artist Matt, wowed this week on America’s Got Talent, the premier vocal reality show hosted by the infamously vicious Simon Cowell. But there was no cynicism when Miss Meola took the stage.
Meola more than impressed with her public speaking skills, explaining that she’d scored – and lost – a record deal. As her mother was struggling with cancer she turned into a primary caregiver (hence the lost deal). She went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows: “I was hatching butterflies,” she said about that time before her mother’s illness. Thus the title of her original song, “Daydream.”
Let’s just say the song hit the right note. In fact, Lily knocked it out of the stratosphere. With her beautiful pipes she wowed the crowd, and as the cameras panned the arena, many in the audience were visibly in tears. She blew every single judge on the panel away, but especially former super model Heidi Klum, who advanced Meola directly to the live show with the Golden Buzzer, AGT’s version of a first-round win that sends one directly to the Round of 16 without having to deal with the elimination heats.
The reviews for Meola’s performance were universally positive this morning: The Huffington Post called it “one of the best original songs ever” on the show. Newsweek scrambled to profile the Maui Native as she introduced herself to the mainstream world with the performance.
But of course we here in the little ol’ world of surfing knew of Lily’s talents long ago as we profiled the Meola clan in Holy Meola in 2016, which you can watch again, below. And you gotta check out Lily’s performance above if you missed it.
Huge congrats Lily Meola!!
