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19-Year-Old Darci Lynne Took the Stage—And Didn’t Open Her Mouth. Instead, Through the Velvet Lips of Her Puppet, She Delivered a Flawless Performance of an Italian Opera Aria That Soared to Falsetto Heights Even Seasoned Professionals Fear to Attempt.
During a live performance in August 2024, Darci Lynne’s puppet friend Petunia dazzled audiences with some Italian opera. Of course, Lynne (a singing ventriloquist and America’s Got Talent Season 12 champion) was actually doing the singing, yet again showing the musical skills fans fell in love with during her Audition.
The amount of range and clarity Lynne possesses with her mouth closed is mesmerizing. “Petunia” sounded like an honest-to-goodness opera singer — the performance was magical.
This Italian opera piece may sound familiar to AGT fans. Lynne performed it during the Season 1 finale of AGT: The Champions in 2020. Her and Petunia’s rendition of “O Mio Babbino Caro” earned the duo a standing ovation.
“Your delivery and your confidence; you are self-taught and you worked so hard to get this far. You deserve everything and much, much more,” Judge Mel B applauded at the time.
Their 2024 performance is just as impressive. Lynne hitting those high notes without once opening her mouth shows the star is in a music class all her own. Whether she incorporates her puppet friends to help her sing or not, Lynne’s voice has become more and more powerful over the years — and it shows.
Watch her and Petunia’s performance, below:
Darci Lynne returned to the stage and took a risk in AGT: Fantasy League
While Lynne returned to the AGT stage in 2020 to wow Judges and viewers with her ventriloquism Act, she took part in AGT: Fantasy League in 2024 and chose to sing an original song — without her puppet friends.
While her performance of “Push Your Luck” was a massive hit with the audience, Judge Heidi Klum warned Lynne about shedding the most identifiable part of her live performance: her ventriloquist skills.
“There is a risk,” Klum told her. “Now you fall into the category of all the singers, so the pressure, I feel like, is extra.”
Lynne, to her credit, was undeterred.
“This is just something I feel like I have to do, in my heart,” she said of her decision to pivot toward a more traditional singing career. But don’t worry, she’s not abandoning her puppets any time soon. In fact, they’re on tour right now.
