America’s Got Talent 2023: Singer Cakra Khan surprised the judges with his soulful singing
America’s Got Talent Season 18 returned with audition night week 7. The talent has been good, but I’m ready to move on to the Live Shows at this point. The night started slow, but as it went on, it had some great talent including another singer from Indonesia (Putri being the other)
Cakra Khan is a 31-year-old singer from Indonesia. He tells the judges he likes Blues and Soul genres. If he wins, he would like to open an Animal Shelter.
He sings a cover of Foy Vance’s “Make It Rain” in the style of Ed Sheeran. His tone is captivating and very raspy. It is reminiscent a bit of singers like Michael Bolton. It’s good but a bit typical, so as he does with many of the singing auditions, Simon Cowell stops him and asks for a second song. The “sing a second song” is overused at this point, and feels overly scripted. Especially with how the crowd dramatically boos as Cakra finishes the song.
Unsurprisingly, Simon prefered Cakra’s second song
Cakra introduces his second song, Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry, describing how his late father used to play this song all the time before he left for school. This song has more impact emotionally, but because of the rasp in his voice, at times the high notes lack fullness. Overall, he’s a very solid singer though with great control, and he seems very composed.
The judges loved it. Heidi Klum says, “you have a very unique, very sexy, raspy voice.” Simon calls his voice “rare” and thought the second song was “interesting,” making him “sound more like an artist.” Sofia Vergara called it “spectacular.” Howie Mandel said, “very memorable, very unique voice.” Cakra soars through with 4 yeses.
Will Cakra stand out against the rest of AGT’s singing talent?
Overall, Cakra is a good vocalist with a lot of poise. It’ll be interesting to see if he stands out amongst this year’s singing talent. The night’s standouts included aerial strap duo, Duo Just Two Men, and entertaining drummer Timothy Fletcher. Honorable mentions go to bone-breaking Atai Group and Magic Mike Jacobson who also gave a memorable auditions.
