Innocent Masuku made waves with her vocal performance on Britain’s Got Talent after a widely shared audition. This time, she performed an electrifying rendition of Hans Zimmer’s “Now We Are Free.”
From the first note he sang, the South African vocal dynamo made an impression on TV viewers and quickly rose to the top of the competition. His amazing control over his breathing, vocal range, and projecting voice will undoubtedly help him succeed in this year’s competition.
Nobody on Earth could have guessed the incredible energy that South African singer Innocent Masuku was about to unleash during her Britain’s Got Talent 2024 audition. The Italian judge Bruno Tonioli was blown away by Innocent’s performance; his magnificent operatic tenor voice was breathtaking from the first note. TV viewers, however, were very divided by his audition, believing the singer had been wrongfully denied the Golden Buzzer.
An enticing operatic voice emanated from this unusual person, captivating the crowd and keeping them speechless with amazement. Lucio Dalla’s popular opera in the Italian language, “Caruso,” was the tune that Innocent chose. Bruno’s response at the judges’ desk suggested that Innocent’s performance was flawless, from tone choice to pronunciation. With astounding natural skill, Innocent represented the force and ecstasy of opera in a traditional yet astounding way.
Bruno looked closer and got up from his seat with his arms extended while Innocent’s chorus soared high, leaving the audience speechless. Bruno told Innocent that his performance was “very, very special—you are special” as his performance came to an abrupt end. Alesha Dixon called it “divine,” “overwhelming,” and Amanda Holden asserted that Innocent was the greatest opera singer to have ever competed in the 17 seasons of Britain’s Got Talent.
Innocent Masuku, a South African-born resident of London, was 33 years old when he made his BGT audition. Amanda had already fallen in love with this carefree persona the moment he walked onto the stage, wearing a black and white blouse his mother had created for him. It was therefore not surprising that she voted “Yes” together with the judges, sending Innocent to the next round of the competition.
Following the airing of his outstanding audition, BGT viewers criticized the judges on social media for failing to give Innocent the Golden Buzzer. Since Sydnie Christmas had previously starred in the West End production of Lazarus, controversy had already broken out when the judges gave her the Golden Buzzer for her musical theater performance earlier in the season. But after doing some research, it becomes clear that Innocent is also a professional musician who has won numerous honors and scholarships for his work.
Known for playing Bobo in the South African television series Yizo Yizo, Innocent was a rising celebrity in his country of South Africa. Due to his notoriety, Innocent struggled with drug addiction. His situation took a serious turn when a widely shared video from 2022 revealed him smoking a rocking chair outside while drinking booze and looking penniless. It appears that Innocent’s BGT audition signaled his comeback to the spotlight. He is reportedly sober now and has moved past the difficulties that nearly destroyed his reputation in his native nation.
In just over a day after being uploaded to YouTube, Innocent Masuku’s Britain’s Got Talent audition has received close to one million views, despite the mounting backlash against a talent show that many believe is fundamentally skewed.