# Nine-year old girl sings opera like an angel on Holland's got talent, learnt by watching Youtube... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 30, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699 "2013-10-30T23:29:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/1 "2013-10-30T23:29:15Z")
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/17yLLsE9W_o/hqdefault.jpg "Holland's got talent 2013 - Amira Willighagen - O mio babbino caro - Nine years old, a Miracle") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17yLLsE9W_o) This nine-year old Dutch girl taught herself how to sing opera by watching Youtube vids. She hasn’t had singing lessons. The way she sings is unbelievable. Like, literally unbelievable. You’d think it was fake, but it isn’t. She was on the Dutch edition of \'s got talent, just a week ago. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/2 "2013-10-31T01:17:28Z")
As a musician, I must admit, before I watched the video, I was skeptical. But man, that’s amazing! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/3 "2013-10-31T01:40:15Z")
Wow. Are we sure she hasn’t been training at an academy? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/4 "2013-10-31T03:06:53Z")
Even if she’s had training, she’s still amazing. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/5 "2013-10-31T04:07:41Z")
Holy fuck! She totally fucking rocks! ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/6 "2013-10-31T04:47:47Z")
Just a shame I couldn’t hear the beginning, it was drowned out by the rattling noise of jaws dropping in the judging panel and the audience. By the way, have you seen my jaw anywhere? It seems to have come off, it should be on the floor here somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/7 "2013-10-31T05:04:51Z")
Also, I assume they’ve just closed down the show now? I mean, it’s not like anyone wants to go on after that, ever. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/8 "2013-10-31T05:26:16Z")
It was annoying to have to hear the audience clap every time she hit a high note. She is good but, she doesn’t understand what the song is about. Listen to [this version](http://youtu.be/PomIF3s2-OY) and hear it performed by an adult who is expressing the emotional content. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/9 "2013-10-31T05:31:58Z")
Yeah, well, she’s not perfect. But watching everybody’s heads explode adds to the experience. In any case, I guess she doesn’t have to worry about what she’ll be doing when she grows up. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/10 "2013-10-31T05:35:02Z")
Just like Charlotte Church. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/11 "2013-10-31T07:53:32Z")
Yeah, I had to go pick up my own fallen jaw as well. It may turn out that she has had singing lessons, but that they made up the Youtube story because it is a better story. Still, even with singing lessons, she’s freaking nine years old. Here’s a [version of Maria Callas with subtitles](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69pxWVjlbNo). The song’s lyrics are kind of cheesy. She told the judges she wants to be a singer, and if that doesn’t work out, she’ll settle for Olympic finalist in the athletics. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/12 "2013-10-31T08:56:17Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > She is good but, she doesn’t understand what the song is about. Yeah, that bothered me a little too. Especially changing the ending: she’s begging her father for pity, ending in that way doesn’t make sense at all. She also muddled the words. It’s perfectly excusable for a 9 y/o, of course. But it seems a shame, since her voice is lovely. It also makes it more plausible that she has little training, if any. She looked quite untrained to me, with my only very barely trained eye. Although that means she is talented, singing in this way with no training could also damage her voice and she could be teaching herself damaging techniques. Still, very impressive for a little girl! I love singing this piece myself, however cliched it might be. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/13 "2013-10-31T10:02:22Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > She is good but, she doesn’t understand what the song is about. I had a classmate in German lessons who was working on learning half a dozen languages exactly so she’d be able to read the librettos herself, rather than having to ask people what each song was about constantly. She was already a professional opera singer. That girl simply needs someone to help her with that. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/14 "2013-10-31T17:33:29Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > She told the judges she wants to be a singer, and if that doesn’t work out, she’ll settle for Olympic finalist in the athletics. 🙂 Unless we’re actually in a novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist. In which case this could get [ugly (spoilers)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Star_%28novel%29). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/15 "2013-10-31T18:03:37Z")
Don’t girls’ voices change when they go through puberty? I know they don’t change nearly as much as boys’, but still, that could come as a harsh shock to this kid: When you’re that good, almost any change at all is going to be for the worse. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/16 "2013-10-31T23:36:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > When you’re that good, almost any change at all is going to be for the worse. I don’t know. She needs to get fatter, for one thing, if she’s going to be a proper diva. I recommend a strict Twinkies and Doritos diet. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/17 "2014-01-30T15:04:58Z")
A bit late to the party here, but just a quick update: [Watch Amira singing _Nessun Dorma_ in the final.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PxxRP-6qIo) The result? She won, obviously. Partly for her singing, and partly, I’m sure, for being as adorable as a busload of Care Bears all holding kittens. But that’s OK. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/18 "2014-01-30T18:35:15Z")
All I could think of watching that video is Ricky Bobby: “I’m not sure what to do with my hands.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/19 "2014-01-30T19:16:21Z")
It is difficult to believe that a child has that much voice. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699/20 "2014-01-31T00:16:04Z")
Have you all forgotten about America’s Got Talent’s singer, Jackie Evancho? [Here is her clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbhdOr1AllA) from her first appearance on the show. She was 10 years old. She came in second place that year. Still - she has been touring and selling out in concerts since then. I guess little girls singing opera is not such a rare feat after all. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nine-year-old-girl-sings-opera-like-an-angel-on-hollands-got-talent-learnt-by-watching-youtube/672699.md?page=2)