(WCMH) — There was an emotional surprise appearance on the live voting results show of “America’s Got Talent” Wednesday night.
Ohio’s own singer-songwriter Nightbirde, who had to drop out of the competition to focus on her cancer battle, returned in a prerecorded clip where she spoke with the judges and host Terry Crews.
Crews gave her a dramatic introduction, recapping her journey on “AGT.”
“Tonight we’ll find out which seven acts will make it into the semifinals,” Crews began. “It was a great show, but there was somebody missing, Nightbirde. At the auditions, her original song had an incredible impact around the world. Simon Cowell was so moved, he reached for the Golden Buzzer. Since then, she’s had to drop out of the competition, but she joined us recently to let us know how she’s doing.”
As the clip began, Nightbirde, whose name is Jane Marczewski, appeared on a giant screen over the stage, a giant smile on her face, belying the seriousness of her illness.
After brief hellos, Crews touched on the phenomenal success of her appearance on the show and her song, “It’s OK.”
“First of all, Nightbirde, your Golden Buzzer performance has now been seen over two hundred million times,’ Crews said in amazement. “When you wrote “It’s OK” did you have any idea it would have that big an impact on the world?”
Nightbirde answered, giving insight into what she was feeling when she put those words to paper.
“There’s no way I would have ever imagined that,” Nightbirde revealed. “It’s a song I wrote for myself in the middle of the night when I needed those words so bad, and it’s, it’s beautiful to see the world welcome that song into their own dark night, and I’m overwhelmed by it.”
Howie Mandell then interjected, complementing the singer on her impact on the world.
“Can I just say something?” Mandel asked. “You know the entire world is suffering adversity right now and you are the poster human for courage in the face of adversity. For poise, for beauty and for fight and that’s what we all need to do.”
Sofia Vergara then quickly added to the conversation, saying “Thank you, thank you for touching us with your song with who you are, how you are. We were amazed by you.”
Then it was Simon Cowell’s turn to speak. Visibly moved by Nightbirde’s appearance, he addressed the singer by her given name.
“Hello, Jane,” Cowell began, his voice cracking. “We’ve spoken a few times, and look, you know you made the decision, rightly so, that your health is your priority right now and I know that the last time we spoke, you, you actually said you feel like you let people down more. I just want to say on behalf of all of us, you haven’t let anyone down. Even though you haven’t competed, you’ve already won. As Terry said, I mean, your, your clip has had such an impact on so many people and your courage and who you are. And the most important thing is your well-being and your health and your recovery. And on behalf of all of us here, we’re sending our love our prayers. And we can’t wait to see you again soon. And thank you so much for auditioning on the show and for, for singing such a beautiful song. And, you know it was…”
Cowell trailed off, overcome by his emotions.
“I just wanted to say ‘Hi’ too and I love you,” Heidi Klum exclaimed bringing levity back into the conversation.
Nightbirde, with tears in her eyes, added an inspiring message of hope and fortitude
“I love all of you right back and I’m, I cannot say thank you enough for the opportunity to, to have a moment to share my story,” she said. “And I think we’re witnessing, like such a beautiful picture of the human spirit and the triumph of the human spirit, and I think it’s restored my faith in humanity a whole lot, to see people come together. Just over the fact that we all hurt, we all suffer and we all have the potential to, to overcome. And it’s, this is, I mean the most beautiful thing that’s ever happened to me in my life.”
Crews ended the conversation saying, “Thank you so, so much for being here, Nightbirde. You are awesome. We love you. What an inspiration. Thank you.”
Nightbirde replied, “I love you guys too. Thank you so much.”
And with a kiss and a wave from the Ohio native on the screen, the camera pulled back and the clip faded to black.