Last night’s episode of America’s Got Talent featured Dominican teen star-to-be Amanda Mena singing Pharell William’s “Happy”. Her performance went down fantastically with judges and audiences alike.
However, Eurovision fans watching had a major case of deja vu. And no, it was nothing to do with the participation of Eurovision 2005’s Glennis Grace in this year’s series.
Amanda’s performance seemed a little too familiar. The fluorescent lights? The microphone poses? The routine? Virtually every aspect of the staging bore more than a passing resemblance to the epic performance from Sweden’s Benjamin Ingrosso at Eurovision 2018. “Dance You Off”? More like passing-off!
A recipient of former Spice Girl and sass-queen Mel B’s Golden Buzzer earlier in the season, Mena’s performance formed part of last night’s semi-final lineup. Voting ended this morning. We’ll know if she made it through to the September 18 final later tonight.
But it’s undeniable. The staging concept is virtually identical except for different light colours. See for yourself below.
Amanda Mena on America’s Got Talent
Benjamin Ingrosso “Dance You Off” at Eurovision 2018
Social media reaction.
The clip hasn’t gone unnoticed by the team in Sweden, notably Benjamin himself. The Melfest charmer made a cheeky dig at the performance on Twitter. Quoting another Tweet, he wrote “Wait a min.. I recognize this from something….”
Wait a min.. I recognize this from something…. https://t.co/dxwEU3G0Ve
— Benjamin Ingrosso (@BenjyIngrosso) September 5, 2018
Fans were quick to reply to the suave Swede, offering support and poking fun at the situation themselves.
Nobody can outsell the king and THATS THE TEA pic.twitter.com/VijTvrC97t
— Georgia ?? (@xogeorgiamarie) September 5, 2018
It’s good to see Benjy and his team are taking this as it comes. But is there more drama to unfold?
Not the first time we’ve seen something familiar…
This isn’t the first time Eurofans have screamed deja vu.
On numerous occasions our eyes have been drawn to TV shows around the world “borrowing” concepts from the Eurovision Song Contest.
An example of this is a clip from last year’s The Voice Australia, where singer Sarah Stone sings “Gravity”. The mirror shards, the stars flowing upwards from them? It certainly seems to have taken hints from Lucie Jones’ staging for “Never Give Up On You” in Kyiv last year.
We’ve reported before how Hunan TV in China used Farid Mammadov’s “Hold Me” staging almost to the letter, red dress and all. The performance was part of a New Year’s concert broadcast on the channel in December 2014. The performance is even more to the letter than the previous example, with every detail taken into consideration.
Finally, we previously wondered if Britney Spears potentially took inspiration from Greta Salóme’s “I Hear Them Calling” staging at the 2016 MTV VMAs. The staging involved silhouettes created with hands crowding around the singer on a screen behind her. The technique used was different to that of Greta’s, but it was certainly eerily similar to the fan-favourite’s Eurovision performance.
What do you think of Amanda Mena’s performance? Do you think it is too in-sync with Benji’s Eurovision staging? Is it a coincidence? Let us know in the comments below!
of course its a copy, and the funny thing is that it doesnt fit the vibe of the song
who cares? elena and poli copied jennifer lopez too and no one complained.
i ve got some news for you. A girl who danses wearing a dress, doesnt have to be a jlo copycat. You know, its something very common…
For the record, Amanda did not advance to the final. She was in a pairing with two other Golden Buzzer singers (Makayla Phillips who was Heidi Klum’s GB and Michael Ketterer who was Simon Cowell’s GB) and Michael Keterer beat both girls
His staging wasn’t that original itself… Ariana Grande had already done something similar in 2016.
Just like Ariana Grande staging on VMA’s looks just like Italy 2015.
Well, Il Volo just sang in front of the leds showing Roman scultures. Ariana just imitated “The Last Supper”.
Well, I’m having major deja vu. It’s really similar. Wonder who made the decisions about the staging? Only differences are the colors and song. And who thought Happy was a good song to have with this kind of staging. It just doesn’t really fit ,in my opinion.
Anyways she sounded good.
Let’s just say her performance was so similar to Benjamin’s that I was expecting a “thank you, Europe” at the end…
The set designer must have been the same dude who did Benjamin’s.
Huh? 😮
Equally bad. Her song is even worse.
This is so sad. Alexa, play Benjamin’s reaction video where in he was laughing at other Eurovision 2018 entrants.
Even the trousers!
I am sure if someone asked her about it all, she would be like “What?? What Eurovision?? I don’t know what that is!!”
Well, this one is really ugly, and to me worse than the original one. It copies most of light effects, shots and poses, and adds almost nothing. Colors are less intense, it doesn’t fit the music as well, it lacks the distinctive 80’s vibe, and it ends up being a bit soulless (to me, of course). I wasn’t a big fan od Sweden this year, but this one is just bad.
Maybe she’s from a parallel universe??
I am not the biggest fan of Benjamin, but this is definitely NO coincidence. And the singer is good, “Happy” is a nice song, so why this staging? It is not necessary to copy Benjamin, especially because the staging for “Happy” doesn`t need to be based on these lights. But Benjamins reaction was fab 😀