Spotify Mic Check Podcast Returns With America's Got Talent Star

 Spotify: Mic Check is one of the company's podcasting gems. The podcast continues to introduce listeners to all different kinds of music from around the world and spotlight talented musical artists who might otherwise go unnoticed.

 It's great news, then, that “Spotify: Mic Check,” has returned for another season that "connects fans with the world’s biggest creators through exclusively intimate conversations."

In the season premiere, host Lea Palmieri sits down with America’s Got Talent breakout star, Sara James, for an in-depth look at her fast rise to stardom. 

You can listen to the full episode HERE.

The episode was recorded with James while she was in the studio recording her first set of Spotify Singles - also releasing today. The singles include Sara’s new take on her single “My Wave” and a cover of Billie Eilish's “Lovely,” the song that catapulted her into viral stardom after her performance on America's Got Talent earlier this year. The episode covers topics like winning over Simon Cowell at AGT, being re-tweeted by Billie Eilish, her Polish and Nigerian upbringing, and her experience competing in international singing competitions like Eurovision and Poland’s “The Voice Kids.”

Earlier this year, James was named the youngest-ever ambassador for Spotify’s EQUAL program - an initiative committed to fostering equity for women in music globally by amplifying their voices, extending resources, and generating more opportunities for female artists. 

Key Episode Moments

• 05:47 - Sara James on auditioning for America’s Got Talent and receiving the Golden Buzzer from Simon Cowell
• “I was so nervous on the first audition that I forgot. There's something like the Golden Buzzer like obviously, I knew of the golden buzzer, but I didn't even think of it in that way. I was just thinking of singing the song to the end and being like Don't press X. You know what I mean? Don't press X. Don't press it. Let me finish this beautiful song.”

 

• 07:55 -  Sara James on Billie Eilish retweeting her cover of “Lovely”
• I was sleeping, like SNORING. And then someone texted me and was like, Sara, look, I was like, no. And I started to run to mom- I was like, “mom!” Look at that. I was like, wow, you know, like, we're. So crazy off. I'm telling you, I was unreal. Unreal unreal moment. I will never forget it. Oh, Billie and Finneas. Ooh. Ah.

 

• 02:44 - Sara James on her parents’ musical influence at an early age and realizing that she wanted to sing
• “The lady from the music school was like, “you should go on some music competition.” So yeah, my mom signed me up for my first music competition and I won it. And, I was like, Mom, this what I want to do with my life; that was the moment I realized. When I was six, I was like, Yeah, I want to sing. But yeah, it's been a long way. So long and lots of hard work. But yeah, we're going to make it finally one day.”

 

• 08:41 - Sara James on finding ways to make a cover song your own
• “My small advice for people who sing different covers. You just have to put the story behind the lyrics. You just have to read the lyrics and think of like, maybe like a story or even just you have to connect with the lyrics into the song, because if you're just going to sing, the song is not going to be yours, you know what I mean? You just have to make it different. The version I was singing today, it’s completely different and, and it's more like, I don't know, just more mine. It kind of. It's mine, though.”

 

You can listen to the full episode HERE. Come on. Shake up your playlist.