The fourteenth season of American

talent show A talent show or talent contest is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are p ...

competition series ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is an American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distributed by) and ...

'' was broadcast on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

from May 28 to September 18, 2019. After the previous season,

Tyra Banks Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973), also known as BanX, is an American model, television personality, producer, writer, and actress. Born in Inglewood, California, she began her career as a model at the age of 15 and was the first Black A ...

left the program to focus on other projects, leading to

Terry Crews Terry Alan Crews (born July 30, 1968) is an American actor, television host, and former professional American football, football player. He played Julius Rock in the UPN/The CW Television Network, CW sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris'', which air ...

replacing her as host following his involvement on '' America's Got Talent: The Champions'' earlier that year. In addition, both

Mel B Melanie Janine Brown, Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 29 May 1975), commonly known as Mel B or Melanie B, is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, and actress. She rose to fame in the mid 1990s as a member of the Pop mus ...

and

Heidi Klum Heidi Klum (; born 1 June 1973) is a German and American model, television personality, producer, and businesswoman. She appeared on the cover of the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' in 1998 and was the first German model to become a Vict ...

also left the program, with their replacements as judges being

Gabrielle Union Gabrielle Monique Union-Wade ( Union; born October 29, 1972) is an American actress. Her career began in the 1990s, when she made dozens of appearances on television sitcoms, prior to landing supporting roles in 1999 teen films '' She's All That ...

and

Julianne Hough Julianne Alexandra Hough (; born July 20, 1988) is an American dancer, singer, actress and television personality. In 2007, she joined the cast of ABC's ''Dancing with the Stars'' as a professional dancer, winning two seasons with her celebrit ...

. The guest judges for the season's Judge Cuts stage included

Brad Paisley Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...

Dwyane Wade Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. ( or , born January 17, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player who is currently the co-owner of the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association. He is also currently the host of the American a ...

Ellie Kemper Elizabeth Claire Kemper (born May 2, 1980) is an American actress, best known for her roles of Erin Hannon in the sitcom ''The Office'' (2009–2013) and Kimmy Schmidt in the sitcom '' Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'' (2015–2019). She has also app ...

and

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...

. The semi-finals involved two additional guest judges, a first in the program's history, with

Sean Hayes Sean Patrick Hayes (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he gained acclaim for his role as Jack McFarland on the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', for which he won a Primet ...

and

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, singer, and actress. She has received various accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe ...

. The fourteenth season was won by singer and pianist

Kodi Lee Kodi Taehyun Lee (born July 7, 1996) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, and savant. At 22, he rose to fame on the 14th season of ''America's Got Talent''. Legally blind and autistic, Kodi Lee rose to fame after being a contestant, an ...

, with the Detroit Youth Choir finishing second, and stand-up comedian Ryan Niemiller placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around 9.12 million viewers.

Season overview

Open auditions were held in late 2018 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

, Charlotte,

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. As with the previous year, the judges' auditions were held in March 2019, at the

Pasadena Civic Auditorium The Pasadena Convention Center is a convention center in Pasadena, California, United States. It consists of three buildings. Pasadena Civic Auditorium The Civic Auditorium, one of the major structures in the Pasadena Civic Center District, was ...

in Los Angeles. The Judge Cuts stage of the competition included singer Brad Paisley, former basketball player Dwyane Wade, actress Ellie Kemper and host Jay Leno. After the previous season,

left the program to focus on other television projects, announcing her decision in late December 2018. Due to her departure,

became her replacement beginning in April 2019, after being popular with viewers as host of the first season of the

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

series '' America's Got Talent: The Champions''. In addition to the departure of Banks, two judges were replaced due to conflicting obligations in 2019.

could not return due to being a part of the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"). They have sold over 10 ...

reunion tour that year.

signed on to producing a new fashion competition series for

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

and could not commit to being on ''AGT''.

, a dancer, and actress

were offered the role of judges, with the announcement of their predecessor's replacement being made at the same time as the announcement about Crews in April 2019. This season had a minor change to the format of the program, with the semi-finals featuring two guest judges. Their inclusion would only be for feedback on the performances of the semi-finalists, not for stopping a performance with a buzzer nor having any involvement with the judge votes. The judges recruited for this format in this season were

and

. Other than this change, an undisclosed issue forced the judges' vote to be suspended during first quarter-final's results. While the top six quarter-finalists voted for by the public were advanced, those placed 7th, 8th and 9th respectively faced only the online vote as a result. Of the participants who auditioned for the season, thirty-six secured a place in the live quarter-finals with twelve quarter-finalists in each one. Among those were singer and pianist

, singer and rapper Joseph Allen, violinist Tyler Butler-Figueroa the Detroit Youth Choir, and singer Luke Islam who had each received a Golden Buzzer from the main judges and host; singer and guitarist Sophie Pecora, acrobatic dance group V.Unbeatable, light-up dance group Light Balance Kids and opera singer

Emanne Beasha Emanne Beasha (; Circassian: Иман Биша; born 18 September 2008) is a Jordanian-American classically-trained singer. She is the winner of the fifth season of the program '' Arabs Got Talent'' and finished in ninth place on the fourteent ...

, who had each received a Golden Buzzer from the guest judges; singer Ansley Burns, mentalists The Sentimentalists and aerialist Matthew Richardson, who were chosen as Wildcard quarter-finalists. About twenty-two quarter-finalists advanced and were split between the two semi-finals, including dog tricks act Lukas & Falco (chosen as the Wildcard semi-finalist), with ten semi-finalists securing a place in the finals. Here is a list of the results of each participant's overall performance in this season: : , , , , : , Playing card club A

Wildcard Quarter-finalist , Playing card heart A

Wildcard Semi-finalist : Yellow ffff00 pog

Golden Buzzer - Auditions , Crystal Clear action bookmark

Golden Buzzer - Judge Cuts * Ages denoted for a participant(s), pertain to their final performance for this season. * The latter value denotes the age of the dog, as disclosed by its owner.

Quarter-finals summary

Buzzed Out , Crystal Clear app clean

Judges' choice , : , ,

Quarter-final 1 (August 13)

Guest Performers, Results Show:

Shin Lim Liang-Shun Lim (; born September 25, 1991), known professionally as Shin Lim, is a Canadian-American magician, recognized for his use of card manipulation and sleight of hand. He is known for elaborate close-up card magic routines, during wh ...

Bianca Ryan Bianca Taylor Ryan (born September 1, 1994) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ryan was the first winner of NBC's ''America's Got Talent (season 1), America's Got Talent'' at the age of eleven. Singi ...

, Brian King Joseph, and

Sofie Dossi Sofie Clarice Dossi (born June 21, 2001) is an American YouTuber, singer, actress, contortionist, aerialist, dancer and internet personality. In 2016, she rose to fame on the eleventh season of ''America's Got Talent''. , her YouTube channel ha ...

* Due to an undisclosed technical issue, the judges' vote was not held for this quarter-final; the results pertain to the standard public vote for the top 6 quarter-finalist, and the online vote for the 7th favored by the public.

Quarter-final 2 (August 20)

Guest Performer, Results Show:

Susan Boyle Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer who rose to fame in 2009 after appearing as a contestant on the third series of '' Britain's Got Talent'', singing " I Dreamed a Dream" from '. As of 2021, Boyle has sold 25 ...

Quarter-final 3 (August 27)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Celestia, and Deadly Games * Due to the majority vote for Marcin Patrzalek, Hough's voting intention was not revealed.

Semi-finals summary

Buzzed Out , Crystal Clear app clean

Judges' choice , : , ,

Semi-final 1 (September 3)

Guest Performers, Results Show:

Darci Lynne Darci Lynne Farmer (born October 12, 2004) is an American ventriloquist and singer. She has been credited with the revival of ventriloquism, earning praise and numerous accolades for her work. Born in Oklahoma, Farmer developed an interest in s ...

, and Preacher Lawson *

was included with the judging panel for this semi-final, but could only provide feedback; he did not have anything to do with the judges' vote or buzzing semi-finalists.

Semi-final 2 (September 10)

Guest Performers, Results Show:

Tokio Myers Torville Ashburn M. Jones (born 6 April 1984), better known by the stage name Tokio Myers, is an English musician and record producer best known for his work as a pianist. He won the reality show ''Britain's Got Talent (series 11), Britain's Go ...

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is an American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the British rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with the Polic ...

, and

Piff the Magic Dragon John van der Put (born 9 June 1980) is an English magician and comedian, who performs under the stage name Piff the Magic Dragon. A winner of multiple awards from British magic societies, he toured as a supporting act for Mumford and Sons an ...

was included with the judging panel for this semi-final, but could only provide feedback; she did not have anything to do with the judges' vote or buzzing semi-finalists. * Although Mandel's buzzer was pressed by Lukas & Falco during their performance, he admitted he would have done so himself regardless of their action.

Finals (September 17–18)

Guest Performers, Finale:

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

, and Lilly Singh : , , , * Ndlovu Youth Choir & Detroit Youth Choir conducted two joint routines for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performer for each. * Abdul was not revealed until after the performance. * Ryan Niemiller's second performance with Chris klafrd was pre-recorded before the finale.

Ratings

References

{{America's Got Talent, state=expanded 2019 American television seasons America's Got Talent seasons