Audience and Judges Disagree About This AGT Performance

Published: July 10, 2026

By Michaela Gordoni

It seemed like everyone absolutely loved Travis Garland’s voice on AMERICA’S GOT TALENT, except for judge Howie Mandel.

“You have an incredible talent. You have an incredible voice. For me, it was so theatrical — you taking off the glasses and throwing the glasses. It was a little shmaltzy,” said judge Howie Mandel, who gave him a “no.” “I think today you gotta live real and authentically [and] not worary about how you look.”

Mel B. took immediate issue with Mendal’s comments. “That’s called showmanship,” she said.

As the DANCING WITH THE STARS singer sang Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” the crowd went wild.

Mel B sang him many compliments. However, Sofia Vergara and Simon Cowell, while they recognized his talent, wished he had done something different with the song he chose.

“I love you. I think your voice is amazing,” Vergara said. “But I did wish that you had picked another song. But your voice is spectacular.”

“I can understand what put Howie off,” Cowell added. “Having said that, there’s not a question you can sing. Personally, I would have spent more time working on a more interesting arrangement of that song where we could have gone, ‘I’ve never heard that song sung in that way before.’”

While the other three judges gave the singer a “yes,” Mandel and Cowell criticized his rehearsed moment of glasses throwing after he left the stage.

Garland, a Texas native, got one of his earliest gigs in a boy band called NLT. He was 15.

“Signed my first record deal at 17…we signed with Interscope Records…that was life-changing,” he said. He’d go on to work with Pharrell, Timbaland and Ryan Tedder. He’s sung for DWTS for 10 years now and is ready to do his own thing.

Garland told Lubbock KCBD before the performance, “I think a lot of times coming from a place like Lubbock, you think that maybe I can’t have this career, I can’t make it. And I would just say like, that’s not true at all.”

“Look at me and plenty of people before me, Buddy Holly and so many others. Lubbock obviously has a rich musical history. So I would just say dedicate yourself to your craft, keep going, and anything is possible,” he said.

The AGT season has two more audition nights on July 14 and 21 before they go to the live shows. Live quarterfinals begin Aug. 18, which is when public voting starts.

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