Nene Royal Started Her Winning AGT Run with The Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’
Nene Royal walked onto the ‘America’s Got Talent’ stage at 16 carrying an electric guitar. The audition gave the audience a quick introduction to the kind of performer the young musician wanted to be.
She chose ‘Zombie’ by The Cranberries. Its heavy guitar sound and exposed vocal phrases gave her two distinct parts to carry through the same song.
Royal had played with OZONE in Phuket. That band experience gave her time to work on how she handled an instrument and a lead vocal in front of an audience.
The guitar is central from the start of the audition. It establishes the sound of the performance and gives her a way to shift the intensity around the singing.
The decision to open with ‘Zombie’ gave the rest of her appearances a clear point of reference. Viewers could hear how each later rock arrangement developed an approach that was already recognizable.
Watch the performance
She returned to that territory with Soundgarden’s ‘Black Hole Sun.’ The quarterfinal recording moves through a different mood but gives the voice and guitar the same shared responsibility.
Mel B’s Live Golden Buzzer put Royal through from that quarterfinal performance. The result also brought more attention to the music she had chosen to play.
Across the competition, Royal drew from grunge and alternative rock. The songs gave her different ways to use the tension between a quieter phrase and a much heavier sound.
For the final, she played The White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army.’ She built around its familiar riff, giving the vocal and the guitar room to take turns leading the arrangement.
Winning season 21 carried that musical approach all the way from the audition to the result. The same instrument was central at both ends of the run.
Set the performances side by side and you can hear the scale grow. The contest settings changed while her focus on guitar and voice stayed clear.
Her background in a band helps put that consistency in context. Royal understood how the individual parts of a rock song could support one another even when one performer was responsible for both.
The audition is particularly effective because it makes the connection easy to see and hear. When the sound becomes heavier, it is clear where that energy comes from.
The larger television setting gave familiar songs a fresh point of entry. It also allowed a young musician from Phuket to reach listeners who might never have heard her locally.
Her win gave those listeners a reason to go back through the earlier rounds. The audition remains a useful place to begin because its choices are so plainly stated.
The companion videos carry the story forward. Listen for how the guitar changes roles from one arrangement to the next while remaining at the center of her approach.
Two more performances to explore
Golden Buzzer: Nene Royal ROCKS OUT To "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden | Quarterfinals | AGT 2026
‘Black Hole Sun’ is the quarterfinal performance that earned Royal a Golden Buzzer. It gives her a darker vocal line and a different pace from ‘Zombie.’
Nene Royal Goes FULL ROCKSTAR With “Seven Nation Army” By The White Stripes | The Final | AGT 2026
‘Seven Nation Army’ captures the sound of her final competitive performance. The well-known riff gives Royal a framework for the heavier guitar and vocal sound she built across the season.
