‘America’s Got Talent’ Season 12 Live Shows Kick Off On August 15

“America’s Got Talent” Season 12 will head to the Dolby Theater for the live shows on Aug. 15.

On Tuesday night’s episode, the final seven contestants who made it through the next round of NBC’s reality TV competition were named. Johnny Manuel received guest judge Seal’s golden buzzer after singing his audition song, “I Have Nothing,” for the second time. In the judge cuts round, Manuel tried to impress the judges with his cover of Stevie Wonder’s hit song, “Lately.” However, judge Simon Cowell said that he wasn’t happy with Manuel’s performance since he believes no one can perform Stevie Wonder songs as well as the original singer.

Read: Heidi Klum reunites with Seal in “America’s Got Talent” Season 12 judge cuts

The music producer asked Manuel to sing his cover of Whitney Houston’s hit from his audition a few weeks ago so that guest judge Seal could see how great of a singer he really is. Cowell told Manuel that he only has a few seconds to impress everyone, so that’s exactly what he did. After his performance, Seal gave Manuel a standing ovation. Heidi Klum’s ex-husband also rewarded him with the golden buzzer.

Other than Manuel, the six other contestants who made it straight to the live shows include fellow singers Kechi Okwuchi, In The Stairwell and DaNell Daymon & The Greater Works. Dancers Merrick Hanna and Artyon & Paige also made it through to the live shows after impressing Cowell, Seal, Klum, Mel B and Howie Mandel. The Pompeyo family dogs also received resounding yeses from the judges following their adorable performance.

Meanwhile, there were also some standout performers on Tuesday night’s final judge cuts round who did not make it to the live shows. Young magician Henry Richardson performed a great magic trick that left all five judges speechless. However, since the final slots are limited, they decided to let him go this year.

High balance performers Elena & Sasha also did an impressive act, which involved shooting a red balloon with the use of an arrow. Sasha carried the weight of a long metallic pole with Elena on top of it. The latter then bent her body upside down before shooting the balloon. Unfortunately, they did not make it through the live shows with their performance.

“America’s Got Talent” Season 12 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. EDT on NBC.