Meet 11-yr-old ‘Rock goddess’ who floored America’s Got Talent

Meet 11-yr-old ‘Rock goddess’ who floored America’s Got Talent

Dressed in a red-and-gold silk pavadai (skirt) and wielding an electric guitar, 10-year-old Maya Neelakantan walked onto the stage at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles in March.

The audience at the audition for America’s Got Talent (AGT), one of television’s biggest reality shows, seemed uncertain of what to expect as she opened her routine with an intricate alaap in Natabhairavi, a grand devotional raga.

And then she let it rip.

Maya seamlessly transitioned into American rap-rock band Papa Roach’s Last Resort, a hit from 2000 known for its aggressive and distorted guitar melodies. The interplay between Carnatic, rock and metal got Maya a standing ovation from everyone in the room, including judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Sofia Vergara and Terry Crews. Cowell even dubbed her a “Rock goddess”.

The telecast of the audition last weekend went viral on social media, giving the Chennai girl the confidence to pursue her genre-defying music. The YouTube video that’s floating around on social media has gathered over 22 lakh views. Maya will now be seen in the AGT semi-finals. Only 10 contestants proceed to the final round.

Look What Happened Today! Gary Holt of Slayer/Exodus gifted me his signature guitar!!! #garyholt #slayer #loudwire #exodus pic.twitter.com/pQ0tji5qHC

— Maya Neelakantan (@MayaNeelakantan) March 30, 2024

Cut to 2024, Neelakantan took the Internet by storm with her appearance on America’s Got Talent. Sharing the video on X, industrialist Anand Mahindra wrote, “Oh My God. Maya Neelakantan is only 10 years old. 10! Yes, Simon, she’s a Rock Goddess. From the land of Goddesses. We have to get her back here to do her stuff at the @mahindrablues.”

Since the telecast, Maya, who just turned 11, can’t stop googling her name, savouring the attention at her family home in Chennai.For me, as that standing ovation came in, I felt that same experience. I am excited about returning to the stage again whenever that happens next,” says an exuberant Maya in a conversation with The Indian Express over Zoom.

Sitting in her bedroom, before a wall shelf full of stuffed toys, she says the medley she performed at AGT is the kind of music she wants “to create in the future”.

Born to a Tamil father who owns an IT company and an Australian mother who works in the education sector, Maya grew up surrounded by Carnatic music, which she imbibed from her grandmother, and rock and metal, that her father, Neelakantan, would often play in the car and at home.

Oh My God

Maya Neelakantan is only 10 years old. 10!

Yes, Simon, she’s a Rock Goddess.
From the land of Goddesses.

We have to get her back here to do her stuff at the @mahindrablues !@jaytweetshah @vgjairam pic.twitter.com/sRNHPBondg

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) June 29, 2024

“I heard Metallica when I was about five and loved how energetic it sounded. I was always jumping around the house when I heard it,” says Maya, who began learning to play the guitar from her father at six and followed it up with some YouTube guitar lessons.

At eight, she discovered the American prog rock band Tool, “which is a genre on its own”, says Maya. Maya also stumbled upon a video of “Guitar Prasanna”, a US-based IIT Chennai and Berklee graduate who is a pioneer in performing Carnatic music on the guitar. “I didn’t know you could play this music on a guitar. Before I discovered them, it felt like something was missing from my music,” says Maya, who has been taking online classes from Prasanna for the last two years.

But what turned things around for her was a cover of Tool’s 7empest (pronounced Tempest). She recorded it in her room sitting next to her Peppa Pig toy and uploaded it on YouTube.

The video reached Tool guitarist Adam Jones himself. He got in touch with Maya and gave her advice on how to play better. Days later, he couriered her a signed Gibson guitar — the kind that he plays and is even named after him.

“That was special. And that’s the guitar I played on America’s Got Talent. We’ve been in touch ever since and I am very proud to have a friend like him,” says Maya, who also impressed guitarist Gary Holt, who plays for the legendary thrash metal band Slayer. He, too, recently gifted her a guitar, besides cheering for her at her Los Angeles audition along with Prasanna. Maya says that as much as she loves playing music by other musicians, she is keen on hard training so that she can find her path with original music. “What I did on the show was kind of a small part of what I want to be doing in the future,” says Maya.

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