Nene Royal on Her ‘America’s Got Talent’ Win and Her Rock Star Dreams: ‘This Is Just the Beginning’

Winning America’s Got Talent was the kind of moment Nene Royal dreamed about since she was a little girl. Though it was a lifelong desire, she wasn’t prepared for just how surreal it would feel.

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“I honestly wasn’t expecting to win at all,” the 16-year-old Thai singer and guitarist tells Billboard. “Everyone in the final was so talented.”

After making it through the competition’s final rounds, Royal stood alongside the season’s other finalist, Geno Ploeger, during Wednesday night’s (Sept. 23) results show, waiting to hear who America had chosen as its champion. When her name was called, she says she was completely stunned.

“When they called my name, I was just completely shocked,” she recalls. “And then [I fell] down. I [didn’t] know what [I was] doing.”

Her family also fell to their knees in astonishment, while fellow contestants rushed onstage to congratulate her. This moment was extra special as it marked the culmination of a journey that began thousands of miles away in Phuket, Thailand, where Royal first picked up a guitar at just 7 years old.

“When I first picked up the guitar, I just fell in love with it,” she says. “The more I play and perform, the more I realize, ‘Yeah, this is what I want to do with my life.’ I love being on stage. I love making music.”

Now, the self-taught musician has a $1 million prize to add to her accomplishments. But for Royal, the biggest prize is the platform AGT has given her to introduce herself as more than just a guitarist.

“People have seen a lot of me as a guitarist on AGT, but there’s so much more that I want to show as an artist,” she says. “I sing, I write my own music, and I also play [a little] piano, bass, a little bit of the drums. I really want to create my own sound and tell my own story through my music.”

Royal’s next endeavor will lean into the making of rock and metal music, drawing inspiration from the genre that has long influenced her. She says she hopes to make music in the genre, building on the guitar-forward performances that helped make her a standout throughout the competition.

“AGT shows one side of me, but I feel like this is really just the beginning of people getting to know who Nene Royal is as an artist,” she says.

Her ambitions also go far beyond the AGT stage, as she hopes to release her own music someday. Her newfound dream is to release an album or an EP, tour internationally and eventually collaborate with some of the artists and bands who inspired her, such as System of a Down, Linkin Park and The Warning.

Royal is also keenly aware of the significance of her AGT victory beyond her own career. Coming from Thailand, she says representing her home country on one of the world’s biggest television stages was something she never imagined she would get the opportunity to do. She reminisces on the experience, stating that it “means a lot” because she is incredibly proud to be from Thailand and represent her country on such a huge stage.

The support she has received from fans in Thailand and across Asia has made that experience even more personal and meaningful. She hopes her journey can encourage other young musicians to pursue their own dreams, regardless of where they come from.

“I hope I can inspire other young musicians to believe that no matter where you come from, your music can reach people all around the world,” she says.

For Royal, the seven-year-old girl who first fell in love with the guitar could hardly have imagined where that passion would take her.

“I dream about being a rock star,” she says. “I don’t think [that little girl] could’ve ever imagined that one day I’d come all the way from Phuket, Thailand to perform [on] this huge, huge, stage and actually win AGT. It’s very crazy to think about that.”

And she’s already looking ahead. A year from now, Royal hopes she’ll have released original music, potentially an EP or album, and begun performing on bigger stages around the world. For the newly crowned America’s Got Talent champion, the million-dollar check might be the headline-making prize, but Royal has her mind set on what happens far after the win.

“This is just the beginning for me,” she says.

Watch the America’s Got Talent season 21 winner reveal below.