“That was like Van Halen reincarnated,” said Howie Mandel after 11-year-old guitarist Maya Neelakantan, ripped through Metallica‘s “Master of Puppets” during the Live shows on America’s Got Talent on Wednesday, August 28.
“You’re amazing on that thing,” added Mandel. “And not only that, but you were mixing it in with your culture, like a sitar making it sound like a guitar. And your smile, it doesn’t end. You wouldn’t think it would come from you. You are a surprise. You’re amazing, and I love you.”
Heidi Klum added, “You are amazing. You’re perfect. You’re perfectly you. I love that you didn’t pick dolls. Maybe you have, but you picked this instrument instead and you’re so amazing on it.”
Simon Cowell also praised the young guitarist from Chennai, Indian and thanked the band. Metallica gave Neelakantan permission to perform “Master of Puppets” on America’s Got Talent. “A big thank you to Metallica for giving you that song,” said Cowell. “That doesn’t happen very often.”
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Neelakantan took the praise a step further and thanked Metallica, along with the family of the band’s late bassist Cliff Burton (1962-1986) for making the performance possible. “You’re just one of these people who’s was go a God-given talent,” added Cowell. “It’s always great to see someone improve from their first audition. This was a real step up.”
Delivering her own blend of Carnatic music, derived from South Indian, and metal inspired by her favorite bands Tool and Slayer, Neelakantan, first impressed the AGT judges whe she ripped through Papa Roach‘s 2000 hit “Last Resort” during the auditions at age 10.
“My dream is to create a genre of my own, something that merges all of my musical interests together,” said Neelakantan. “It’ll be a combination of extreme thrash metal and intricate Carnatic music in its traditional form. And it will be something as crafted as Tool music.”
Though she was eliminated and did not advance to the semifinals on AGT, Neelakantan remains an artist to keep watching—and hearing. Here are three things to know about the young guitar prodigy.
1. She Can Play the “Free Bird” of Carnatic Music
Neelakantan first got into music at age 5, metal music by age 6, and was studying authentic Carnatic Nata Bhairavi Raga music by 9 while strumming through heavier metal chords. In a 2023 video, Neelakantan took on the 200 year-old song “Entharo Mahanubhavulu” and played it at what she called an “insane speed” on YouTube.
“This song is the ‘Free Bird’ of Carnatic music,” said Neelakantan. “This song is the ‘Master of Puppets’ of Carnatic music.
2. She Used a Dave Mustaine Flying V to Play Metallica
Neelakantan’s follow-up performance during the Live shows on America’s Got Talent went deeper when she took on a Metallica classic. Accompanied by a full band, she played a Gibson Dave Mustaine Flying V EXP in a silver metallic finish. During the song, Neelakantan took on Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett‘s solo parts and at one point, switched the Neural DSP Quad Cortex effect to make the Gibson sound more like a sitar, paying homage to her Tamil heritage.
Neelakantan choice of guitar was an interesting one since Mustaine was an original guitarist for Metallica before he was fired from the band in 1983 and replaced by Hammett. His split from the band pushed him to form Megadeth.
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3. She Played a 15-in-1 Tool-Song Medley
In 2022, when Neelakantan was just 9 years old, she gained praised from Tool guitarist Adam Jones for ripping through a medley of 15 Tool songs and a 17-minute version of the band’s Fear Inoculum track “7empest.” Jones later sent her a signed Gibson Signature guitar.
Photo: Trae Patton/NBC
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