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7-year-old Indonesian prodigy Malea Emma appears on ABC’s GMA Day
Pint-sized with a big voice, singing superstar Malea Emma chatted, sang and received a sweet surprise on the American daytime talkshow.
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alea Emma, a 7-year-old girl who is currently an internet sensation because of her powerful singing, made an appearance at ABC’s GMA Day, an American daytime talkshow.
She was welcomed by the show’s host, Michael Strahan and Sara Haines, who said, “our next guest may be tiny, but this 7-year-old’s big voice is getting national attention for her performance of The Star Spangled Banner.” The performance was staged prior to a soccer match between LA Galaxy and Seattle Sounders at the Stub Hub Center stadium in Los Angeles, California, in front of 25,000 people.
Being tiny and dressed in pink, Malea was lifted onto the stage and asked how she felt to have sung the national anthem on such a grand situation.
“I was really excited but nervous, so I told myself I can’t get anything wrong because it’s really a special song for America,” she answers.
Malea, who started to sing when she was 1-year-old, even before she could talk, was accompanied by her parents, Esther and Arman Tjandrawidjaja, and her older brother Andrew.
She was then invited to sing one of her favorite songs, And I’m Telling You from the Dreamgirls musical. Previously, the original Dreamgirl Jennifer Holliday sent Malea a direct message on social media, thanking the 7-year-old for singing her song.
Read also: The Indonesian kid who stirs the Hollywood Bowl: Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja
About 30 seconds after Malea started singing, Holliday herself entered the studio to join the song. Malea didn’t seem to be any more surprised than the audience in the studio, but she was surprised, overjoyed and cried tears of happiness when being told that her other idol, singer Christina Aguilera, had given her and her family tickets to see Christina’s Liberation Tour on Thursday, Oct. 4 at Radio City Music Hall, New York.
The 7-year-old, who was confident and bubbly throughout her appearance on GMA Day, fell further into happy tears as she was also told that Christina would love to see her backstage after the concert. (mut)
