Nobody remembers Malaki Paul because he gave a flawless performance. They remember him because he fell apart in front of millions of people, and then somehow found the strength to try again.
Back in 2012, a nine-year-old boy walked onto the Britain’s Got Talent stage looking like he had simply come to sing a song, and he stood there in front of Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, David Walliams and Alesha Dixon while a huge audience watched him in the room and millions more followed from their homes. He had chosen Beyoncé’s “Listen,” a song that would have been a serious challenge even for an experienced singer, and when he started singing, the emotion rose in his voice almost straight away. The pressure of the moment became too much far too quickly, and as he struggled with some of the notes, the nine-year-old became emotional and started crying on stage, unable to continue.
His mother came out to comfort him while Alesha Dixon also went over to reassure him, and for a few moments it seemed the audition had simply become too difficult to finish.
Then Malaki made a choice that completely changed the story, because he wanted to start again.
He returned to the song after receiving support from his mother and Alesha Dixon, and the difference was immediately noticeable, since the nerves that had overwhelmed him during the first attempt no longer controlled the performance and allowed him to concentrate on his voice and finish the song with the kind of confidence everyone had hoped to see. The emotion became even stronger the second time around, and by the end the audience rose to its feet, but it was not just a standing ovation for a nine-year-old who could sing. People had watched him struggle in front of everyone, become frightened, receive help and then find the courage to try again, and that was what made the audition feel so personal. Even many years later, people still love watching that moment, because the fact that he breaks down, takes a moment, and then comes back to finish the song makes the whole performance even more emotional and memorable. Simon Cowell also focused on that part of the performance rather than simply praising Malaki’s voice, highlighting the fact that the young singer had managed to recover after such a difficult start, while Alesha Dixon called him a natural raw talent and the other judges also praised what they had seen. All four judges voted to send him through.
Malaki had already been singing before Britain’s Got Talent, and his ability was reportedly noticed when he was around seven years old while rehearsing with his church choir, which led to performances at school and in local competitions before he ever appeared on television. The huge BGT stage, however, was a completely different experience from anything he had faced before, and the emotional audition also led to a wider discussion about children performing on major television talent shows, because at only nine years old Malaki had been placed under enormous pressure in front of a live audience and television cameras. His mother defended his participation by saying that he had wanted to appear on the programme and was benefiting from the experience, and Malaki continued in the competition and returned for the live semi-finals, where he performed Alicia Keys’ “No One.” His singing was again praised, but this time the result did not go his way, because the public vote placed him third and left the judges to choose between Malaki and dance group Nu Sxool for the final place. Simon Cowell and David Walliams chose Nu Sxool, which brought Malaki’s Britain’s Got Talent journey to an end in the semi-finals, but the television appearance became only the beginning of his career.
Not long after his unforgettable audition, Malaki moved into professional theatre, and in 2012 he was cast in the original West End production of The Bodyguard, the musical based on the Whitney Houston film, where he played Fletcher, the young son of Rachel Marron, a role shared with several other young performers. For a boy who had recently been remembered for becoming overwhelmed on the Britain’s Got Talent stage, appearing in a major West End production was a significant next step, and he even performed alongside Heather Headley during the show’s gala opening-night performance. His career later expanded beyond theatre when he appeared in Idris Elba’s comedy-drama series In the Long Run, credited as “Singing Boy” in the 2019 and 2020 series including the Christmas special, and he also returned to his own music by releasing “Type of Way” in 2019 followed later that year by “Shy” featuring rapper FarrdaT. After several years without a new release, he returned in April 2023 with “Madman,” which he described as his first single back.
Looking at his career now makes that old Britain’s Got Talent audition even more interesting, because the boy audiences remember was not someone who walked onto the stage completely fearless. He became overwhelmed, cried and needed help before finding the strength to continue, and what came afterward was not an overnight transformation but years of performing, learning and continuing to work in entertainment, which is perhaps the most memorable part of Malaki Paul’s story. He did not have a perfect first performance, and he stopped, and he struggled, and then he started again, and more than a decade later the nine-year-old from that famous BGT audition had gone on to perform in London’s West End, appear on television and release music of his own. The audition that first introduced him to millions was never the whole story, because it was simply the moment that allowed audiences to see the young performer he could become.