Updated Aug. 4, 2026, 3:09 p.m. ET
“America’s Got Talent” is doing something it has never done before – and Simon Cowell knew exactly whom to call for the occasion.
With its 21st season fully underway (Tuesdays, 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC), the longtime reality competition show is shaking things up by introducing a first-ever Judges’ Callback round. The intention is to allow the four judges – Cowell, Mel B, Howie Mandel and Sofía Vergara – to see certain acts a second time before deciding who moves on to the live shows, beginning Aug. 18.
The rounds weren’t another ordinary audition. Instead, each judge hosted the acts at a place of their choosing for a more intimate callback. Cowell, Mel B, Mandel and Vergara also invited six celebrity guest judges to watch the performances and weigh in on who goes forward.
For Cowell, who created “AGT” and has been a judge since Season 11 in 2016, the concept felt like a “brilliant idea” and one that would give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at how the show operates.
“I want this to work,” says Cowell, 66, while exclusively welcoming USA TODAY into his Malibu home alongside his two guest judges, singer and former Fifth Harmony member Normani and producer/songwriter Poo Bear.
“A lot of people over the years ask, ‘If you give 120 people a yes, how do you make that decision to go from 120 to 40?’ Normally we just watch the tapes back over and over and over and over again. No one sees it,” he explains. “Now I’m actually doing it [in front of the camera], and it’s real. I love it.”
Part of why Cowell has enjoyed the experience is because of the additional time he has been granted with the contestants. “I know so much more about these people now than I did a few weeks ago, when I first met them,” he says. “The first audition, you’re on, you’re off, and it’s so quick. This is really good. I spent a whole day with them yesterday, just really getting to know them, and it was everything.
“This is a much more relaxed environment for them to do whatever they want to do.”
But having his “expert friends” to call on has been another benefit.
“When I heard that Poo and Normani were going to help me, I knew I was in good hands,” Cowell says. “Different skill sets and different experiences, but … having worked with both, they have amazing taste. I always know I can rely on both of these [people]. That’s friendship. I never take this for granted.”
“I’m honored to be here,” Poo Bear says. “Simon has always been my hero, just for his brutal honesty. I’ve always been a huge fan. And I love [having] the opportunity to be able to chime in and see if there’s anything that’s special brewing, any future superstars.”
Simon Cowell reunites with ‘The X Factor USA’ alum Normani
It’s a “full-circle” moment for Normani, who started her music career auditioning for Cowell’s show “The X Factor USA,” in 2012. Though she was cut early on in the competition, she was later invited back to perform with fellow contestants Ally Brooke, Lauren Jauregui, Dinah Jane and Camila Cabello, who went on to form the girl group Fifth Harmony.
“This is like déjà vu, sitting here next to Simon,” she says, crediting Cowell for the way he “changed everything.”
“You created that show, you gave me the opportunity and were willing to bet on me,” she tells the record executive. “And I’m just grateful for that opportunity. And also just to be here, to pour into the future. Because I know what it’s like to be on this side. It’s not easy.”
Cowell remembers the ‘sensation’ of forming Fifth Harmony
Though it was more than a decade ago, Cowell still vividly remembers the magic of launching Fifth Harmony into stardom.
“Sometimes, something is staring at you right in the face,” he says. “It was like, wow. They look like they’ve been a band for years, weirdly. It was just, I can’t explain, the strangest sensation. And then we said to the band, ‘Do whatever you want, and take your time.’ And sure enough, when they came back with the songs on their second album, it was like, ‘God, this is unbelievable.’ I never forget that moment.”
Now, Normani hopes to do the same for “AGT” contestants, who have similar dreams of becoming the next big superstar.
“I’m going to remind them that they’re fully equipped. I mean, if they got past this guy, right here,” she says, gesturing to Cowell, “that says a whole lot, OK? Because I feel like we have similar standards. I’m hard on myself. I feel like you’ve also been hard on me too, in the best way possible. But that shapes us. That shaped [Fifth Harmony] to become what we were able to be. You saw it in us before anybody knew us.
“And just be present and enjoy the experience for what it is,” she adds. “These are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. So you just take it and you enjoy it, and you be present in it.”
Which acts are competing in the Judges’ Callback?
Simon Cowell’s acts
- Akira (variety act)
- Elektro Dads (dancers)
- Elsie (singer)
- Nyjah & Zyah (vocal duo)
- Sando (dancer)
- Travis Garland (singer)
Mel B’s acts
- Bety (singer)
- Butter & Grit (vocal duo)
- James & Marina (mentalist duo)
- Joel M (magician)
- Lachlan Patterson (comedian)
- Madelyn & Malachi (vocal duo)
Sofía Vergara’s acts
- Brook Lynn (singer)
- Darrell Moten (magician)
- Kameron Marshall (magician)
- Olivia Befus (dog trainer)
- Vahtang (beatboxer)
Howie Mandel’s acts
- Bird and Byron (music duo)
- Cris Sosa (comedian)
- Daniel Alvarez (comedian)
- Naimana & Daniele (ventriloquist duo)
- Nene Royal (musician)
- Rynia Kando (impressionist)
When do the Judges’ Callback episodes air?
“America’s Got Talent” airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and can be streamed the next day on Peacock. The Judges’ Callbacks kick off with Cowell and Mel B’s contestants on Aug. 4, followed by Mandel and Vergara’s Aug. 11.
