Old Rockers never die...

... They just wait for the Second Coming of the next Rockstar...

Video: AGT 2026 Winner - Every performance.

My taste in music is quite conventional. 

I'm not a heavy metal rock fan. 

But Nene Royal (that's her stage name, or busking name) from Phuket won America Got Talent with her electric guitar and singing.

(Her real name is "Rattikarn Amloy", nickname "Praew", meaning "Sparkling, shining, gleaming, or luminous".)
She won the judges over during the audition with her rendition of "Zombie" by The Cranberries. A good choice, cos that song is quite mainstream. You will hear it played on the radio. At least the radio stations I may listen to.

So that was able to draw in support from the audience.

(You can see it in her "Sing it with me!" exhortation in the midst of her audition performance. "Zombie" was also the first song she learned years ago.)

Her later choices were more... esoteric - "Hysteria" by The Muse, then Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" for the Quarterfinals. And finally White Stripe's "Seven Nation Army" in the finals. Only metal heads will know these songs.

All those songs were performed by Nene alone. But she had attracted the attention of many established rockers.

One rock band that came down and jam with her was The Warning - three sisters from Mexico. Their jam session where they played "Kerosene" (The Warning's song) was like Nene finding her three sisters she never knew she had!

Another band that played with her was Linkin Park. And here they let Nene be co-lead vocalist. Mike Shinoda stepped back from lead vocalist duties, giving Nene the role and spotlight (with Emily Armstrong, the other co-lead vocalist). Nene fitted in like she had always been part of Linkin Park!

(Funny story from Mike Shinoda about his daughter. His daughter would be around Nene's age, maybe a little younger. So you can imagine that Mike looked at Nene with vicarious parental pride when she was playing and singing "The Emptiness Machine" with Linkin Park.)

Someone had put together all the songs Nene performed in the video (above). If you think metal rock is just noise... well, you've been warned.

Then there was 13 October at Singapore's Indoor Stadium with Avenged Sevenfold (or A7X).

From "FBlovetest.com", a Manila-based news organisation.

Opening for Avenged Sevenfold was already a career milestone.

But Nene Royal’s night in Singapore was only getting started.

On October 13, the 16-year-old Thai guitarist and singer stepped onto the stage at Singapore Indoor Stadium as the opening act for Avenged Sevenfold, one of the bands she had admired and played for years before her breakout on America’s Got Talent.

Fresh from winning AGT Season 21, Nene was given roughly 30 minutes to open the show.

She did it without a backing band.

Her five-song set leaned heavily into the rock and metal catalog that had already become part of her identity: Muse’s “Hysteria,” Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun,” Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name,” System of a Down’s “I-E-A-I-A-I-O,” and The Cranberries’ “Zombie.”

Even that would have been enough to make the night memorable.

Then the surprises started.

The surprise came in three layers.

First, Nene had already achieved something significant simply by opening for Avenged Sevenfold at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

For a teenager who had only recently moved from the AGT stage into professional touring opportunities, being selected to open for A7X was itself a major step.

But her own set was not the end of the story.

Then came the first twist.

Instead of ending her night after her five-song opening set, Nene was called back onstage during Avenged Sevenfold’s headline performance.

And this was not a quick introduction.

The second surprise was bigger.

She was not brought out for a wave, a photo or a symbolic cameo.

She was asked to join the band on “Bat Country” and “Unholy Confessions,” two songs deeply associated with Avenged Sevenfold’s rise in the 2000s.

Nene sang and played guitar alongside M. Shadows, Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance, moving from opening act to active part of the headline set.

On “Bat Country,” she traded vocals with M. Shadows while playing guitar with the band.

Then came “Unholy Confessions,” where she joined one of A7X’s defining early metalcore tracks, playing the signature riff and adding heavier vocals during the performance.

For a musician who had grown up playing Avenged Sevenfold songs, the symbolism was difficult to miss.

Years earlier, Nene had performed A7X material with Ozone Band while playing small venues and night markets in Phuket, including songs such as “Nightmare,” “A Little Piece of Heaven” and “So Far Away.”

Now she was standing inside the songs with the band itself.

Then came the sharpest reveal.

According to accounts from the night, the collaboration had not been rehearsed beforehand.

Nene reportedly learned backstage that she would be joining the band and had to step into the performance with virtually no preparation together.

That detail should still be treated carefully because the exact backstage timeline has not been independently confirmed in detail by the band or the concert promoter.

But accounts surrounding the performance consistently describe the guest appearance as spontaneous rather than a heavily rehearsed production number.

That changed the moment completely.

This was no polished television duet planned weeks in advance.

It was closer to a live test.

Know the songs.

Read the stage.

Follow the band.

And go.

Nene later appeared comfortable enough to sing, play and trade energy with musicians she had followed long before anyone outside Thailand knew her name.

Then came another moment that quickly spread among fans.

After the performance, members of Avenged Sevenfold openly praised her onstage, with one remark captured as:

“You’re f---ing awesome!”

The band then embraced her and bowed toward her in acknowledgment.

For Nene, the significance went beyond celebrity proximity.

Less than a month earlier, she had shared a stage with Linkin Park during the AGT finale.

She had also performed alongside The Warning.

Now Avenged Sevenfold had invited her into its own set.

Three internationally known rock acts in a matter of weeks.

But Singapore carried a different kind of weight.

This time, there was no competition format surrounding her.

No judges.

No vote.

No talent-show storyline.

She was there because a touring rock band had booked her to open the show and later trusted her enough to bring her into two of its own songs.

That is the sharpest point of the night.

Nene arrived in Singapore as the opening act.

She ended it playing “Bat Country” and “Unholy Confessions” with Avenged Sevenfold themselves.

For years, she had been learning their songs.

On one night in Singapore, she no longer had to imagine what it would feel like to play them with the band.  

She was already there.  

So someone recorded Nene's jamming with A7X and sent it to a "British Guy (who) reacts to Nene Royal & Avenged Sevenfold". As I pride myself on presenting an objective (some may even say, "solemn") narrative of the news, I am merely providing the link to his highly emotional, and over-the-top reaction video. (Frankly, his visceral and overly enthusiastic reaction to Nene's jamming with A7X is just embarrassing. Whatever happened to the much vaunted "stiff upper lip" and British reserve????)

Aaaaaanyway.

If you're back from watching the British Guy, and want more of his... "over-reaction", here he reacts to her opening.

Like I said, I'm not a huge fan of heavy rock/ metal rock (if that's a thing). But I can tell if someone is good. So anecdotally, when Nene was auditioning, people walking past the TV when she was on, would stop to listen. Cos her performance was that remarkable. The clip of her audition drew more than 200 million views! Cos she was that good.

I've watched quite a few reaction videos to her performance (search that on YouTube) - some commented/reacted to her vocal quality, some to her guitar playing/control/precision. And all were in awe of this 16 year old's mastery of her guitar and voice. And her ability to command and control the crowd/audience.

When people who know, respect and admire her capabilities and performance, I listen. Cos I don't have a mind of my own. And also, if you don't respect expert opinions, who do you think you are? Trump?

Nene is a phenom -- she can sing, she can growl, she can scream, she can distort her singing, her vocal range is extensive, and her control of her voice is spectacular! Oh, and she can play the guitar too. Probably helps with the Rock music. 

And she's ONLY 16. 

Then, the day after her debut with A7X, she had to fly back to Bangkok to play for the IMF World Bank 2026 meeting hosted by Thailand!

(Which begs the question: what about Thailand's other celebrity entertainer Lalisa Manobal a.k.a. "Lisa" of Blackpink? Too expensive?)

And while her preference is heavy metal - A7X is her favourite band and genre of music - she can also play more mainstream music. Like this:

Video: Nene covers "What's Up" by Four Non Blondes (when Nene is about 13)

and Michael Jackson's "Bad".

The Knack's "My Sharona".

Sade's "Smooth Operator".

Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me".

Nene's "Married to the Blues" (The Nortons). This is quite good. I'm not a fan of the Blues, but she really emotes in this one.

Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black".

Santana's "While my Guitar gently weeps".

Then there was the news that Nene has been "recruited" to voice a character in "Hexed", a Disney animation. 

And the crowd goes crazy!

Metalheads started accusing Nene of selling out, of turning from a Heavy Metal Rock Star into a Disney Princess!

Which is stupid. 

Nene's interest in music is wide-ranging (as you can see from her various covers from Heavy Metal to Pop, to even Blues. 

But her first love is Heavy Metal Rock with its aggression, and screams, and growls, and vocal distortion. 

But to limit her to just a Rockstar is ultimately unfair to Nene.

She is heavy metal. But she is also a musician. She is Thai and all that means to her and her family. She is a girl growing into a woman. She is a sister, a daughter, a friend, a leader and a mentor (to her band members). 

She needs to be all these and more. 

So that she can grow in all things and be more.

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So... why am I so "obsessed" with Nene?

I'm not into heavy metal rock. 

So, I should not be concerned about the Second Coming of the next Rockstar or Metalhead.

That has nothing to do with me.

Some people on YouTube wrote in the comments along the lines of, "I'm 60 years old now and for the last 20/30/40 years, I have despaired/been disappointed at the state of rock music. The great legends have gone. Then I heard Nene. And I could hope again..."

They are like Simeon, who was promised by God that he would not die until he has seen the Messiah. 

I fancy myself a historian of sorts. Amateur historian perhaps. And these are dangerous times, with Trump wrecking the World Order that better men than him have laboured over 60 to 80 years to build. Then that brainless, narcissistic bull in the china shop (that is the world) has made a mess of things, and then complain that he never got the Nobel Peace Prize.

Meanwhile, Xi in China is trying to navigate a world that is less navigable since Trump has broken all the guardrails and rules.

The Thucydides Trap will not be sprung. If Xi is smart, he will invade Kinmen Islands, and declare victory in the First Phase of uniting Taiwan, and leave it at that. 

Anything more will be disastrous. 

And in the midst of all these aggravation, stupidity, and bad news, there was a 16-year-old busker from Thailand who went on America Got Talent and WON! Then she came to Singapore to open for Avenged Sevenfold, and got to jam with them, playing TWO of their songs. Then she flew back to Bangkok to perform for the IMF World Bank meeting! And she is voicing the main character in a new Disney animation!

Yes, nothing she does will balance off the stupidity of Trump.

But I choose to focus on her living her dream. She won't change the world.

But if she somehow does, this is my "I told you so."