Angelina Jordan

A unique talent wins the heart of milllions

Photo: Audun Braastad / NTB Scanpix
Already at age 8, Angelina Jordan enchanted millions of Norwegian fans when she won the 2017 season of “Norway’s Got Talent.”

Tove Andersson
Oslo

Eighty-nine percent of “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” viewers, voted for Norwegian singer Angelina Jordan after her performance of “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Born and raised in Oslo, Angelina Jordan Astor (14) was just 7 years old when her amazing voice took her to “Norway’s Got Talent” with “Gloomy Sunday,” a song made famous by legendary American jazz singer Billie Holiday.  Jordan went on to win “Norways’s Got Talent” at the age of 8 and became a viral voice after bringing the judges to tears with 300 million views on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN4kAof1is0.

Jordan was the overwhelming favorite to win “America’s Got Talent: The Champions,” according to viewers of season 2. She had won over judge Heidi Klum, who gave her the coveted golden buzzer when she auditioned.  But to the disappointment of many, the rising young Norwegian star was eliminated from the finals on Feb. 17—yet she remains a winner in the hearts of her millions of fans.

The story of Angelina is, if not magic, an unusual story. At age 9 in 2015, she published her first book, Mellom to hjerter (Between two hearts), the true story of two girls who live completely different lives. At 6, she met a poor girl who made a huge impact on her. This shoeless girl she met on the streets in the Middle East is a girl living a completely different life from hers. 

An excerpt from the book reads:

We look into each other’s eyes; 

she peers at me.

I have to manage this; I have to do something—she must not freeze. 

She has beautiful blue eyes. Her eyes are the color of sky and sea.

She does not want to talk to anyone. But even though

she might not want to talk to me, 

I really want to try.

After they talked, she gave the girl her green shoes and vowed to never appear on stage again wearing shoes. Since that time, Angelina has performed barefoot in public. 

Photo: Tove Andersson
Angelina Jordan, 14, is not only a celebrated singer on both sides of the Atlantic, she is a deeply contemplative and poetic author.

The touching and heartwarming book was written by Angelina and illustrated by her grandmother, Mery Zamani, a talented artist from Teheran, Iran, and who lives in Norway. Together they have created the art printed on Angelina’s merchandise, now available for purchase online.

Last year when Angelina was performing in Oslo, one of the fans in the audience was none other than Prime Minister Erna Solberg. 

“I really liked it, very nicely performed,” Solberg said before she got a signed copy of Angelina’s book Mellom to hjerter and her CD It’s Magic.

And some of the proceeds from the book go to a worthy cause: when you purchase one, a part of the profit is donated to homeless children.  

At only age 14, Angelina Jordan has proved what a little girl with a big voice and a big heart can make possible, as fans on both sides of the Atlantic look forward to what’s to come.

To learn more about Angelina Jordan, listen to her music, or purchase her products, visit:
www.angelinajordanofficial.com.

This article originally appeared in the March 6, 2020, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.