Last night, one Australia's Got Talent contestant made every judge's jaw drop
Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa is first generation Sikh, a spoken word poet and our pick to win Australia’s Got Talent.
Before taking to the stage for her Australia’s Got Talent audition last night, Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa warned the audience to brace themselves — her act was going to be “very controversial,” she explained.
A first generation Australian Sikh, Sukhjit is widely admired for her impressive spoken word poetry, but that’s certainly not her only talent.
The 21-year-old is also an activist, an outspoken feminist and bloody brilliant at making jokes.
If you missed her performance you can watch it in full here:
It’s her capacity to use humour — combined with her obvious dramatic chops — that allows her to tackle complex social issues head on.
“When you’ve been given such a loud voice, and when you have the confidence, you need to speak up for the voiceless,” she said in a recent interview with India Link.
“Humour and satire; that’s the thing Australia uses to get messages across.”
Sukhjit moved to Melbourne from her home town of Perth six months ago, but she’s been on the poetry scene for a couple of years now.
The first poem she ever wrote was called ‘A dress/Address’ and reflected on the gendered double standards applied to men and women in the Indian community.
In 2014, she made it to the finals of National Australian Poetry Slam, which saw her perform on stage at the Sydney Opera House.
But it was an abridged version of her poem ‘To Advance Australia Fair’ that won her four ‘yes’ votes from the judges on Australia’s Got Talent last night, the powerful lyrics from which, you can read below:
Before launching into it, Sukhjit explained that at a spoken word performance, everyone clicks along when they feel a line or a thought.
“If you feel me, show me that you feel me,” she said.
The audience and the judges were clicking the whole way through and at the end, many gave a standing ovation.
Dicko described the performance as “nation-building” and said it was full of “heart and humour”, while Eddie Perfect became quite emotional.
“The voices of bigotry and hatred in this country are so loud and noisy and yeah, it’s going to piss people off probably, but stuff ’em, because this is something that needs to be heard,” he said.
Sophie Monk said she wanted Sukhjit to keep spreading her message and Kelly Osbourne, who, of the four, was clicking the most enthusiastically by far, said “there needs to be more people like you in this world.”
She also tweeted about it after the show.
Before Australia Day, Sukhjit put together a video for Mamamia asking the people of Melbourne what being Australian really meant to them, which you can watch here.
You can also follow her Australia’s Got Talent progress on her Facebook page, we know who we’ll be clicking for.
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Singh Station has also reported on this notable talent performance:
Australia Got Talet - Sukhjit Kaur gets standing ovation for her poetic performance
Australia’s Got Talent featured a Sikh youth – Sukhjit Kaur, who shaked the audience and judges with her poetic performance against racism and discrimination.
Sukhjit Kaur’s performance tonight in an episode of Australia got talent brought judges to tears. Her performance is being loved for real spoken word performance tackling discrimination and what it means to be a Sikh and Australian. Sukhjit Kaur has become a character who uses her stage performance to feature social issues. With her spoken poetry she earned a reputation for herself, with humor and clear view of life in Australia. She has put a question for the stereotypes and bigotry within her own community.
Tonight Sukhjit spoke on behalf of Sikh community. She highlighted about issues pertaining to turban and racism in an episode of Australia’s Got Talent.
Sukhjit, a young Punjabi, was born and raised in Perth and is currently pursuing higher studies in Melbourne. She also represented the community when she gave a speech inside the province Assembly in Western Australia.
With tonight’s performance, Sukhjit, is step ahead where she represented the Sikhs with her spoken poetry against racism in Australia.
Sukhjit Kaur has earned a reputation of being an activist, who uses her stage performances to highlight social issues She is a proud exponent of “Poetry of the spoken word”, who is gradually earning a name for herself, with her wry humour and rather plain view of life in Australia. Through her work on stage, she’s challenging stereotypes and also prejudices that exist within her own community.