r/BeAmazed • u/masterchip27 • 10h ago
Skill / Talent 16 year old Nene Royal goes from busking at a Thai flea market to guest leading guitar & vocals for Avenged Sevenfold
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u/giiitdunkedon 10h ago
She's legit a prodigy, amazing talent
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u/thisguyblades 8h ago
yes! to add, notice A7X band has a lead singer and a lead guitarist, most bands do that really. but Nene is doing both roles at the same time. which is extremely difficult for this genre. and she does it flawlessly while engaging the crowd. at 16 years old!
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u/FinallyGivenIn 8h ago
There's a joke in the YouTube comments that Nene has 3 brains: 1 for the guitar, 1 for the singing and 1 for the crowd. And she blends them all to give the audience a performance.
Her Master of Puppets live performance on July 26 is the the truest example of her skills. She does like the job of 2 guitars and the vocals while also holding the audience attention.
For context, right after her AGT audition caught fire and her fame increased, she and her band Ozone were invited to perform at a birthday celebration for the Thai king. This was done after a whole series of songs and yet she's basically strumming her guitar like it's nothing.
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u/frontfrontdowndown 4h ago
Her stage presence is phenomenal. Like she was hatched from some kind of rock star incubator. Totally insane.
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u/masterchip27 8h ago edited 8h ago
Hijacking the top comment to provide context. For those interested in her entire journey, I highly recommend checking out this fan made compilation:
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u/EduinBrutus 1h ago
Not the greatest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqyo2m4jF9k
is a much better fan edit and uses her own music and sticking with the one song has a real emotional impact in the bridge.
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u/masterchip27 8m ago
That one's great too! I like that it has the most recent footage from Singapore where she looks like a total badass
Personally, I don't really care all that much for the song Zombie, and I really like the footage of her Black Hole Sun performance in the compilation I posted, and also its emphasis on her catharsis, specially bawling her eyes out.
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u/Apprehensive_Map3308 4h ago
I actually think Nenes voice was a perfect Tonal addition to A7x....like it was missing all along?
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u/FinallyGivenIn 8h ago
Context: This is the latest winner of America's Got Talent 16-year-old Nene Royal from Phuket Thailand. Avenged Sevenfold is one of her favourite bands and in an interview she wished to learn from Synyster Gates, one of the Guitarists of the band. The first few seconds of this video was taken in Nov 2025 where she had been busking at a night market for more than 5 years.
Right after winning AGT, she was announced as the opening act for Avenged Sevenfold's concert in Singapore on Oct 12th. This was an impromptu performance with her favourite band. This was done with no practice at all with them but she still killed it! See this compliation of the best fancams here: https://youtu.be/PxdvckoWCto?is=q3DGiZGyv6yXI1JW
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u/x1conroe 8h ago
All of this has made me so happy. Syn is a wildly underrated guitarist and her being able to play and sing all of this is absolutely bonkers.
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u/EduinBrutus 10h ago edited 10h ago
The bassist getting chased off cos its just for the guitarists and Nene bursting out laughing is a choice moment.
Then Zacky Vengeance wtf expression when she starts the screamo is another chef's kiss.
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u/QuitStockingMe 10h ago
This was great to see. And Syn stepping back and just beaming while she plays his songs was great to see as well. Syn’s dad made a little post about it too it’s all very wholesome and cool to see her getting the well deserved attention and recognition
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u/masterchip27 9h ago
Yup, and knowing Synyster Gates is her favorite guitarist whom she looks up to really made this clip special to me
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u/Nathansp1984 8h ago
She’s a natural. Looks completely at home on stage
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u/FinallyGivenIn 8h ago
Yeap she's been covering their songs for many years. Probably could have done their whole set in a pinch. She was actually brought on as an opening act for the band. The performance you see was impromptu and not rehearsed at all. But she still kills it!
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u/letsreset 8h ago
wtf, that was not prepared? to just have that casually ready to go? my goodness that is insane.
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u/FinallyGivenIn 7h ago
https://youtu.be/PxdvckoWCto?is=QWV6kJE-KN1VKPcu
Yes this is M Shadow the vocalist introducing her to the crowd and then playing 2 songs with her. She was supposed to just open with a few songs for the band. This collab was not on the schedule.
And she has been playing these songs for many years busking at the night market every weekend. There was no rehearsal but through her grinding she has been prepared for opportunities to take the big stage like this. If you seach "Nene Royal" up, welcome to the rabbit hole. She is the 16 year old with 10 years work experience your parents warned you about.
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u/masterchip27 4h ago
This girl knows like every fucking song on their set guitar & vocals. This is her going batshit with Bat Country, good quality vid with her band (special shoutout to their insane prodigy 12 year old drummer Boon who kills it)
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u/brucemo 34m ago
So I'm gonna let everyone off the hook here. We have not rehearsed at all, we just thought this would be fun.
This was actually the second song they did with her. After they did the first song, she was asked if she knew the next song and off they went.
She loves this band and she's great at thinking on her feet. She's been performing live twice a week for years and every conceivable dumb thing has happened, from monsoon cloud bursts to fights in the crowd to a guest singer picking her up and carrying her around on his shoulders while she played AC/DC on her guitar.
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u/donatedknowledge 10h ago
Wow I see her sometimes on socials and she has amazing skill, I'm happy she got to experience this but damn I'm jealous of her too! So cool! Imagine going from busking to thousands of people in front of you!
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u/NASATVENGINNER 4h ago
Nene is the real deal with the drive, talent and commitment to be amazing! Looking forwarded to her career.
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u/maximusbawbagimus 10h ago
Seen a few of her videos not my type of music, but shes killing it
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u/masterchip27 10h ago
Curious what type of music you prefer?
She has some versatility, this is her doing a soulful blues cover and this is her top viewed on her channel which is an acoustic/electric cover of the Scorpions. She's also done a Billie Eilish piano cover and even Maroon 5 recently. Oh, and Shakira.
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u/maximusbawbagimus 10h ago
Aw i didnt know she covered these songs, all the videos i have seen have been heavy metal
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u/masterchip27 9h ago
Welcome the the Nene rabbit hole lol
I have my gripes about social media and our digital age, but one of the benefits is that we have endless footage documenting this girls rise from busking at age 9 hoping to make $10 a night to help buy guitar equipment and eventually help pay to attend a private international high school with an amazing music program.
Her family wasn't so well off, especially during COVID which is when she started, and she quickly started earning more busking 2-3 times a week than her father. Tourists to Phuket started to realize there was a prodigy in the making and gifted her guitars, paid for her to see rock bands perform across the world, and helped her apply to the talent show AGT which she ended up winning. It's a crazy story.
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u/Deeze_Rmuh_Nudds 9h ago
Metal only. It would be a crime against humanity for her to do anything else.
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u/-Melon-Cake- 7h ago
Actually yes, because metal is her passion and she should do what she loves.
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u/Deeze_Rmuh_Nudds 7h ago
Yes and it shows. You can tell it’s what she was born to do. To do any other vapid, terrible genre would be a disservice to her skills and passion.
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u/masterchip27 4h ago
Her Married to the Blues performed at age 14 has made grown adults and blues lovers cry, performed like she has an old soul: https://youtu.be/Jt21vlfktL0
She's just one of those rare stars who would be successful in any musical genre. On top of that, she's mind-bogglingly even a decent artist with plans to sell her artwork soon......
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u/DrDroidz 3h ago
I remember being a metalhead and being this cringe in HS, good times.
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u/SookHe 10h ago
Was there a video circulating that got their attention? Whats the story here
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u/EduinBrutus 10h ago
She won AGT in September.
Is also a generational talent as lead guitar.
And is getting close to that level with singing.
And can do them at the same time. Which is... well, lead and singing is beyond rare, especially at the sort of technical level in hard rock and metal.
Can go watch her AGT performances, or just watch her destroy Master of Puppets here :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzRdux1GvpQ
She's combining both the rhythm guitar and lead guitar here. While singing. And she adds her own flair on the fast solo.
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u/Aspence22 10h ago
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u/Dazzling_Scarcity_81 8h ago
Yaaaaasssss!!!!!!!! I hope she gets scored for a long career. Amazing skills crafted at such a young age
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u/Porky4Butts 6h ago
I’m not into this kind of music however it moved me. She is very talented and to be able to open and play with her favorite band?! Fuck, yes!
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u/Mcguidl 4h ago
I love that first A7X album. I remember kids playing it for our highschool talent show. It was never a crowd pleaser, but it was sick as hell.
Nene's pitch scream is awesome btw.
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u/BadRabiesJudger 2h ago
Yeah this blew me away cause I only have the first two albums. I never would have imagined they are still playing those songs since all the new albums seem to omit the death growl. The mix of the two were what appealed to me.
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u/_Doodad_ 4h ago
Simply the best damn outcome of any of these talent shows! 🤘 Hell yeah girl... Get some!
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u/Next_Confidence_3654 3h ago
The kind of call and response type thing going on adds an awesome layer to this song
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u/BringOutYDead 1h ago
"When I ascend the dark throne, her devil's shriek will send my name to every corner."
Sorry, I went into player character mode...
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u/Introverted_Extrovrt 48m ago
Saw them open for SOAD in Chicago, this would’ve been fucking dope. Good for her!
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u/Azul_Ra_Zor 9h ago
Thanks for this post! I watched the YT vid of her on AGT, and I had SHIVERS AND TEARS when she started playing!
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u/captpeony 8h ago
I don't know what it is but I literally start crying every single time I watch her perfomances. I'm crying right now just reading all these wonderful comments about her 😭😭
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u/brucemo 9m ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0-algsNUww
That's all of her performances on AGT. There were six of them depending upon how you count.
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u/Azul_Ra_Zor 5m ago
So I watched this earlier, BUT I did NOT see her playing with The Warning afterward, so upvoter for you!
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u/DM725 9h ago
To be fair Avenged Sevenfold 's vocals only had room for improvement.
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u/bestest_at_grammar 5h ago
While I hate your comment because Matt is a legendary singer. The man has had a vocal surgery and vocal injury
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u/dire_turtle 7h ago
Be amazed must be full of Taylor Swift. Not a critical thought amongst the whole sub.
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u/Apprehensive_Map3308 4h ago
Another fascinating example of the Reddit pool of insufferable twatwaffles that venture out into the open......
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u/Thisshitaintfree 2m ago
Well done boys, brought a real hitter from the slums to shred some righteous chords. She is talented!!!
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