Some songs remain profoundly moving no matter how they are reimagined. “Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” though of course nobody sings it quite like Judy Garland, arguably could be considered one of those songs.
Several artists have indeed put their own wonderful spin on the tune over the years—Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, Aretha Franklin, Ariana Grande, to name a few.
And now, we can add singer Loren Allred to that impressive list.
Even if you’ve never heard of Allred, you probably have heard her. Most notably, she was the voice of “Never Enough” on the Oscar-nominated and Grammy award-winning “The Greatest Showman.” She also sang with Michael Bublé on “Help Me Make it Through the Night” for his 2019 Love album. Heck, if you’ve been to Disneyland California Adventures to see the World of Color show, you’ve heard her.
Allred recently performed the classic ballad on “America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League.” And while she honored the original’s sort of dreamy whimsy at the beginning with soft, angelic breathiness, Allred vocally soared over the rainbow with some powerful high notes.
But rest assured—though Allred’s rendition had more of a pop belt to it, it was every bit as magic as the original (and other covers).
As one person in the Youtube wrote, “Loren’s rendition is a beautiful combination of some of the most memorable renditions such as Israel kamakawiwo’ole, Leona Lewis,, Katharine McPhee and of course the original by Judy Garland.”
Another added, “When I first saw it was Over The Rainbow, I said uh oh. Everybody knows this song (good) but everybody has sung it (bad). But you just took it to another level as you changed it to a singing lesson.”
Even judge Simon Cowel called it a “masterclass,” while Heidi Klum said “it gave us all the feels.”
“Somewhere Over The Rainbow” might have all the initial ingredients to tell a universally moving story, but it takes a master storyteller to really bring that story to life. Kudos to Allred for making that happen.
Watch below: